Guide – Base wardrobe with quality shoes

2023-10-28

In addition to shoe care, the most common questions I get is about purchases for those who have just started to take an interest in classic quality shoes. Here is a concrete guide on how to think when to build a shoe wardrobe.

Below is a list of four shoe models that come in the recommended purchase order. These six pairs are an excellent base wardrobe with classic men’s shoes for most occasions. Of course, it is just a guide, depending on your own taste, where you live, how you dress otherwise and so on, you can of course move about in the order or think completely or partly differently in some cases. But see it as a good starting point to work from. And I promise that with the following shoe models you have a really good base with quality shoes, where you always have two pairs that you can alternate between each season, and a wardrobe that you can build on from there.

1. Dark brown plain cap toe oxford
One of the most versatile shoes, perhaps the most versatile, you can own. Works for everything from a dark suit or flannel trousers and jacket, to chinos and linen shirts or jeans and polo shirt. Preferred is a relatively traditional last shape with a nicer round toe or slightly square toe, it makes them the most timeless and something that will work even in 5-10 years. Single leather soles is the most classic and it does work even if there’s some rain, as long as the sole has to dry properly before being used again. There are, however, several variants with thin so-called city-rubber soles, which in principle look exactly like leather soles, or you can also choose to put on a rubber topy. Here it’s better you choose a shade of the leather that is the quite dark.

2. Brown quarter brogue with rubber sole
This is a slightly less formal shoe, and here I think that one should definitely choose a rubber sole, Then you have something that you can easily choose when it is worse weather outside. Quarter brogue means that the shoe has a brogue pattern either along the toe cap or along all parts of the shoes, but no medallion. Here you can go with both derby or oxford depending on what you like best. The formality is a bit higher on the oxford variant, but the slightly thinner sole means that both models can be used in similar contexts. Middle brown, which is better to go slightly more towards dark brown than light brown, has the advantage that it fits almost all shades on pants.

3. Chelsea boot in brown suede with rubber sole
Chelsea boots have for many years now been a favorite for many, men as well as women, and many people have a pair, even though they may not have bought a pair of finer Goodyear welted ones. Choose one in brown suede with a single or double rubber sole ang you have an excellent boot for autumn, winter and spring. As I have often written, suede works fine also in snow and slush, as long as it’s good impregnated they can often handle salt and wet conditions better than ordinary smooth calf leather, even if you might need to wash them a bit more often. However, you have less risk of water spots and salt stains and those things. Here you can choose according to taste what kind of last shape you prefer and if you want a darker or lighter brown shade, nothing that significantly affects the area of use, and if you don’t like suede you can choose smooth leather, and if you dislike chelseas, chukka boots are relatively equal alternative.

4. Brown full brogue derby in grain leather with rubber sole
Here we have a more casual shoe, which may well have a double sole and storm welt , which works fine for worse weather and more relaxed contexts. If you dress a bit more formal at work, it is an excellent weekend shoe. The embossed grain leather makes it a bit more durable and easier to take care of. You can have either a regular wingtip brogue, or a longwing where the wing runs all the way along the shoe back to the heel. A country brogue, one would call this. Also here as in the case above, one can vary the shade a little, according to what color you have the most pants in, for example, darker pants darker brown, and vice versa, and of course grain leather is not a requirement, also regular leather works.