Thank you for this video. I have been intrigued by the Norwegian welt for some time now, trying to get as much info on it as possible. I think the Norwegian welt could be the perfect choice for transitional shoes (which are my main focus as a shoemaker)- that is shoes that have a wide, foot-shaped toe box and more flexibility than traditional dress shoes. Well, time to roll up my sleeves and get to work...
Man all the best in your shoemaking journey! Norwegian welt shoes are definitely much more tedious to make (previously made a pair for myself), mad respect to the artisans continuing the craft!
In my view, Norwegian stitch boots aren't as water-resistant as stitch-down or Goodyear welted boots. This is due to an additional row of external stitching. Each stitch creates a hole that connects to the interior of the boot. It's pretty straightforward to realize that a boot riddled with holes will let water in. Unless these boots are properly sealed, water will seep through immediately. But if you're going to go through the trouble of sealing them, it begs the question: How is this approach any better or different, especially when the stitching is more exposed?
Good point! I suppose just having a Norwegian stitch w/o a storm welt wouldn't be as water-resistant. But comparing why a Norwegian stitch w/ storm welt is more water-resistant than a Goodyear welt: - Storm welt acts as a natural barrier vs flat welt which is more prone to water seeping in - Norwegian stitches are handmade which means the stitches are extremely tight, thus providing a better seal between the storm welt and upper - Linen threads used in Norwegian stitches are often laced with waterproof beeswax
There are two pieces of leather at the stitching in norwegian welt, they double on both thickness of the material and depth of the sewing providing extra layer to impregnate, for example with hot wax, or more than one layer of shoe polish. Stitch down with it's slick design wont collect droplets on welt, but douring longer exposure to moisture it doesn't matter, there is only one layer of leather on the stitching to soak through. Once water sinks through this one layer it reaches midsole behind it and shoe will start to slowly leak in that spot. Being fully on the outside adds false sense of extra water resistance, but it's only buying some time - soaking midsole will slowly transport moisture to the inside.
Bought the Royal Navy PCS trousers here forcesuniformandkit.co.uk/collections/trousers-and-combat-shorts/products/british-royal-navy-dark-blue-combat-trousers The latter is an M47 repro from seabees www.seabeesjp.com/c/item/20090522 Did a video on my cargo pants, check it out here th-cam.com/video/sZTX3DkiD9Y/w-d-xo.html
So I get what you're saying about the Norwegian welt/stitch but for the vast majority of people a regular good year welt is gonna be more than good enough, and cost less overall for initial purchase and possibly resoles aswell depending where you live.
This does make me interested in proper Norwegian welted shoes/boots though either way. So I'll be looking around for a pair. I have handmade stitchdown boots from pnw makers but those are really chunky and heavy.
Hmm what do you want the video to cover? Really can't recommend buying cemented dress shoes (sneakers and boots are ok imo) in good faith. At their price point, I'd at least expect them to look stylish, but I've yet to find a pair with a decent looking last. Unless you need a pair of shoes urgently, I'd rather go with second hand/thrift from reputable brands or to save up for a better purchase. Thanks for always commenting, cheers!
hi there, you showed a loake shoe in your examples of a true norwegian construction but that's not the case. not even loake's northampton factory has the expertise to churn out RTW shoes made with a norwegian stitch. any loake (like most northampton brands) shoe that claims to have a storm welt are simply using split-reverse welts, which according to your explanation are storm welts without norwegian stitching. feel free to disagree here but i feel that as a youtube channel trying to gain traction, you ought to credit other youtube channels when using their footage, such as when you were showing how siroeno yosui does handwelting and how tricker's personnel operates the GYW machine.
Ah yes, good catch, in that section I wanted to showcase shoes that have either Norwegian/storm construction or Norwegian stitch. I didn't know that most storm welts by Northampton brands are actually split reverse welts. Could you share any links on that? If true, that means some of these brands are misleading consumers. Thanks for highlighting the need to credit. I'm still familiarising myself with copyright and Fair Use laws (I know, ignorance is not a defense), so do excuse the occasional blunder. Cheers!
@@subtlesartorialist i wouldn't say that they're misleading consumers because terminologies are frequently used or made up by brands and accepted in the industry. what is generally considered true storm welts are the ones with a norwegian stitch, because that is how shoemakers used to make shoes that prevented water ingress better than regular flat-welted shoes. but when the goodyear welting machine was invented and brands started to do less of handwelting, true norwegian storm welts were seen as inefficient and sometimes unnecessary. someone discovered that they could achieve a similar purpose with a split/split-reverse/reverse welt (they are frequently used interchangeably) and save all the time on handstitching that norwegian stitch. they then started calling it storm welt because it does prevent water ingress better than a regular flat GYW. everyone else followed suit and that then became the norm. if you go to the tricker's channel and look for a video where their female bespoke shoemaker talks about their welts, you'll hear her saying that what they call a storm welt is a split-reverse welt. if you go to the barbourwelting's catalog, you'll see the split welt and other variations of storm welts used by many brands.
Thank you for this video. I have been intrigued by the Norwegian welt for some time now, trying to get as much info on it as possible. I think the Norwegian welt could be the perfect choice for transitional shoes (which are my main focus as a shoemaker)- that is shoes that have a wide, foot-shaped toe box and more flexibility than traditional dress shoes. Well, time to roll up my sleeves and get to work...
Man all the best in your shoemaking journey! Norwegian welt shoes are definitely much more tedious to make (previously made a pair for myself), mad respect to the artisans continuing the craft!
@@subtlesartorialist, thanks.
In my view, Norwegian stitch boots aren't as water-resistant as stitch-down or Goodyear welted boots. This is due to an additional row of external stitching. Each stitch creates a hole that connects to the interior of the boot. It's pretty straightforward to realize that a boot riddled with holes will let water in. Unless these boots are properly sealed, water will seep through immediately. But if you're going to go through the trouble of sealing them, it begs the question: How is this approach any better or different, especially when the stitching is more exposed?
Good point! I suppose just having a Norwegian stitch w/o a storm welt wouldn't be as water-resistant.
But comparing why a Norwegian stitch w/ storm welt is more water-resistant than a Goodyear welt:
- Storm welt acts as a natural barrier vs flat welt which is more prone to water seeping in
- Norwegian stitches are handmade which means the stitches are extremely tight, thus providing a better seal between the storm welt and upper
- Linen threads used in Norwegian stitches are often laced with waterproof beeswax
I still dont undertand how this is more waterproof that a 360 stitchdown
me too... haven't seen anyone test this yet but I suspect both will have similar waterproofness since both uppers are flared outwards
There are two pieces of leather at the stitching in norwegian welt, they double on both thickness of the material and depth of the sewing providing extra layer to impregnate, for example with hot wax, or more than one layer of shoe polish.
Stitch down with it's slick design wont collect droplets on welt, but douring longer exposure to moisture it doesn't matter, there is only one layer of leather on the stitching to soak through. Once water sinks through this one layer it reaches midsole behind it and shoe will start to slowly leak in that spot. Being fully on the outside adds false sense of extra water resistance, but it's only buying some time - soaking midsole will slowly transport moisture to the inside.
hey mate where is that navy cargo and 3:56 cargo from
Bought the Royal Navy PCS trousers here forcesuniformandkit.co.uk/collections/trousers-and-combat-shorts/products/british-royal-navy-dark-blue-combat-trousers
The latter is an M47 repro from seabees www.seabeesjp.com/c/item/20090522
Did a video on my cargo pants, check it out here th-cam.com/video/sZTX3DkiD9Y/w-d-xo.html
aye thanks man @@subtlesartorialist
So I get what you're saying about the Norwegian welt/stitch but for the vast majority of people a regular good year welt is gonna be more than good enough, and cost less overall for initial purchase and possibly resoles aswell depending where you live.
Yea for sure! Nothing against the GYW, just wanted more people to know a more artisanal way of making a shoe. Thanks for tuning in!
This does make me interested in proper Norwegian welted shoes/boots though either way. So I'll be looking around for a pair. I have handmade stitchdown boots from pnw makers but those are really chunky and heavy.
Nice chukkas, may I know the maker?
Thanks! I made them myself under the guidance of Noriyuki Misawa.
Can we get a video on cemented shoes? My wallet is too broken for stitched construction 😞
Hmm what do you want the video to cover?
Really can't recommend buying cemented dress shoes (sneakers and boots are ok imo) in good faith. At their price point, I'd at least expect them to look stylish, but I've yet to find a pair with a decent looking last.
Unless you need a pair of shoes urgently, I'd rather go with second hand/thrift from reputable brands or to save up for a better purchase.
Thanks for always commenting, cheers!
Not sure what your budget is, but how do you feel about Jim Greens or Thursdays?
You can sew your own shoes. But you need to have a reserve of money for the first time in case of an mistake
hi there, you showed a loake shoe in your examples of a true norwegian construction but that's not the case. not even loake's northampton factory has the expertise to churn out RTW shoes made with a norwegian stitch. any loake (like most northampton brands) shoe that claims to have a storm welt are simply using split-reverse welts, which according to your explanation are storm welts without norwegian stitching.
feel free to disagree here but i feel that as a youtube channel trying to gain traction, you ought to credit other youtube channels when using their footage, such as when you were showing how siroeno yosui does handwelting and how tricker's personnel operates the GYW machine.
Ah yes, good catch, in that section I wanted to showcase shoes that have either Norwegian/storm construction or Norwegian stitch. I didn't know that most storm welts by Northampton brands are actually split reverse welts. Could you share any links on that? If true, that means some of these brands are misleading consumers.
Thanks for highlighting the need to credit. I'm still familiarising myself with copyright and Fair Use laws (I know, ignorance is not a defense), so do excuse the occasional blunder. Cheers!
@@subtlesartorialist i wouldn't say that they're misleading consumers because terminologies are frequently used or made up by brands and accepted in the industry.
what is generally considered true storm welts are the ones with a norwegian stitch, because that is how shoemakers used to make shoes that prevented water ingress better than regular flat-welted shoes. but when the goodyear welting machine was invented and brands started to do less of handwelting, true norwegian storm welts were seen as inefficient and sometimes unnecessary. someone discovered that they could achieve a similar purpose with a split/split-reverse/reverse welt (they are frequently used interchangeably) and save all the time on handstitching that norwegian stitch. they then started calling it storm welt because it does prevent water ingress better than a regular flat GYW. everyone else followed suit and that then became the norm.
if you go to the tricker's channel and look for a video where their female bespoke shoemaker talks about their welts, you'll hear her saying that what they call a storm welt is a split-reverse welt. if you go to the barbourwelting's catalog, you'll see the split welt and other variations of storm welts used by many brands.