Jerold Wilton men's shoes: what you will find on this page
This page brings together three families of classic men's shoes. The loafer is the low shoe you slip on without lacing, held by the instep alone, here in the versions with the slotted saddle across the instep and in those with tassels. The lace-up shoe in turn splits into two constructions you can tell apart at a glance: on an oxford the lacing quarters are stitched under the vamp and close flush, which makes the shoe more formal and less adjustable; on a derby they are stitched on top and stay open, so they take a higher instep. The third family is the buckle shoe, single or double monk, which replaces the laces with a strap fastened at the side.
The fact that holds the whole page together sits inside the shoe: the insole is leather on every model in stock. Leather takes up the day's moisture and releases it overnight, so a pair left to rest for twenty-four hours between wears lasts far longer than one worn every day. The uppers are leather, and on part of the range they are unlined, that is, built with no inner covering: you feel it under the hand, they weigh less and mould to the foot faster, but they need protecting from water because there is no layer acting as a barrier. The soles are mostly light rubber, some built with a visible leather welt, the strip joining upper and sole around the perimeter that lets the shoe be resoled rather than replaced.
On fit there is a concrete warning: on several models the sizing is marked as generous, so anyone halfway between two sizes does better staying with the smaller one, and a narrow foot gains from an extra thin insole. The heel stays low across the grid, between two and four centimetres. An unlined shoe is worth trying on in the afternoon, when the foot is at its largest, because over the first few days it still gives a little and a size picked in the morning risks ending up wide.
If the size or the colour you are looking for is not in the grid, it is worth going through the category pages, which gather every brand in stock: lace-up shoes for men and loafers for men. Upkeep needs very little: a soft brush after every wear, a nourishing cream every fifth or sixth time, and a pair of wooden shoe trees, which absorb the leftover moisture and stop the upper from creasing permanently across the forefoot.
