Skolyx

With our own collection of Goodyear welted quality shoes, the ambition is to offer as much shoes as possible for the money. Developed in close collaboration with a Spanish factory based on Mallorca, made on our own lasts with classic round toe shapes and excellent fit. The shoes are manufactured in good European full grain leather with a so called city rubber sole.

We have one range of classic oxfords and double monk straps, one casual range with double rubber soles and storm welts and heavier appearance, and then our extensive loafers collection. All with the durable rubber sole, all with leather board heel stiffeners that conforms to your feet, all fully lined with vegetable tanned leather. Then we also have a very well-made range of premium sneakers, with superb specifications. Excellent quality shoes offered at an excellent price point.

Are Goodyear welted shoes worth the high price?

The reason why welted shoes are relatively expensive, even the cheapest versions, is that it's a construction method that always involves a relatively advanced and time-consuming manufacturing process. In simple terms, welted shoes consist of an insole (usually leather, in the cheapest versions other materials such as fibre board) which has a canvas strip onto which the upper leather and a welt are attached by the welt seam itself (so it's inside the shoe and not visible from the outside). The welt runs around the outside of the shoe, and the outsole is sewn onto it with a sole seam, while there is a layer of filler between the insole and the outsole (usually cork, in the cheapest versions rubber foam).

It's the many parts that make it so easy to resole shoes, without touching the actual spine of the shoe, but which then also involves labour-intensive manufacturing. Because of this, most welted shoes are also made with relatively good material choices, as it is unnecessary to "waste" such a costly production on substandard materials.

What distinguishes Skolyx welted shoes from other welted shoes in the lower price segment?

What we have focused on with our own line of welted footwear is keeping the best possible level for the price on the materials. This means, for example, that we only use full grain calf leather from reputable European tanneries, such as French Annonay and Du Puy, and Ilcea and Sciarada from Italy, heel stiffeners in leather board that moulds well to the foot (instead of plastic stiffeners as is otherwise common), linings in fine vegetable tanned leather, insoles in relatively thick veg-tanned leather (instead of fibre board insoles, for example), and so on.

The construction is also solid and very well made with a high level of quality workmanship, but we've saved on making the finish a bit straighter and simpler, without things like bevelled waist, decorations on the heel, and so on. The fact that we can maintain such a high standard is because we know that we have tighter cost margins on our shoes than most of our competitors, and that we work with a factory with a strict quality control who also is used to work with more advanced shoes at much higher price. It's also why you'll never find our own shoes on sale, we keep the best possible price all year round instead.

Why choose city rubber soles over leather soles?

The leather soles we have from Yanko and TLB Mallorca are high quality and very durable, but we find that many people, especially those interested in the entry-level segment of Goodyear welted shoes, like to put on a rubber topy if they buy leather-soled shoes. That's why we have chosen to equip the entire Skolyx range with rubber soles, almost exclusively a thin so-called city rubber sole. The great thing about these is that they look basically like a leather sole, but have the water resistance and grip of a rubber sole.

What makes your sneakers special?

Our own range of premium sneakers and trainers have specifications that you don't normally find on shoes in their price range, and in fact very rarely even on much more expensive shoes. The reason is that the knowledge of many brands is limited, which means that most of them don't even know about all the details we are working on. For example, our premium sneakers have real leather midsoles (instead of fibre board or fabric felt as is otherwise standard), the smooth upper leather is veg-tanned, the inner lining is veg-tanned leather, the heel stiffenes are in leather board that moulds nicely to the foot (instead of plastic stiffeners), they have metal shanks that provide stability at the arch of the foot, and so on.