How are Mezlan Shoes Made?

If you're a man who knows about stylish mens shoes, you certainly know about Mezlan shoes.

Are Mezlan Shoes Fully Hand Made?

Mezlan shoes are completely hand made and are very sleek and unique looking with their designer style that are made for men who only want to wear trendy style shoes and want to wear the very best on their feet. What you may not know is the actual construction methods that are employed in crafting a pair of Mezlan shoes. Mezlan since the beginning has used the Blake method of shoe making for each and every pair of their shoes. There is a reason why only the Blake method is used by Mezlan to make all of there terrific dress shoes. It works and allows the shoe to keep a sleek style that other types of construction like the "Goodyear Welt" construction method could never emulate. 

Mezlan shoes Are Made Using the Blake Method.

Yes, all Mezlan dress shoes are made using the Blake Method. The Blake method is a specific method of attaching the leather upper part of the shoe to the shoe sole. The entire purpose of the Blake construction method is to be able to create a sleek looking Italian style shoe where the Goodyear Welt makes for a bulky style shoe that looks like a tank in comparison. For example, take your tried and true Mezlan shoe style and put it next to a Florsheim Imperial Wingtip shoe that has been made for over eighty years and you will see what I'm talking about. On the Mezlan shoe, the sole is thinner and finished closer to the edge of the shoes looking like it was made in a custom sort of way just for that style of shoe but a Goodyear Welt type shoe has the sole with the welt of the shoe jutting out an eighth of an inch more giving the shoe a very bulky look and heavy feel in comparison. You will find that Belvedere shoes are made in a similar manner.

What is the Blake Method?

The Blake method simply put, takes the leather upper part of the shoe that after it has been completely sewn and formed in its final shape and gets attached to the insole of the shoe itself. Once the upper part of the shoe is attached to its insole making for a complete shoe upper, it's time to attach it to the hand made and carved all leather shoe sole. That is done with a special machine that stitches the upper of the shoe to the fine leather sole. This particular method doesn't allow the sole to be attached by hand. The stitching that is done stitches the insole of the shoe to the out-sole. If you have ever watched youtube videos of how shoes are made, you will notice that the shoe artisan is using a special purpose shoe sole sewing machine that only does one thing and that is sewing the soles of the shoes onto the upper part of the shoe. You will find that they use this method even on their alligator shoes.

The Artisans That Make These Shoes are Highly Experienced

When this is being done, the machine operator who is making the shoes is very slowly letting the machine and it's heavy needle sew the leather sole onto the upper in a very slow and calculated manner because any mistake on this part of the process will completely ruin the final product and will render the shoes as garbage. This is precisely why in order for the shoe artisans to even work for Mezlan, they must have years of hand made shoe making experience before Mezlan even considers to hire them. Just imagine that the shoe artisan makes a mistake sewing the sole, you have a $400 or more pair of shoes completely ruined. That is also why you will never ever see second quality Mezlan shoes. If on the off chance that a pair is ruined, they will get sent to the blast furnace to be destroyed.

The Blake Method Makes Them Less Clunky

Another reason that Mezlan uses the Blake construction method is that it allows the wearer of the shoes to resole in the future when the time comes but the main reason Mezlan uses the Blake method of shoe making is that it let's Mezlan shoe designer really focus on the style of their shoes and lets them make a really sleek looking shoe in comparison to the clunkier version that has a Goodyear welt style construction. The Blake method allows more flexibility in the shoe sole making them slightly lighter and more comfortable compared to a Goodyear construction shoe. 

Mezlan has always been about creating the most stylish handmade shoes for men and because the Blake construction exists by allowing to create sleek looking shoe soles, this keeps shoe designers like Mezlan to be at the top of their game for over 40 years. Believe it or not, The Blake construction has been around since 1856 by Lyman Reed Blake who created this shoe-making method and low and behold, was quickly adopted by Italian shoemakers who have long favored more stylish-looking dress shoes that are not bulky looking with their thick ungainly shoe soles.

Another great reason to use this method of shoe method is that they can use a thinner leather sole, it allows better flexibility in comparison to the Goodyear welt style sole. You will notice that on a pair of Goodyear welt soles, the sole can be 3/8ths of an inch thick which make the shoes nearly boot-like in weight and thickness. On a Pair of Mezlan shoes, because of the thinner shoe leather soles, you can effectively make the shoe soles slightly thinner about an eight of an inch thinner which allows the shoes to be naturally lighter both because of the lesser thickness of the shoe sole as well as eliminating the use of hot cork in the Goodyear welt construction process. All of these issues reduce both weight and bulk and allow Mezlan to make their shoes with a more tapered style sole keeping with that Italian style that has made Mezlan a very popular shoe brand not only in Spain but all over the World.

Since Mezlan shoes are all about quality and style, this is the reason why they are made with the Blake method of shoe construction and continue to keep a strong following of customers year after year.