Rancourt Blake Wingtip: 4 Year Review. The New Business Standard?
Highlights
- Price: $395 MSRP
- Pros: Business focus, Easy to care for and resole
- Cons: Ugly creasing on one shoe, Lots of competition
Contents:
History:
Rancourt’s history is an interesting one. The current company is one of the newest companies making shoes within the United States. The company known as “Rancourt & Co” was only founded a decade ago in 2010. However, that only tells part of the story. The Rancourt family has been making shoes in Maine for decades.
The first company they founded built white label shoes. Both the company and factory were bought just a few years later by one of their largest customers: Cole Hann.
When Nike (the owner of Cole Hann at the time) decided to shut down the Maine factory, the Rancourts started a new company in the same town with many of the same people. And a few years later Allen Edmonds purchased the new company. In what must seem like cosmic fate at this point, Allen Edmonds also decided to move their handsewn production overseas. As they did before, the Rancourt family once again bought the plant back and launched Rancourt & Co. It’s entirely possible both your dad’s old Cole Hanns and your new Rancourts were made by the same person.
Rancourt originally focused on traditional handsewns, but they have expanded into more formal types of footwear. One of those expansions is what they refer to as the “dress collection”. While made in the same factory as their other shoes, the design is substantially different. Rancourt designed this shoe to take on their former bosses over at Allen Edmonds.
Looks:
The Rancourt Blake Wingtip is not what you generally think of when someone mentions a shoe was “Made in Maine.” The shoe is more formal than a lot of wing tips you can find today. An elongated toe, blind eyelets, and limited decorative stitching make it clear that Rancourt designed this more for office wear than a Saturday at the park. However, with with a higher toe there is still a clear “Americana” look here.
The upper comes primarily in a medium brown – though Rancourt call it “dark brown” – with quite a bit of variation. Then highlights range from as dark as Tobacco to as light as a Tan depending on where you look. The wingtip itself is capped off with a non-offensive pattern punched into the leather at the factory. When they designed the shoe, they took the pattern from the toe and carried it throughout.
The shoe features an open-lace design, with shorter quarter panels each having four lace holes. The corner of one of these panels had been ripped slightly through normal wear, but was fixed during the recent recraft. Out of the box, the laces were waxed black cotton laces, but I replaced them with brown waxed laces. The rear is finished off with a simple peice of leather sewn on with two lines of stitching.
The one and only major flaw with this shoe is the terrible creasing pattern on the vamp of the left shoe. Deep, ugly, loose creasing runs all the way from the toe cap up through the tongue. It’s possible that these shoes are seconds for this reason. I found this pair at a Nordstrom Rack, even Kyle Rancourt himself wasn’t sure of how they ended up there.
Inside, the shoe features a suede piece of leather against the heel of the shoe for comfort. After so many miles this panel started to separate along the throat of the shoe. Thankfully, Rancourt was able to fix this during the refurbish.
The upper of the shoe uses a golden color lining with white lettering describing the model, brand, and manufacturing location, and a ¾ length sock liner provides a bit of padding as you walk.
The sole originally was a single leather with a brown stain along the edge. However, I was looking for something that could take a bit more of beating and replaced it with what Rancourt calls their “Montello Tempest.” This sole takes their leather sole and adds a thick piece of rubber similar to a toppy but sewn through. The sole is held on by 270 degrees of stiching, dyed at the factory to match the color of the outsole.
Fit, Break-In, & Comfort:
These shoes fit true to size, if a bit more narrow in the toe box than most American branded shoes. I would suggest going a half a size up from your normal Rancourt boat shoe size. [To learn more about problems with “true” sizing, click here]. The shoe comes in a large variety of sizing, from 6 to 14 with widths of B to EE available. If you can find a store to try on that would be the best option. Rancourt lists the Blake as part of their “Ready Made” line. While this means you don’t need to wait for them after buying, you will be paying $15 dollars to return them if they don’t fit.
IF you’re looking to purchase a custom made shoe, Rancourt offers their “Made to Fit” program. For $50 dollars, they ship you two pairs to try on and ship back, after which you’ll receive a $50 credit towards your next order. I’ve also found you can simply call the company and they will be happy to discuss sizing with you, comparing their lasts to other brands.
I purchased these shoes in a 11.5D, but had them stretched by Rancourt to a size 12D.
A full comparison of the sizing of all reviews can be found here
If you’re looking for a shoe that feels like a moccasin – this is not it. The leather is stiff out of the box and the lining increases the rigidity even more. A long toe but narrow toe box will likely lead to pinching for the first several wears. Another area that is a bit problematic is the blake stitching inside the shoe beyond the sock liner. For the first 20 or 30 wears the stitching is incredibly noticeable and can cause some irritation on your toes.
The stitching does eventually get flattened, so that is less of an issue. What doesn’t get fixed with wear is the tight toe box. Thankfully, as part of their recraft, Rancourt was able to stretch this pair a half size.
Due to their blake-rapid construction, these shoes are unable to have a cork layer that many of their competitors have. This shoe will generally not mold to your foot quite as much as some of their competitors do. If you try it on and it isn’t comfortable, this shoe may not be for you.
Materials:
The upper of the shoe is made of thick calf leather, and it behaves the way that you’d expect from a business focused shoe. The leather takes a shine well, holds it’s shape, and – apart from the obvious problem on the left shoe’s vamp – keeps it’s creasing tight and minimally visible. Inside the lining is cow leather, this should prove incredibly durable, but is probably one of the key reasons for the long break-in.
The original sole was a oak-tanned leather, that held up as well as can be expected. I will note that Rancourt lists these as “waterlock.” It might better than other leather soles, but it’s important to remember that these are still pieces of leather. Water will get through if you walk over really damp areas and water will soften the leather significantly.
No matter what treatment a company uses on their sole, wet leather will always lead to the sole wearing quicker. As anyone who walks to work in a city will tell you, a soaked through sole can even lose small chunks. It’s probably best to view water lock as something where you can walk through small damp patches.
The new sole is interesting as it has a leather sole that is just as thick as the leather sole that came with it, but has an additional 5 millimeter rubber section on top of it. This rubber is on the harder end of shoe rubber and, as you can probably imagine with the thickness and the rubber and the hardness, this is extremely stiff when you first receive it.
The benefit of this, though, is that I expect this sole to last a long, long time. The wear properties of harder rubber on it’s own tends to last quite a while – think about a Dainite sole that lasts vs an Alden Commado sole that doesn’t – but also because the leather sole exists under it you should be able to use the entire depth of the sole. With as many shoes as I rotate through, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration that this sole could outlast my ownership of the shoe.
Ease of Care/Resole:
The Rancourt Blake Wingtip are for business, not relaxation, and you should expect some maintenance to keep them in good shape. Scratches show fairly easily, though better than a lot of other calf-leather shoes, and the leather takes a polish well. Expect to polish them up every few wears, and every 4 to 6 months strip, condition, and re-polish.
When it comes to polish, I find that there isn’t a major differences between the brands. I tend to use Saphir, but have previously used Kiwi with similar results. For conditioner, I prefer Bick 4. It does a great job as is as cheap as a name brand comes. Alternatives include Venetian Shoe Cream, slightly more, or Saphir Renovator for a lot more.
The thing that really makes Rancourt stand out is the factory support of their resoling. Unlike other manufacturers that I’ve mentioned (Quoddy and OSB for example), Rancourt has various levels of resoling available. If you’re just replacing a simple rubber outsole? $60 dollars. Leather, or something with a separate heel? $85 dollars. Want to have them refurbish the shoe? $135 dollars. Also, unlike brands like Allen Edmonds, you can swap around what sole you have based on how you liked the last one.
It’s worth noting that Rancourt does use a construction known as blake-rapid. This form of construction is a very specialized process compared to regular blake or goodyear welting. It is extremely unlikely you’ll find a cobbler that has the right machine. Unlike a shoe made with a goodyear welt, these almost require you to go to Rancourt.
Pricing:
The pricing of these shoes is at an interesting level. Allen Edmonds has shown that you can’t make a high-quality shoe that regularly sells for $300 or less during one of their ongoing sales and still turn a viable profit. Alden quickly ramped up the price of their shoes. Many consider finding any pair of Aldens for $500 a good deal. Rancourt has positioned themselves right in the middle at $395.
Finding the shoes for less is possible, though it will take some digging and some patience. These particular shoes were a random find in a Minnesota Nordstrom Rack, and a great deal at only $100. Though, I’ve never seen another deal anywhere close to that. Rancourt themselves does a small number of sales a year, though these are generally comparatively small sales of 10 or 15% off.
You can also find other companies that carry Rancourt products offering site-wide-sales or clear-outs for a better price. Obviously, finding a good sale will be based on your sizing. Often, the best deal comes from a store that I’ve never heard of.
Rather than recommend a specific store, I’d suggest searching Google.
Value:
As mentioned above, Rancourt is positioning themselves above Allen Edmonds and below Alden on the value scale. I think this position is OK, if not overwhelming. The leathers are clearly quality, but they don’t have that same impact you get when you pick up an Alden or Crockett and Jones. The comfort isn’t as good as the companies who are able to use a cork midsole, but resole-ability by the factory is a fair trade off.
My concern is that this area is a place that has gotten more crowded over the past several years. Their long-time competitor in handsewns, Oak Street Bootmakers, now has an extensive line of good year welt shoes. They are joined by a variety of brands such as J Fitzpatrick, Cobbler Union, Grant Stone, and more who have all entered into the U.S. market in the past several years and fall within a couple of dollars of these shoes.
To be fair, I’ve never owned any of those shoes, and can’t give a long-term perspective. Further, I believe that Rancourt can hang with any of these brands, and each of the ones I mentioned have their own set of downsides such as location of manufacture, lack of a location to try on and expensive return processes, etc. It’s just hard to argue that Rancourt gives a significantly better value without even thinking about it.
Of course, if you’re able to find them on sale or any of the things that Rancourt does especially well such as customer service and cost to keep the shoe going matter the most to you, these shoes provide a great option.
Wrap Up:
Recommending a shoe to someone who is just starting out used to be easy. Get a pair of Allen Edmonds Park Aves or Strands in black or brown calf. Unfortunately, with their recent decrease in quality it’s hard to make that same recommendation today. Today, you could do worse than suggesting the Rancourt Blake Wingtip (or anything from their dress line).
The shoes are built for pounding the sidewalk on the way to meetings. They are easy to keep running once the sole runs through, and the company is run by enthusiasts who are happy to help those just getting into good footwear.
Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let me know in the comments below
I’ve been well pleased with Rancourt.
My first experience was with a pair of loafers purchased from Bill’s Khakis about 5 years ago.
Recently, I returned them for refurbishment.
Outstanding 🎉👏👞
Thanks, Kenneth! There isn’t a much better pairing than Bills Khakis with Rancourt loafers!
What do you think of the Rancourt Chandler Longwing (cordovan) vs Alden’s? $150 less.
Steve –
That’s a good question! The Aldens are definitely the nicer shoe, but if they are a better value is tough.
When comparing a $615 calf leather Alden with a $400 Rancourt, you’re saving more than 30% and the value is clear. When comparing an $850 shell Alden with a $700 shell Rancourt, the savings is less both in absolute and percentage terms.
Personally, I think at that price point it’s worth jumping up to the Alden. I bought a pair myself actually. However, Rancourt has taken over Aldens contract with Brooks Brothers and last month they had Brooks Brothers cobranded shell Rancourt longwings on sale for just $450. For $450, it’s hard to recommend the Aldens over them.