Shoes are the exact esthetic I was looking for, the shark is seamless cut and stripes beautifully with the shape of the shoes. Shoes are well constructed, the welt is perfect. Unfortunately I have a wide foot, ordering 11e is a touch too tight, making these an occasion shoe instead of an all day shoe. That being said I do feel the shoes are brannock true to size and the tightness comes from the natural differences in lasts between manufacturers. A EE option would have been perfect for me.

I ordered these MTO with the intent of wearing them for my wedding in December 2017, leaving myself a few months for JDS to create and ship them o me. I communicated that I’d be leaving the country so the inning was pretty critical, to which JDS was extremely receptive and reassuring they would finish them in time. To be honest I was probably pretty obnoxious as a customer with the amount of questions I had. Sometimes it took a while for a response but JDS was helpful and concise in every response. Now to the shoes. Firstly, I’d never dealt with shark leather before so I was a bit nervous as to how ‘loud’ the texture in the leather would look, and I was happy that they had a very distinct texture without being so garish they would be unwearable in a formal setting. Next, JDS did a fantastic job cutting their pattern. Shark obviously has some crazy natural creasing to the leather, which is to say the ridges and grooves naturally occurring on the skin vary quite a bit, so the pieces for each cut need to be expertly aligned and cut to maintain symmetry and design between each shoe. JDS nailed it in this regard, the shoes look identical and the natural grooves and creasing line up exactly where they should on these shoes. Fantastic work. All else aside the construction is flawless as far as I can tell, gorgeous leather soles, lining doesn’t have any issues etc. I ordered the ‘Benn’ oxfords with a storm welt and leather soles for reference. A real 5 star. I’m very happy with these.