A shoe-in

I had a birthday recently and some spending money so I've been buying shoes I didn't particularly need but liked. In this case I went for Sienna loafers from Herring Shoes. I went for the burgundy colour (pictured).

Loafers have always been a bit of a mystery to me. They've always looked either too informal to wear with a suit but not quite relaxed enough to be casual. One thing that's happened over the last few years, though, is the line between the two has been blurring and I see a lot of people wearing pretty decent looking loafers with both jeans and suits. These are going to go well with my favourite blue suit as well as the more casual outfits, although they wouldn't be right for the rigidly formal business suit I agree.

Buying clothes through the Internet can be a risk. I have no connection with Herring Shoes and I'm not on any commission, so when I recommend the company you'll understand it's purely because they do a damned good service. Shoes are packed solidly in a rigid box; they arrive completely undamaged within (in my experience) a couple of days. I was delighted to find a couple of extras included in the box; a tin of the right coloured polish (had I thought of buying Burgundy polish? Had I heck...) and a decent sized cloth to cover your lap whilst applying this polish weren't mentioned in the market but were in the box regardless.

Tip: check their sale stock. Men's shoe fashion does change but something like a classic brogue doesn't alter that much, so if you can pick up something like a pair of upmarket Church's shoes for £275 rather than £350 plus - if you're in that market - this is the place to come.

Genius or idiocy? The Smithfield Case

Just over a week ago I wrote about the Smithfield Box, this idea of ordering clothes from someone who'd choose them for you based on a few sizes and hints on your taste. Was it a good idea or plain crazy? Here's the blog entry and here's the service. As promised I tried it, and here's what I found.

I opted for smart casual clothes, set a budget, put my sizes and a few colour preferences in but deliberately left out the photo. Let's see what they send, I thought.

Signing up was painless. It took them a couple of days to get back to me but then they had to choose the clothes. There were, to be fair, a couple of stinkers - a Boss jacket that was too young on me as well as being too small (they'll replace mis-sized items of course; given that size varies from brand to brand it's no surprise that they allow a bit of leeway and occasionally send something that's large rather than XL as I asked, or XXL just in case). Loads of detailing on the pockets, not my taste at all. A Paul Smith floral shirt was marked XL but also had that appalling slogan "slim fit", and a pair of Paul Smith plimsols - I don't call those trainers - just didn't do anything for me.

Most of the clothes, though, were pretty damned good. I've kept a Polo Ralph Lauren cotton ribbed V-neck and would happily have helped myself to a zip top one as well if I hadn't found it cheaper on the House of Fraser website (Smithfield claims to be convenient, not the cheapest); a pair of brown chinos were not my usual colour but my wife assured me they looked great so they've gone into the wardrobe rather than the returns box, and a paid of Pied a Terre tan Chelsea boots were excellent - no way were they going back, until the tag on the back snapped. Smithfield is of course happy to replace them.

I'm sending a couple of Polo Ralph Lauren shirts back because they were in L rather than XL - it was worth checking - but also because I'm not short of shirts. Had I been in that market then the pink/red stripe shirt and the blue linen they sent would have done very well.

So on balance I'd have to quantify this as a resounding success. Friendly staff - I have a personal shopper called Beatrice on hand anytime I want to order again - no obligation and above all convenience. They delivered free on Saturday morning and collected yesterday evening at no extra charge - they'll simply debit my card with the value of the items I've kept.

I'm going on holiday in a few months' time and depending on what I find needs replacing in my summer wardrobe I'll certainly be in touch with these guys again. Aside from not getting the same discount I found elsewhere - which is absolutely not something they claim to offer - I can't think of a single drawback.