Affordable European Shoes: Meermin

I’m working on a post for Put This On about “affordable” shoes. I put that in quotations, of course, because everyone’s definition of affordable is different. By affordable, I mean shoes that retail for under $350, which is about the entry level price for good quality, full-grained leather shoes that can be resoled nowadays.

Meermin is on the short list of companies I plan to write about (thanks to Matt for the introduction). The company is based in Spain and came out of the dissolution of another Spanish shoemaking company, Yanko, which some readers may be familiar with. Yanko made very decent shoes many years ago and sold them at extraordinarily good prices. US customers used to be able to buy them from Sky Valet, but then suddenly one day they were gone and the remaining stock at Sky Valet was sold through. Out of Yanko, however, came Carmina and Meermin. Members of the Albaladejo family own both companies, but the relations stop there. The two hold different products, are owned by different people, and act as different operations. 

Meermin has two lines, the Classic and the Linea Maestro. The Classic collection is fully hand lasted and made with Goodyear welt construction. Prices start around $150-200. The Linea Maestro collection is a bit more contemporary looking and features high-end finishing. They’re not only fully hand lasted, but also hand welted. Prices for the Linea Maestro shoes start at $320 for calf and $370 for shell cordovan. 

I was a bit skeptical of the deal at first and figured they must be skimping on the leathers. I talked to the CEO of the company, however, and he confirmed they’re using suede from Charles F. Stead and calf from Annonay and Weinheimer Leder. These are the same tanneries that serve highly respected English and American shoe companies, including ones that charge two or three times the price of Meermin’s. The shell cordovan is also from Argentina and they plan to get crocodile and stingray skins in soon. 

The hand lasting and hand welting are interesting artisanal details. You typically only see such features on high-end bespoke-level shoes or cheaper models coming out of East Asia. I’ve yet to see them coming from a mid-priced European shoe maker - I assume because of the high cost of Western labor - so it’s interesting that Meermin is offering it. There has been a lot of debate over the advantages of hand lasting and welting, and it has been all hashed out ad nauseam at Ask Andy About Clothes. I’d like to avoid summarizing the controversial details, but suffice to say that I think it’s an artisanal detail that you either appreciate or you don’t. 

For the moment, Meermin is only available through their shop in Madrid or high-end Japanese department stores such as Isetan. I’ve been told, however, that they plan to launch a webstore soon. Once they do, I’ll be sure to let you know. 



  1. mikolajek reblogged this from dieworkwear
  2. legitimatestrategy reblogged this from dieworkwear
  3. subsetofme reblogged this from dieworkwear
  4. meermin reblogged this from dieworkwear
  5. minimumviablewardrobe reblogged this from dieworkwear and added:
    Might as well get this...way early. If you want to look super
  6. fairbanks1193 reblogged this from dieworkwear
  7. theprephipster reblogged this from dieworkwear
  8. sartorialdoctrine said: Interesting! Good alternative to the known brands in the same price segment. However I’d go with C&J instead, even if their stuff is a little more expensive. Great find though.
  9. thisandthatstyle reblogged this from dieworkwear
  10. dieworkwear posted this