The ORIGINAL since 1976.

That's pretty much all I have to say.

Have a wonderful day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-S-MJK0M1Q

You can watch how our 100% Made in Italy cycling shoes are done courtesy of the television show "How It's Made" on the Discovery and Science Channels.

We were featured as Product #1000.

I've been wearing my empires for a couple of weeks. Took a bit of adjustment coming from shimano R310 shoes, as the uppers are MUCH more supple. I kind of liked the firm feel of the Shimano, so it was a change. I take a 43 in both, the heel and midfoot are the same, the giro toe box is definitely wider.

You will get left behind on group rides because people get tired of waiting for you to get your shoes laced up though.

vittoriashoes, so are you going to bring it back?

Edit: never mind, found it on their page, not under "Road" though ...

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

Vittoria makes some nice shoes for sure.
That said because not only Vittoria but also other manufacturers styled their shoes that way back in time , Giro just took the idea of old school cycling shoes and lifted it no a new level by using new materials IMO.
You can keep a shoe as is with of course a new sole and expect your customers to accept the heritage behind the brand or use retro styling and new materials to make it better.
I also do not like the attitude of some Italian manufacturers who depend too much on "we have the heritage and the knowledge since the last century so there is not much left to say".
Time will tell if this is the right message towards the consumer.

IMO the Giro Empire shoes look way better than their "Originals" with their no seams upper,better looking laces,more heel support and the much better looking & cleaner perforation job.
I will only criticize again the over sized Giro logo which currently is a trend all manufacturers have to get cured for.
No one realizes yet that going against a trend is a "new trend" itself .

Bura,

We do have a heritage and history behind our brand. But that isn't the only reason why I personally feel Vittoria is a cut above other brands.

We offer 4 different widths, a multi length for people with two different length feet(90% of the population has), a high and low volume option and every pair can be a Womens or Mens last.

We also offer all of our models in any of the 7 different soles we make. So if you like a Pista Classic-gloss white- and want that for cross racing, we have a sole for that.

What we do is make everything in Italy. All of our shoes are made int he same factory as when we started almost 40 yrs ago.

We were fortunate enough to have some great success and some great history of first:
First cable tension Closure
First Mountain Shoe
First Spin Shoe
First Hyperlight Shoe-shoe under 200 grams
First Part Carbon/Part Nylon Sole
First with a molded Heel Cup
First with a full carbon sole under 5mm continuous thickness
First with a color other than black

We are very proud of our heritage. And I am proud to work for the company. We have an amazing group of cordwainers(shoe makers) and the family who own the company is now on generation #6. We have even made shoes for other people-Michael Schumachers F1 driving shoes for example.

So yes, we are proud of the history and heritage. We always love talking about it. The reason for the "original" comment was we have been making a vintage shoe for a number of years before the trend started. At the same time we want people to know that many times the old is new again. As is the case with the Empire shoe.

If they sold this, I'd have to buy it. And I already have three sets of perfectly good cycling shoes. Main right now are Giro Prolites.

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2013 Wilier Cento1 SR || 2009 Ridley Crossbow || 2011 Yeti AS-R 5 Carbon

love the look, but the black is just too shiny for my taste

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2011 Tarmac Pro SL3 Project Black (gone but not forgotten)
2012 Parlee Z5 SLi (just because)

@Vittoriashoes:
As said I like your shoes. I tried your shoes and they are very good to perfect.
This does not mean that I do like your classic line. I like Giro Empire much,much better.
Your second and your third post to this thread are way more constructive than your first one.
It shows there are more things to say as just showing some "originals" of the Giro shoes where I doubt that the "originals" of the Empire is your classic line because almost all shoes were styled that way back in the 1970 's. I had some very similar looking Rivats then.
Today Dromarti (and may be some others)make some classic styled shoes .
But again Giro has IMO rised the level by using Teijin material plus giving the shoe a modern-classic look. This is what retro-styling is all about.
There may be people out there who stick more with the classic/classic look and like your classic line.

Bura,

I absolutely understand your comments. And I agree with you that many people will like the look and styling of the Empire while others our Classic model. It's all personal preference. Which is why we make so many models, colors and offerings in terms of the sole and sizings.