Allen Edmonds Appreciation Thread - Page 811

Crawling on the floor to get high-res, Lilliputian shots of somebody else's broken-in shoes: red flag.

Posting them on the internet with distressed commentary: red flag.

Seriously, you should give up buying old shoes. AEs are not that expensive. With your discriminating eye, you will learn to buy new and like it.

wow i was expecting much worse when you first described them. i agree with others, i don't think buying used shoes is for you. if they're a 10D lemme know and i'll buy them from you for what you paid. if they're an 11.5 or 12 i might know someone who's interested, too.

As much as I hate to admit it, you're pretty spot on here. I'm not going to give up on preowned (calling them preowned as opposed to used makes me feel better about it) completely, but you're right about the price. My recent purchasing of preowned can be attributed to 1) purchasing a pretty close to perfect pair of cliftons from a forum member 2) lucking out with a nice pair of black Park Aves on ebay (tried my luck after the cliftons purchase) and 3) working in an environment where 90% of the time I would be fine but on any given day i might be forced to do something that could kill my shoes.

90% of my time dressed up is for work and I like to look my best. I don't want to risk ruining a pair of shoes I paid $259 for and at the same time I don't think that means I should have to wear Kennith Coles just in case! I'm a lover of quality. I'm going to have to come up with a good compromise. Probably something like this:

1) Purchase (and keep) shoes that are quality, affordable and well cared for. Return those that were not cared for.

2) Purchase new (or from the shoebank) shoes that i'm OK with not wearing to the office most of the time.

3) Purchase and keep at the office a pair of black and a pair of brown shoes that are decent quality but can take a beating. - These would be for the days where I come in wearing a pristine pair of strands and suddenly am thrown into a situation where I need to do manual labor. These days only seem to happen when i'm not prepared. If i took a Friday and came in with jeans, sneakers and a sweater, i'd sit at my desk all day. If I came in with a crisp white shirt, tie and jacket, the HVAC would be broken, i'd be 95% in my office and i'd need to move 40 computers from one side of the building to the other!

Anyway - i'll have a heart to heart with the shoebank and see what I can do. I guess i'll give up on the strands and shoot them back in the mail today! Thanks for the reality check. That was what I wanted to do all along (send them back) but I had doubts that I needed shot down! The seller was 100% ok with it and there will be no issues returning them.

-J

12B, but I suspect they might have been stretched. They don't feel loose, but that mark that's there makes me think so. If you know someone, let me know. I'd let them go for what I paid - otherwise i'll just send them back.

As for buying used - i've struck gold 3 other times. All great shoes. Small scratches, scuffs and even creases are OK with me. I've got Saphir and polish. No worries. When I saw the soles were this bent, though, it just didn't feel right.

-J

Mingus:  keep a beater pair of shoes at work, but you sound like the perfect customer for the Shoe Bank and its frequent sales on seconds.  Two new pairs of seconds for $300 = New shoes for Mingus without the anxiety of ruining expensive shoes.

 

I think you should keep doing what you are doing.  There will be hits and misses, just like there is with buying firsts and seconds.  You don't have to read these threads long to see that the "perfect" shoe can be rather elusive.  If you are ok with the potential headaches of returns, etc., then buy the best quality you can afford and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.  As your previous post stated, you shouldn't be wearing $300.00+ shoes if you may ruin them during one honest day's work. 

Agreed! Are they having this sale now?

-J

 

This is also a good idea as an alternative approach.  I do this myself because I am in a profession that could lead to me getting something nasty spilled on my shoes, so I keep a pair of old shoes in my desk that I can slip on if I need to. 

 

I think so, but, if not, keep an eye out for Black Friday.

 

I'm under the impression that you can't stack promo codes.

 

If you plan on wearing them in a business casual attire, I would say go with the brown McTavish.  Are you really stuck on brown?  I have a pair of blue Neumoks and surprisingly, they look amazing with jeans/chinos but I can also be pulled off with certain slacks.

 

 

Gorgeous shoes.  I'm a little too young for that style shoe but I can't wait to get a nice pair of slip ons.

 

You're too young for a penny loafer? 

 

I don't think I dress accordingly to pull off a penny loafer.  Most of my dress pants are slimmer fitting, and I will typically wear them with my strands, mcallister, or a few hugo boss shoes that I still have from a couple years ago.  I'm 28, and although I dress typically traditional, I always go for a more modern cut.  My next shoe is the Neumora, to give you an idea of where my head is at.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love them.. but I wouldn't be able to fit them into the cycle just yet.

You mean to the person he bought them from, not AE (this would be ridiculous IMO), right?

 

Yeah, we are talking about used shoes here, not AE firsts or seconds (read through the string about him trying to decide if he should keep his used shoes).  Are you asking if I think AE should put trees in their shoes before they are sold?  Absolutely not.  Perhaps in a perfect world, but that would drive the cost of shoes a lot higher with negligible benefits.