Allen Edmonds Appreciation Thread - Page 1040

I started wearing Allen Edmonds about 2 years ago.  I worked a part time job for my 4 years of college at an old school, upscale mens store.  The owner as well as the other associates all wore Allen Edmonds and Aldens since we sold them.  I am finishing my MBA now so my collection isn't extensive but currently include:

Chili Maxfield

Walnut Strand

Walnut Dalton

Brown Burnished Pomona

Snuff Suede Amok

Chocolate Suede Amok

Brown Neumok

Walnut Jermyn

Chili Grain Randolph

Tan Elgin

My favorite shoe of all though and only pair of Alden's I own is the Indy Boot.

Swung by my local AE store today.  Good news - most of the new shoes are not nearly as ugly in person as they are on the website.  They also had another new shoe displayed.  The Franciscan is a monk-strap on the 333 last with a brogue captoe.  They only had it in black, but I was intrigued.

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbrechter 

Jumped on waiting list for seconds of the Strand in Bourbon. Anyone have any idea what the typical wait time is for Shoe Bank to get an out of stock second in? I realize "it depends" is the actual answer, but thought I'd at least solicit some opinions based on past experience.

I'm glad I was able to get my hands on a pair of the discontinued Bourbon Sanford's in such good condition. The discontinued Bourbon color from the 1990s Sanford's, (can be seen in my post above), is by far my favorite tan leather shoe I've seen. The name Bourbon is misleading for them though because the more recent Bourbon colors AE has been putting out are much darker than the tan/orange/yellow hue to the classic Bourbon Sanford's. Not that the new Bourbon doesn't look great but the old Bourbon is where it's at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dancingbear 

Swung by my local AE store today.  Good news - most of the new shoes are not nearly as ugly in person as they are on the website.  They also had another new shoe displayed.  The Franciscan is a monk-strap on the 333 last with a brogue captoe.  They only had it in black, but I was intrigued.

AE marketing photos are horrible.  All the shoes look better in real life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhiPsi32 

 

AE marketing photos are horrible.  All the shoes look better in real life.

I've started to think that the marketing photos are only good in that they provide an idea of the design of the shoe (shapes and such). You then have to try to imagine the color as you've seen it on other shoes, assuming you've seen other shoes that color. 

They must spend a lot of time in post, and they lose track of what the shoe looks like. They end up presenting what they think is an interesting image rather than conveying the reality. Well, that's just a theory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSizzle 

 

I've started to think that the marketing photos are only good in that they provide an idea of the design of the shoe (shapes and such). You then have to try to imagine the color as you've seen it on other shoes, assuming you've seen other shoes that color. 

 

They must spend a lot of time in post, and they lose track of what the shoe looks like. They end up presenting what they think is an interesting image rather than conveying the reality. Well, that's just a theory.

I wish I knew.  In the era of online shopping, you'd think they would put more effort into selecting photos.

Getting photos of shoes that represent a realistic color isn't an easy thing to do. Lighting will effect the tones in the pictures captured in ways you don't typically see with your eye even just before you take the picture looking at the shoes in the exact same setting.

I typically use the bracketing technique when I'm taking pictures of shoes, bracketing is taking the same shot at different shutter speeds in order to have the same shot at different levels of light, I'll then usually narrow down to 3 shots each just one step lighter or darker than the other and upload those to my computer. Then I look at the pictures on my computer screen and determine the most accurate representation straight from my camera and edit that one. The key here is to leave the shoes just how you photographed them and look throughout the editing process to maintain accurate colors on screen for what they look like in person. Still not the easiest thing to do but it helps, also the colors you choose on your screen don't always look just the same on someone else's monitor when they see it and that can only be adjusted to a certain extent. Conclusion, buy shoes in person or like stated above, understand what's typically realistic of shoes that appear a certain way on the screen.

I've decided to get myself some boots since the Daltons and Fifth Street are currently on sale.  I prefer the Dalton, but the only color available on sale is the grey.  I haven't seen the grey in person yet, so I was wondering if anyone had any real pictures of them and I was curious if maybe I should just go with the brown Fifth Street instead.  Thoughts?  I ask because a friend nearly got the grey Daltons when they came out, but was really put off when he saw them at the shop.  I'd be interested in some opinions and justification one way or the other.