Allen Edmonds Appreciation Thread - reviews, pictures, sizing, etc...

[AE_afficionado]

An embarrassment of riches:

My gorgeous new Player's in walnut calf just arrived. The burnishing on these shoes is 100x better than the walnut strands I bought last year. Much more character and sophistication. The Strands are great but they just did not possess this quality of burnishing that these do. First quality shoes for less than $200:

As did a pair of Players in dark chocolate suede, 2nds from the Freeport Maine outlet, $150:

I now have a trifecta of Player's shoes in black and walnut calf, and the suede.

By this time next week I hope to also have McAllisters in walnut I ordered from the new Philadelphia store during their opening. I can only hope they look as good as the walnut Player's do once they arrive!

 

[cbfn]



Just heard back from the shoebank: they only have Patriots in 9D, in brown left. Jump if you are interested.

Thanks! Sadly not my size.

 

[MacktasticGDogg]



Just heard back from the shoebank: they only have Patriots in 9D, in brown left. Jump if you are interested.

I think I just snagged that last brown one.

Last year I passed on a pair of Alden cigar LHS from The Shoe Mart when they inexplicably had the price at around $450 on the website for a while, and regretted it a little bit, so hopefully the brown shell Patriot would make a good substitute.

 

[AxVxA]

Canadian here who has purchased factory seconds from the AE Shoebank twice, both times requesting USPS shipping. The first time I was dinged with customs to the tune of about $50, and the second time was about half that. I have heard of fellow Canadians only being dinged in the neighbourhood of $10 which is pleasant to hear.

Masernaut raised a good concern about their recent abandonment of USPS, and subsequent and very plausible higher fees. This would make the deals suddenly seem not as hot as in the past. Pity.

For us Canadians, it makes no sense to use allenedmonds.com to order... they use Bongo for international orders which is the epitome of stupidity... example:




I mentioned this on their Facebook page and they deleted the comment. haha

I do like my new AE shoes though, wearing these for the first time today. Bought from O'Conners in Calgary. Great service from those guys.

 

[MoneyWellSpent]

An embarrassment of riches:

My gorgeous new Player's in walnut calf just arrived. The burnishing on these shoes is 100x better than the walnut strands I bought last year. Much more character and sophistication. The Strands are great but they just did not possess this quality of burnishing that these do. First quality shoes for less than $200:





As did a pair of Players in dark chocolate suede, 2nds from the Freeport Maine outlet, $150:





I now have a trifecta of Player's shoes in black and walnut calf, and the suede.

By this time next week I hope to also have McAllisters in walnut I ordered from the new Philadelphia store during their opening. I can only hope they look as good as the walnut Player's do once they arrive!

Good looking shoes! Hope you enjoy them. Just FYI, the Strand in walnut is not made of burnished calf. That's why the burnishing on your Player's shoes is such a stark difference and much more evident.

 

[kmdsimpson]



Brown Cordovan Townley arrived from shoebank last night!

Those are spectacular!

 

[AE_afficionado]



Good looking shoes!  Hope you enjoy them.  Just FYI, the Strand in walnut is not made of burnished calf.  That's why the burnishing on your Player's shoes is such a stark difference and much more evident.

Thanks for clarifying. The difference really is night and day. I'm Glad to know I can blame this episode on my poor memory rather than Allen Edmonds' consistency.

Breaking them in around the house today:

 

[Aryeah]

I just purchased a pair of Mctavish natural tan and will be getting them in a few days..What is the best way to care for these shoes? I alaready have shoe trees, but what kind of color wax polish should I use on them or if wax polish is not needed, then should I just use saddle soap to clean them and leave them unpolished?

I do know if I use brown wax polish it's going to darken the color of the shoes..

 

[New Shoes1]

Brown Cordovan Townley arrived from shoebank last night!

Great deal and beautiful brown shell, but I keep wondering where the top half of your boots are?

 

[MoneyWellSpent]

I just purchased a pair of Mctavish natural tan and will be getting them in a few days..What is the best way to care for these shoes? I alaready have shoe trees, but what kind of color wax polish should I use on them or if wax polish is not needed, then should I just use saddle soap to clean them and leave them unpolished?

I do know if I use brown wax polish it's going to darken the color of the shoes..

No wax polish on these unless you are intentionally trying to change their look. Just Conditioner/Cleaner and Saddle Soap. Be aware that the Saddle Soap will slowly darken them several shades over the course of several applications. if you like the original color, use Leather Lotion instead of Saddle Soap.

 

[PerCC]

Took an early lunch break to give the Shoebank a call, and Nate told me that they are all sold out. You guys picked those things up fast.

If anyone who got either brown or burgundy receives theirs and would like to part ways with them, I'm more than willing. I'm going back to grad school and just can't afford the $600 price tag of shell at the moment.

 

[AE_afficionado]

And here are the dark chocolate suedes:

I can't wait to try some laces in different colors.

 

[MacktasticGDogg]



I just purchased a pair of Mctavish natural tan and will be getting them in a few days..What is the best way to care for these shoes? I alaready have shoe trees, but what kind of color wax polish should I use on them or if wax polish is not needed, then should I just use saddle soap to clean them and leave them unpolished?

I do know if I use brown wax polish it's going to darken the color of the shoes..

You basically just need to keep the leather conditioned. Leather lotion or cleaner/conditioner is basically all you need. If you want them to be more waterproof, you can use some Sno-Seal or Obenauf's LP or Saphir Dubin grease. I recently tried some Saphir Dubin grease on my Elgins (captoe version of the McTavish, basically), and they seemed to work well. I put one of the aforementioned product on my Elgins once in a while and just brush them before and after wear and they've been great.

 

[BCer]

A little off topic however I am an EA lover from the great white north (aka Canada) and was wondering if there are any fellow Canadians that order directly from the shoebank or ae.com? I have only ever bought when I am in the states but have been very tempted to order from the shoebank/online. I was hoping someone Can give me their two cents!

I live in the Vancouver area, and am a recent addict of Allen Edmonds (a whole different issue!). I'm lucky enough to live only 15 minutes from the US border. There are numerous mail depots on the US side, that you can just register with, and they will receive parcels. I simply have my shipping address registered to my name, but the US address with my registration number at the depot I use. With my Nexus pass, I can zip past any long lines at the border, pick up my package and be back home, all within an hour. As for duties, taxes, etc. I always fully declare, and sometimes the Cdn customs guys ding me, sometimes not. However, for any Canadians importing AE product, it's SUPER important to make it very clear they are MADE IN THE US. Zero duties on US-made products...only Cdn taxes. And currently, to better myself even one more, I've got an order on the way to my US address, and I'm flying to Vegas on Friday...out of Bellingham airport (20minutes south of the border). So I'm flying down for 4 days, and when I land back in Bellingham, driving past my US depot to pick up my package, declaring as part of my allowance for being in the US 48+ hours, and zero taxes! Works out great. Not sure how many Canadians on this board live close enough to the border, but this sure beats having AE ship directly to my Canadian home! Plus, free shipping within the US! All good...

 

[Karl Drogo]

Honest question: Why all the cross-legged photos?