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

So Nordstrom Rack nearby me carries Woodlore Shoe Trees. Any thoughts? Are these the ones that manufacture Allen Edmonds shoe trees?

I think the Nordstrom Rack's shoe trees are just OK. Nothing special. They cost about $12 / pair. On the other hand, I did hear that the Nordstrom Rack's shoe trees are 2nds(?). Both Rack and the main Nordstrom's shoe trees are made by Woodlore, who also makes shoe trees for AE



Mr. Moo said:

AE honored their pricing for me in the shell Bradley price mistake issue. Very nice of them - now I hope they fit.

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I'm glad to hear that. My pair keeps having it's shipping date pushed back.



Testudo_Aubreii said:

The dark brown Fifth Street is quite nice, stylistically speaking. The toe cap is set back farther than on a PA or Fifth Ave.. Also, at least in the brown Fifth Street, the stitching in the welt is less noticeable than in a black PA. You might almost confuse it with the recessed channel stitching used by C&J or Alden on their city shoes, unless you looked carefully.

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Is that true? That might explain why it looks so much better to my eye than the PA. The Strand has a nicer looking toe cap as well.



rollafan said:

I think the Nordstrom Rack's shoe trees are just OK. Nothing special. They cost about $12 / pair. On the other hand, I did hear that the Nordstrom Rack's shoe trees are 2nds(?). Both Rack and the main Nordstrom's shoe trees are made by Woodlore, who also makes shoe trees for AE

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Interesting, I may just go and pick up some J&M shoe trees from a local shoe store. They come to about $12.95 each, Nordstrom sells their Woodlores at $12.90 each, the interesting thing is that they don't have a monogram on the tree, its just blank so it's a possibility they may be seconds (but does that really matter)



dieselman89 said:

Interesting, I may just go and pick up some J&M shoe trees from a local shoe store. They come to about $12.95 each, Nordstrom sells their Woodlores at $12.90 each, the interesting thing is that they don't have a monogram on the tree, its just blank so it's a possibility they may be seconds (but does that really matter)

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Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but the Woodlore shoe tree in that model isn't supposed to come with any markings.

dieselman89 said:

Interesting, I may just go and pick up some J&M shoe trees from a local shoe store. They come to about $12.95 each, Nordstrom sells their Woodlores at $12.90 each, the interesting thing is that they don't have a monogram on the tree, its just blank so it's a possibility they may be seconds (but does that really matter)

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How is a shoe tree a second? I have AE and Nordstrom shoe trees as well as the woodlore ones from the Rack. There is no difference between any of them, other than price.

I must had a bad luck when I bought two shoe trees from Nordstrom Rack. The finish wasn't as smooth as the main Nordstrom ones and one had tiny crack. I did ask the store associates at Nordstrom Rack if they had other ones, but they said those were the only pairs that they carried, so I just bought it for my "not-so-good" shoes haha. Oh well...

Has anyone seen the Neumok? I just saw them as I drooled over the AE website one day, but they were tucked away without much fanfare:

http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline/producti_SF4025_1_40000000001_-1

Edit: By one day I mean my daily drool-today

Haven't seen those before. Aren't they just a McTavish in different colors? I've seen most of the rough collection in person, and I think the MacNeil in the dark brown with the natural sole is the coolest looking of the bunch.



blsing said:

Has anyone seen the Neumok?  I just saw them as I drooled over the AE website one day, but they were tucked away without much fanfare:

http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline/producti_SF4025_1_40000000001_-1

Edit: By one day I mean my daily drool-today

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I've seen those in the store, they look very festive



blsing said:

Has anyone seen the Neumok?  I just saw them as I drooled over the AE website one day, but they were tucked away without much fanfare:



http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline/producti_SF4025_1_40000000001_-1

Edit: By one day I mean my daily drool-today

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Very nice indeed.



blsing said:

Has anyone seen the Neumok?  I just saw them as I drooled over the AE website one day, but they were tucked away without much fanfare:

http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline/producti_SF4025_1_40000000001_-1

Edit: By one day I mean my daily drool-today

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those are the ones that i saw in store about two weeks ago. they do look just in time for xmas!



Joenobody0 said:

Is that true? That might explain why it looks so much better to my eye than the PA. The Strand has a nicer looking toe cap as well.

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Yep. I have a 9.5D 5th Street and a 9.5C Park Ave in front of me. From the back edge of the cap (i.e., where the cap joins the vamp) to the tip of the toe, the 5th Street measures 6 centimeters. The PA measures 5.5 cm.

This is the main problem with the PA and the 5A, IMO. The 5 last is not blobby, as Sator has decisively proved. It's actually quite sleek. What's wrong with AE's 5 last shoes is the positioning of the cap on the PA and the 5A. It's too far forward. As arkirshner pointed out in a superb post at AAAC, for an elegant stitch cap or punch-cap oxford, the toe-tip to cap distance is about 2/3 the distance from the toe-tip to the bottom of the quarters.. In the EG Chelsea that Sator put beside the PA, that ratio holds. In the PA in Sator's post, the ratio is almost 1.5 to 3. On my 9.5 C PA, the tip to cap distance is 5.5 cm, and the tip to quarters distance is 10 cm. On my 9.5 Fifth Street, the tip to cap is 6 cm, and the tip to quarters 10 cm. If AE had set the cap back another centimeter, the boot would look stunning. As it is, it looks quite nice.

I think the Strand's toe cap distance ratio is much greater than 2 to 3. At least, the overhead pic on the Zappo's page leads me to think so. This explains why the same people who slam the PA and 5A for being blobby have happily bought the Strand, even though it's on the same 5 last. The Strand's ratios are more elegant, even though the broguing makes the Strand much heavier-looking than the PA or 5A.

I'd be interested to hear these measurements for Alden's stitch-cap and punch-cap oxfords. Can anybody take 'em? On the Shoemart pics, it looks like the caps are farther back than on their AE rivals, but not quite the 2/3 ratio. On the J&M Crown Aristocraft Georgetown, OTOH, the ratio is clearly 2/3 or greater. That explains why the Georgetown looks so much better than the PA, even though the 5 last is sleeker than the Georgetown's Stockton last.

Great post. Thank you. I wouldn't purchase a PA due to the stubby toe cap. I hope AE continues to refine their styles.