10 pairs of Allen Edmonds..excessive?

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

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No, I only buy at good prices. Usually it turns a nice profit.

Yeah, so I'm just screwed.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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Don't you lose a lot of money on resale? I have a pair of unworn Lobbs I'm reluctant to get rid of because I bought them at full retail.


You lost the money when you bought, not when you will sell.

At best, you're trying to re-coup.

Originally Posted by WestIndianArchie

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You lost the money when you bought, not when you will sell.

At best, you're trying to re-coup.

Thanks for the technical clarification, professor.

Originally Posted by Holstein Bilter

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My boss and I had a conversation about shoes and he revealed to me
that he owns 10 pairs of Allen Edmonds shoes..that it's his absolute
favorite and are a bargain at 450/pair!(funny)

10 pairs sounds like a lot of AEs...I only have 1 pair....

Do any of you have that many of one manufacturer in your closet?

The caveat is that he mentioned most of them he's had for 10 years
and pays 60 dollars to get them sent in and resoled and retanned
when they wear down.

regards,

Holstein

For AE's? yeah- 10 pairs is excessive.





That said, I have more than 10 pairs of Aldens.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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There are lots of classic shoes that aren't Allen-Edmonds. And there are lots of classic shoes that are more refined and more elegantly shaped while using better materials.

Don't forget to mention alot more expensive too! As for better materials, you must be joking. The leathers on their firsts are top notch. Especially their Cordovan shoes although even their calfskin is high grade. Maybe the materials you spoke of are the shoe box and laces?

As a value shoe with high quality, AE's are pretty tough to touch. No other shoe at the AE price point comes close in terms of quality and they beat out alot of higher priced shoes. Personally, I like their traditional look and find it to be way more versatile than many may think.

Then again, I may be considered to have some bias stemming from the 17 or so pairs that seem to be piling up........

Originally Posted by yachtie

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For AE's? yeah- 10 pairs is excessive.





That said, I have more than 10 pairs of Aldens.

Your Aldens are among the nicest shoes I've ever seen!

I never questioned Allen-Edmonds from the perpective of value (although I like Alden much better). However, AE leather is most certainly not top notch. It's perfectly nice, but one of the things that makes high-end makers like Lobb or Edward Green special is the much, much better leather (albeit at a much higher price). Morever, the contruction on those shoes is often far finer.

To make my point another way, I'd rather have five pairs of Edward Green or eight pairs of Aldens than ten pairs of Allen Edmonds.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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To make my point another way, I'd rather have five pairs of Edward Green or eight pairs of Aldens than ten pairs of Allen Edmonds.

THAT is a point I can agree on.

However, for me personally, as I can only afford to buy a couple of pairs for now, I am very happy with a 4-pair rotation of AE's, with a couple older budget shoes thrown in for bad weather. I think my average outlay for the AE's was around $129, and the shoes are much better than what I would get anywhere else for that kind of money.

I hope to replace my AE's one by one with better shoes as the years and budget allows, but for now I have a rotation that will look great and outlast 99% of the shoes out in the real world...

10 pair of AE's is not excessive. I know this for a fact, because I have 11 pair of them, the last pair purchased less than a month ago.

However...

I would say that a number of them were less than "considered" purchases and get worn less than they should for the price I paid for them.

Also, at this point I've pretty much decided that any future shoe purchases will fewer and higher end. EG, JL, etc. here I come.


EDIT: BTW, the ones I wear the least are generally the ones that I paid the least for. When discount shopping got the best of me and the "price was too good to pass up" I should have taken a pass. YMMV.

Originally Posted by aragon765

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THAT is a point I can agree on.

However, for me personally, as I can only afford to buy a couple of pairs for now, I am very happy with a 4-pair rotation of AE's, with a couple older budget shoes thrown in for bad weather. I think my average outlay for the AE's was around $129, and the shoes are much better than what I would get anywhere else for that kind of money.

I hope to replace my AE's one by one with better shoes as the years and budget allows, but for now I have a rotation that will look great and outlast 99% of the shoes out in the real world...

Good plan. I upgraded from vintage Florsheim imperial pebble grain and beaten up Florsheim imperial shell cordovan to Alden Shell on the cheap.

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

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Calling JLibourel ... calling JLibourel ...

You called, sir?

As for 10 pairs of A-E being "excessive," if those are the only decent shoes in his rotation, so far from being excessive, I would consider it borderline abusive. Imagine, wearing the same shoes three or four times in a single month!

At the moment, I am at 40 pairs of A-Es and holding. In hindsight, some few of my purchases were unwise and unnecessary: Given how rarely I have occasion to wear dress bals, I probably don't really need both the Park Avenue and the Byron in black. As my tastes have evolved and given the wisdom of hindsight, I would not have bought the Stockbridge in black. (I don't see much need for a black, rubber-soled "dress casual" shoe.) I have more A-E "Casual" shoes than I need. The reason for this is rather sad: In the latter part of 2006 and the first part of 2007, about a half-dozen of the older shoes I wore while walking my dogs gave up the ghost within a short space of each other. I replaced them with A-E Casuals. However, within a few months of my getting my most recent A-Es, my latest dog died. She was barely five. I had adopted her only a year earlier. Had I not adopted her, I would have considerably fewer pairs of A-Es.

Speaking of A-E Casuals and Dress Casuals. I note the latest A-E catalog no longer features the Dress Casual category. The shoes formerly in this category have been apportioned to the "Dress" and "Casual" lines. I could not comprehend the logic of why what went where.

I might mention that more than seven months have elapsed since I purchased any A-E shoes, and I have no plans in sight. I feel much like a recovering alcoholic counting his period of sobriety. However, the "recovery" is dubious. Money that formerly went to Cabazon is now going to my buddies in Kowloon.

Originally Posted by JLibourel

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I might mention that more than seven months have elapsed since I purchased any A-E shoes, and I have no plans in sight.

No wonder AE raised their prices! If the company goes under in the next 12 months or so, Jan, we'll know whom to blame!

10 pairs of dress shoes seems excessive let alone 10 pairs of AE

And $450? Is that right?

Originally Posted by JLibourel

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No, it is not right. Most A-E calfskin dress shoes list at either $325 or $350. Most of the shoes in the Casual line are a good deal less. I think their shell cordovan shoes are about $475 now, and the imported, Italian-made "Seven" line are around $575, if I'm not mistaken.

However, A-E shoes in the form of seconds and closeout can often be had for much less than the stated retail. From A-E's outlet store at Cabazon, I have purchased A-E dress shoes for as little $79 and quite commonly for $129. Nordstrom also has sales on A-E shoes regularly for substantially less than A-E's suggested retail.

I guess the OPs boss was exaggerating a bit.

I've bought 3 pairs of new or practically new AEs through this forum for less than $90 each and I'm quite happy with them (a big improvement over spending $150 on Johnston & Murphy like I did before finding sf.net). There don't seem to be any AE outlet sources nearby, they only just opened a regular store recently.