What do you think of these two shoes?

What do you think of these two pairs of shoes? I managed to pick them up for $135 and $140, respectively. Polo captoe Brooks Brothers I was torn between the second pair and these but unfortunately the website and the store were sold out of my size during the Friends and Family sale. Oh well, I might try to see if the store will let me get a full value exchange. For $70, is the step up to the Alden model worth it?

I got the Polo a few weeks back -- don't know why it was on Bluefly for $70, but that must have been an error. Anyways, they ran out of my size shortly after I ordered mine. Sorry about the BB link. I got the "leather oxford" in black. It's one of the Brooks Buys for $201. The Alden styling seems about the same. I'm pretty happy with the product I got, but I'm going to see if they have the Aldens at the store. My impressions of the Polo shoes is very good. The leather is really beautiful, it has a great welted sole and combination heel. It is very comfortable as well -- maybe the most comfortable dress shoe I've ever owned. Good for medium-narrow feet.

I don't have the finest sense of what differentiates the Ed Green's from the Italian mades.  I think that, based on reputation alone, you'd have to believe that the Ed Green's construction is at least two notches above the Italian mades.  The Ed Greens will be handmade, I assume, while the Italian ones are clearly machine welted.   But, in terms of the quality of the leather, I would say that the Italian mades are not too far from the quality of the Ed Greens.  Maybe with years of wear you'd see that the Green's leather wears better.  But compared to similar priced shoes, I'm extremely impressed with the quality of the leather used in the Italian mades.  It is substantial leather, but still very supple -- in other words, it is not "plasticy" at all, and there is no sense that it has a polyeurethance coat like, say, $200 Mezlan's do.  They are also eminently comfortable.  What I believe is the shank running through the instep really supports the foot beautifully.  They also have a really beautifully shaped last.   I would say that the leather quality easily matches that of the Alden made shoes at Brooks Brothers. As for holding out for the Greens, "holding out" usually for me will mean paying at least $400. There's no way I could find a new pair of Purple Label shoes in my size for less than that -- I mean, that's like a 50% discount already. Going from $135 on Bluefly to $400 or thereabouts is a really big leap. I'd rather use the money to buy a second pair of nice shoes than go from a "great shoe" (which I consider the Polos to be), to a "superlative shoe -- best RTW on the planet," which the Purple Labels arguably are.