nikolau
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2020
- Messages
- 352
- Reaction score
- 476
The new “Bostonians” made by Clarks raise a couple of questions for me.
The market for *new* longwing brogues of respectable quality as it is presently constituted is small. The AE MacNeil has been discontinued. Florshiem has not made a decent shoe this century. Executive Imperials are cheap and poorly made.
English, Spanish, and Portuguese LWB options are limited- and with the notable exceptions of Meermin, Carlos Santos, Loake, Löf & Tung (on sale), and Tricker’s Outlet- aren’t available near this price. In my view, those brand’s offerings would all be more appropriately classed as causal British style country shoes rather than traditional North American dress shoes. More formal options (e.g. Carmina, Cobbler Union, Alden, Grant Stone) are several times the price.
That said- one can buy a GYW pair of gently used MacNeils for about the same price. So... is this a decent revival of a legacy brand we know and love, or a shameful cash grab by a brash young executive who noticed StyleForum comes up if you google “vintage Bostonian”? Neither? Both?
Full disclose: I do not own a pair, but tried them on at the Clarks’ store in midtown several months ago and was rather impressed. That said, my knowledge of shoes is woefully lacking, and I haven’t been able to find a thread discussing these in any detail.
The market for *new* longwing brogues of respectable quality as it is presently constituted is small. The AE MacNeil has been discontinued. Florshiem has not made a decent shoe this century. Executive Imperials are cheap and poorly made.
English, Spanish, and Portuguese LWB options are limited- and with the notable exceptions of Meermin, Carlos Santos, Loake, Löf & Tung (on sale), and Tricker’s Outlet- aren’t available near this price. In my view, those brand’s offerings would all be more appropriately classed as causal British style country shoes rather than traditional North American dress shoes. More formal options (e.g. Carmina, Cobbler Union, Alden, Grant Stone) are several times the price.
That said- one can buy a GYW pair of gently used MacNeils for about the same price. So... is this a decent revival of a legacy brand we know and love, or a shameful cash grab by a brash young executive who noticed StyleForum comes up if you google “vintage Bostonian”? Neither? Both?
Full disclose: I do not own a pair, but tried them on at the Clarks’ store in midtown several months ago and was rather impressed. That said, my knowledge of shoes is woefully lacking, and I haven’t been able to find a thread discussing these in any detail.
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