The Allen Edmonds MTO Thread

[gatszu]

I think my wolverine Krause are Dublin. I have just been wiping with damp cloth and brushing. I treat them the same as cordovan.

 

[halfnhalfnhalf]



I think my wolverine Krause are Dublin. I have just been wiping with damp cloth and brushing. I treat them the same as cordovan.

The Krause boots are indeed Dublin. That leather is the spiritual cousin of shell, but I treat my Krauses the same way I treat my CXL shoes, which is to say I brush the dust off them and nothing else.

 

[watchidiot]



Other than wiping down and brushing, has anyone done anything to clean/treat their Dublins from last fall's GMTO's?

They show no sign of dryness, etc. and I've treated them with nothing, but the only thing the AE site mentions is saddle soap.  There are various opinions over on the shoe care thread about the desirability of using that on oil infused leathers, particularly if you don't want to darken them.  Ditto CXL

Bick 4 works for me withy dublin. I also use it for saddle, shell and CXL.

 

[ironfist1906]

Want to get an opinion on a recent purchase. While I've purchased from the shoe bank before, this is my first pair in cordovan leather. Although I wanted the dudee in shell, I've yet to see a pair in my size and the firsts aren't apart of the RDA sale.

My main concerns are:

1. the scratches on the toe and instep. Are they bad enough for a return or can I rectify in some way.

2. The difference is color

3. The fact that the leather seems to have degraded in the crease. Will the degrade further? Any ideas on how to repair? Refinish maybe?

Any opinions/ suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[ironfist1906]

Additional pics

 

[peppercorn78]

Hi Ironfist. You'd post is off topic for this thread, but I'll answer you. You got a nice pair, it looks like. Won't get much better for 2nds, and for 250$ off, not sure how perfect a pair you were expecting.

1) scratches in shell cordovan can be buffed out with time, patience, and elbow grease. Just as long as the leather isn't actually cut or torn.

2) some color variation is expected in shell cordovan because the tissue accepts tanning dye differently than cowhide. Those don't look too different to me. In fact, the color will change with wear and exposure to light.

3) cordovan often develops white patches in the crease points, as fats and wax are expressed from the leather during flexing. It's not degrading at all. Spend some time perusing the Alden and Shell cordovan threads. You'll see plenty of pairs with white creases. Some folks condition the creases with products like Dubben grasse but I don't think it's necessary for brand new shoes. You can buy a deer bone and attempt to smooth out the creases if you like, but in my experience they always just come back.

 

[hoit1981]

^ This color difference looks quite noticeable to me and is likely the reason for them being 2nds. One looks quite red and the other quite brown. This will be a very tricky thing to remedy and they will likely always be mismatched. I have a mismatched pair of Alden "Brownvello" ptb's and after several (6+) months of rotating them on a window sill to lighten, they are better but still slightly mismatched. Only I (or a fellow enthusiast) would ever know though, so I now just chalk it up to patina and get on with my life.

 

[peppercorn78]



^ This color difference looks quite noticeable to me and is likely the reason for them being 2nds. One looks quite red and the other quite brown. This will be a very tricky thing to remedy and they will likely always be mismatched. I have a mismatched pair of Alden "Brownvello" ptb's and after several (6+) months of rotating them on a window sill to lighten, they are better but still slightly mismatched. Only I (or a fellow enthusiast) would ever know though, so I now just chalk it up to patina and get on with my life.

Really? Maybe it's just that I'm looking at the pics on an iPhone screen, but it doesn't look as pronounced to me. I think I would be fine with it for 399. But I may have a higher tolerance than most.

OP can try using the AE burgundy cordovan creme to try to even out the color, or simply return them if they're causing too much anxiety.

 

[hoit1981]



Really? Maybe it's just that I'm looking at the pics on an iPhone screen, but it doesn't look as pronounced to me. I think I would be fine with it for 399. But I may have a higher tolerance than most.

OP can try using the AE burgundy cordovan creme to try to even out the color, or simply return them if they're causing too much anxiety.

Just looks pretty apparent to me, especially in the photo where they are both next to each other on a step. I think it would take a lot of work (and luck) to get these shades "close". Just my opinion of course.

 

[fairlynerdy]

Wore the chocolate suede badlands today while enjoying this last blast of summer. The natural welt has aged in nicely.

 

[Gauss17]

I am under the impression that there is a fairly significant shell cordovan shortage as of late (particularly from horween). I was curious if anyone had placed a MTO in brown shell cordovan, and if so, what did it cost you to place the order?

 

[garland]

I am under the impression that there is a fairly significant shell cordovan shortage as of late (particularly from horween). I was curious if anyone had placed a MTO in brown shell cordovan, and if so, what did it cost you to place the order?

With the exception of doing sole changes and mismatched sizes, the special makeup program has been suspended indefinitely. It's supposed to return at some point, but no one is too sure when, or what it will look like. Under the original format, it would have cost you $760 to have a shoe not offered in brown shell made. 650+110 SMU fee.

 

[mimo]

I'm pretty sure that last year's trunk show and special runs from AE were largely the cause of Horween's turning away some orders from other makers, causing talk of a shortage.

Horween do say that good shells are harder to come by with the decline in horse meat consumption in Europe, but that is not new. Their largest and closest buyer booking a binge order with several special colours was a bigger deal, I think.

 

[JSO1]

I am under the impression that there is a fairly significant shell cordovan shortage as of late (particularly from horween). I was curious if anyone had placed a MTO in brown shell cordovan, and if so, what did it cost you to place the order?

I'm pretty sure that last year's trunk show and special runs from AE were largely the cause of Horween's turning away some orders from other makers, causing talk of a shortage.

Horween do say that good shells are harder to come by with the decline in horse meat consumption in Europe, but that is not new. Their largest and closest buyer booking a binge order with several special colours was a bigger deal, I think.

The whole "shell shortage" thing actually started in 2008/2009, and was particularly bad through about 2014 (the 2013 IKEA horsemeat scandal didn't help). My understanding is that the supply is actually going back up. It's not really a "new" phenomenon.

The thing about the trunk show, though, is that only one of the AE offerings (natural) is actually a "rare" shell. Natural shells have to be basically perfect ("clear") to be used, whereas darker shells (like the other AE offerings - Deep Dark Brown, Navy, and Dark Green) are much easier to produce, since they can dye over any imperfections in the shells.

Obviously, diverting production from normal shell colors like #8, Black, and Dark Cognac (the top three shell colors in terms of production), leads to somewhat of a shortage, but my sense is that Horween is making plenty of shells - still not as many as in the glory days of horsemeat consumption, but more than they have in recent years. The problem is that the demand for shell cordovan shoes has increased year after year.

Brown shell cordovan shoes are still very easy to acquire. The issue with AE is that they have suspended their MTO program indefinitely, as @garland mentioned. There are other makers (Vass, Crockett & Jones, and Enzo Bonafe, to name a few) that should be able to make an MTO shoe for you in some shade of brown shell. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until AE resumes its MTO program.

 

[CGKIII]

Speaking of the trunk show, is there any word on that? The latest "official" thing I recall was Paul's AMA on Reddit a few months back that suggested they would have another one this year. Since then though, crickets...