$300 Allen Edmonds vs $1000+ Lobb or Edward Green

[ShelterIslandMike]

I was in court in New York City yesterday, and there were tons of lawyers milling around. I saw some of the worst shoes imaginable on guys wearing well-made OTR suits for which no alterations/tailoring was apparent. A pair of AE Park Avenues, slightly polished, put someone in the all star league of footwear. That's what's out here, guys. If a guy makes even the slightest effort to dress decently - I'm talking minimally acceptable - he's dressed better than 99% of the professional population. And the women notice, although they can't identify any particular reason why they think it looks nice.

 

[Saltricks]

I was in Las Vegas recently and spending some time in the upscale lounges gave me a great opportunity to see what passes off as "dress shoes".

Lots of sneakers
square toes
dirty/scuffed
gaudy accouterments (branded buckles, patterns)

 

[Reevolving]

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH

Last Friday I was on the subway and I guy asked me if I was wearing Florisheims. I was wearing C&J. He told me that I had to check out the Florisheim store because it was the "real deal" and "where it's at"..

This weekend, a girl I was talking with told me I should check out Prada and Hugo Boss shoes.
I was wearing shell cordovan PTBs.

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

And btw, if you think a woman is going to notice a plain black pair of cap toe Edward Greens and go gaga, you are delusional

+1. Black shoes are black shoes.

 

[TreyVero]

Originally Posted by Klobber

Lobbs and Green are in a completely different league to Allen Edmonds.

But I look at things differently.

For a pair of Lobbs, I could buy perhaps 4 pairs of Edmonds. If I need shoes just to take me to work and back, AE's work out well. Just how horrendous are Edmonds anyway? Everytime I go to my local Patrick James, I always drool over the pair of leather soled tan brown wingtips they have on display. Are they really that bad shoes? I do not think so.

Being the typical bourgeois, I tend to invest money on higher end goods so invariably end up breaking conventional wisdom by purchasing Lobbs, Green, and occasional Vuittons without the logos. However, I have about 6 pairs of AE's, and routinely replace them with other AE's - they are my workhorse shoes where at least half the week you will find AE on my feet.

Lol, Yeah but how much better????

 

[Klobber]

Originally Posted by TreyVero

Lol, Yeah but how much better????

Better enough for John Lobbs not to be a pennyless shoemaker.

Anyway, I've had enough arguing for or against AE and JL. I buy both brands in any case, prefer JL, but feel less guilty buying AE. Have 6 pairs of AE, 4 pairs of JL, 5 EG, and numerous other brands. I love all my shoes apart from a couple of pair of Bruno Magli's which have really proved to require too much TLC - never had shoes that creased so bad. Shoe tree does Feck All in keeping the shape - Im never buying Magli's again

, waste of money IMO.

 

[delightindisorder]

Right... Toyota... #1 automobile of the average America millionaire...

 

[presence]

Originally Posted by musicguy

this question again

yes, this question again

 

[presence]

Originally Posted by ShelterIslandMike

I was in court in New York City yesterday, and there were tons of lawyers milling around. I saw some of the worst shoes imaginable on guys wearing well-made OTR suits for which no alterations/tailoring was apparent. A pair of AE Park Avenues, slightly polished, put someone in the all star league of footwear. That's what's out here, guys. If a guy makes even the slightest effort to dress decently - I'm talking minimally acceptable - he's dressed better than 99% of the professional population. And the women notice, although they can't identify any particular reason why they think it looks nice.

They are a better, nicer looking, more exquisite pair of shoes. You better extra for those small details. People with money pay extra for those details. People who don't have money probably wont waste their money on those small details.

 

[JLibourel]

A couple of little stories:

One day I was in an upscale store in Beverly Hills that handled Edward Green-made shoes. One of the sales associates asked if my A-E Kingsleys (purchased at the outlet for $161) were Edward Greens. "No, I can't afford them. They're just Allen-Edmonds," I replied.

When I the JLP store opened in South Coast Plaza, I took my wife, who does have a very good eye for quality, in there. "Why they look just like the shoes you normally wear" [i.e., A-Es] was her comment.

As others have pointed out, unless you move in extremely rarified sartorial circles (wherever those may be!), you are going to be far, far more elegantly shod in A-Es than the overwhelming majority of the male population.

Although I am not weird enough to spend a lot of time at social or professional gatherings scoping out other men's shoes, I'll confess to doing it a bit. I have yet to encounter any man whose footwear noticeably outclassed mine when I was wearing A-Es.

I'll also point out that shoes do get gouged, slashed or badly scuffed on occasion. This is easier to endure with A-Es than when a $1,500 pair of shoes suffers such damage.

Really, I think spending appreciably more for shoes than the going rate for A-Es is going to be gilding the lilly for most of us.

 

[Don Carlos]

One tiem i walk into a ae store and pulled out my pennis and beat it into the shoeos until i commed and then i was ask kindly to leave teh stoare

 

[tgt465]

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

One tiem i walk into a ae store and pulled out my pennis and beat it into the shoeos until i commed and then i was ask kindly to leave teh stoare

See, that's the difference. If they were JL, the salesperson would have offered you another pair to try. You pay extra for the service.

 

[Klobber]

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

One tiem i walk into a ae store and pulled out my pennis and beat it into the shoeos until i commed and then i was ask kindly to leave teh stoare
While you are jacking off in the shoes, is it like all imagination or do you carry in your briefcase photos of chicks with dicks to help reach that final release?

 

[Jangofett]

Originally Posted by well-kept

As for various strangers on the street not recognizing quality... I offer a true story.

I recently walked into one of the most prominent, high-end men's shoe stores in the U.S., a store frequently mentioned on this forum. One of the OWNERS, a name well-known here, in the shoe business for decades, looked at my well-polished Edward Green Banburys and complimented them. I said 'thanks'. He then asked "Are they Cole Haan?".

You should have said yes and told him it only cost 99.90 at his store.
It will drive him and his SAs crazy when he screams at them to find that great pair of Cole Haan he saw the other day.

 

[Jangofett]

Originally Posted by Jermyn

I was actually in Berluti yesterday to see if they offered a patina service like Corthay in Paris. The SA took a second to look down at my feet and then with a wry smile said, "Berluti are very expensive shoes and we cannot guarantee that other shoes will look good if we try to apply the Berluti patina".

This was after I told him that I was interested in patinating a pair of Vass. The shoes I was wearing at the time.... JLP.

The conventional wisdom is that the Berluti patinas aint as hard to achieve as they let on.
I see Altan and Guyot doing it. Also, there are some comments their leather aint that great.

But he is right though, Berluti are very expensive shoes. I detect a condescending tone in the SA. He probably thought you are one of those home DIY feaks patina-ing your shoes to do a DIY Berluti. I doubt he knows whats a Vash.

 

[ThinkDerm]

Originally Posted by Tony Romo

I don't know much about shoes and I'm trying to learn. What makes the British shoes worth 4-5 times more than Allen Edmonds based on price? What makes them so much more expensive/better? Do they last longer? Do they look better for a longer period of time? Or is it simply the look/build?

I've compared the Purple Label Ralph Lauren made in England shoes $1k + to their Made in Italy/US counterparts at half the price. They look more like a work of art than something I want to pound on the pavement as I walk

. Other than the glorified look/build, why should you pay that much more for those shoes?

leave this to professionals