Advice for a Young Man Just Starting Out...?

[Neb]

I've gotten nothing but compliments on my tan monk straps. the build quality is great and they're comfy for all day shoes.

but the shoes the OP are def on the ugly side of things

 

[JesseJB]

By brother bought brown Cole Haan captoes against my advice last month. The leather discolored and peeled off after 2 weeks.

I had a pair of Cole Haans that peeled after about a year. Soles wore out quickly too.

 

[sho'nuff]

i tried on a pair of cole haans at nordstrom rack..

i had to go to the podiatrist afterwards.

 

[Patek]

Those shoes remind me of something:

 

[Wideknot]

At one time, Cole Haan made quality shoes. Since being acquired by Nike, things have changed.

That said, I am still a fan of CH.

I have about six pair, maybe seven. A pair of wing tips "Made in USA" are Goodyear welted and have served me well for nearly two decades and at least a couple of resoles. I still wear them once a week or so. A pair of woven leather "Made in Italy" loafers are my favorite summer casual shoe. I've had them about four years, only wear them in the summer and they still look great. Others, made in Brazil, India, and China simply don't have the same quality. Still, I have two pair of moccasin loafers that are quite comfortable and have been through a resole apiece. The Nike Air monkstraps I got this summer are disposable shoes with no depth to the corrected grain leather. But most everyone thinks they look great and they are comfortable. I suspect that they will last maybe another year. They were cheap.

I will say this: I refuse to pay more than $75.00/pair for Cole Haans and that is NIB. Usually, it is under $50.00. $200.00 is insane. For what you will drop on a pair of Aldens, you can get a wardrobe full of CH. While I like quality, I prefer variety. Ebay is your friend where CH is concerned.

 

[Sazerac]

I have five or six pair of Cole Haan, including a pair of monkstraps that have been in regular rotation for eight years. They have held up extremely well. My only caveat is that their sneakers are poorly made.

The CH's made in Italy tend to be of good, if not excellent, quality. If they look good to you and are comfortable, buy them. They may well last for many years.

AE makes great shoes, but if they're not comfortable and don't look good to you, don't buy them. (For the record, I own a pair of AE's and find them to be pretty decent.)

 

[sherlockstyle]

Cool. Thanks for the opinions. Aside from the Cole Haan attacks, I can see a lot of people here are not enamored with the style of the shoes either. I wanted something a little more stylish. A lot of the black oxfords look so generic and funereal, which is why I liked the style of the Lorenzo. Is the style that abhorrent or are some of you guys just snobs? For those of you hating on CH, what do you wear? What other quality shoe is within my $250 budget? Please don't just extol the virtues of AE, I know they must be great, but how about other brands? Most SF people seem to bash everything except AE and the really high end stuff like Church's which is just out of my budget. Again, in case the title of the thread was not clear enough, I am a young man just starting out so keep the negative remarks to yourself please and thanks for the constructive advice.

 

[sherlockstyle]

For any of you offended by the "snob" remark, I meant that in a good-natured way. But it would be naive to think snobbery is not dialed up on this forum.

 

[atila]

Like mentioned by a few others, that stitching in the back is ugly. If you don't mind it, get them.

 

[stevent]

Cole Hans go for $40-150 or so at Nordstrom Rack (and other outlet stores) depending on the sales that are going on. Retail these days doesn't mean that much due to the sales on mass market brands like Cole Haan.

The shoes look a bit bland for me but if they fit and are comfy then keep it. It's your pair of shoes, not the people on the forums. As for AE, there is a huge difference in the fit of the normal and wide widths. I can barely slip on the normals but the wide fit pretty well. And at $200 AE would be a better bet than Cole Haan.

 

[Another New Yorker]

Alfred Sargents if you can find them?

 

[M. Charles]

I don't know what you budget is exactly, but Alden makes oxfords for Brooks Brothers, and on the day after Christmas, they are typically discounted quite sharply. As I recall in previous years, it was 25% off retail for a few weeks after Christmas, and then an extra 15% off that until 1pm the day after Christmas. This may bring Aldens down to your price range, and they're certainly a quality shoe for the money, especially when discounted.

 

[spatten]

I know much less about shoe construction than many on this forum. But these shoes look about the same quality as Johnston and Murphy.

The appear to be unlined which is a major turn-off for me. I've had poor luck with the two pairs of CH's I bought in terms of reliability. They wore out far too quickly. When I switched to AE's, I had much better luck. Is this due to the Goodyear Welt? Maybe.

Of course you may eventually reach the point where AE's don't do it for you, and Grenson/C&J/EG become the shoes of choice!

good luck, I suspect you'll eventually be unhappy with these and move on to AE/Alden at some point.

 

[Achilles_]

As I said before I'm not a fan of the side stitching in the back, but if you like it go for it. That being said I still think you way overpaid and if you have the time and patience try to find a pair of shoes in the B/S forum. I have a pair of AE PA's and they can be blah, but they are much much better than anything else I had access to (Bostonian, J and M, etc) They at least look sleek compared to most department store shoes (at least the stores around me) (obviously I don't mean compared to Lobbs or just about any english/italian made shoe for that matter)

That being said I will use those PA's mainly as funeral/super conservative business shoe. For any other time I need a black shoe I have a pair of AE Fairfax in black that I really like at the moment. I got them new here on the B/S for $100.

 

[sherlockstyle]

Lots of great advice. Thanks guys. I am still learning the lingo as far as what a "last" is, what is meant by a "good year welt", and what a high quality shoe looks and feels like. To be perfectly honest, I am not crazy about the style of this CH shoe, but I just wanted something a little bit stylish as well as versatile. This is my first pair of "grown up" shoes, so I am taking it pretty seriously. Black, oxford, preferably with a captoe, preferably balmoral. I am now looking at AE Soho and Loake Aldwych shoes, both have some style to go along with the conservative. Thanks again for the advice, guys. Very helpful. Maybe this thread can just evolve into "what is your favorite go-to black oxford?" Hope it does not exist already...