Allen Edmonds Appreciation Thread 2016 - News, Pictures, Sizing, Accessories, Clothing, etc

[JLC2]



Quote:
Take 2, buy a pair at destination.

Whats that, no store? www.allenedmonds.com, have shoes waiting at home on your arrival.

Where there's a weasel, there's a way.

For Canadians, the hassle in getting AE's is a blessing and a curse!

 

[ace13x]

So got a new pair on exchange. These were a little better in the leather department but the sole of one shoe wasn't molded correctly and the stitching went through the circles in the danite sole. So I give up and returned them and instead picked up a pair of Strand's in Loden Suede.

Stitching through the dainite circle is not a big deal at all. But if you're not happy, then by all means return.

 

[Newberry]



I like your DIY thinking here, as I'm pretty much the same way. Just wondering, do you have a grommet/eyelet plan in place for once the holes are punched? I don't have my Gobis on hand, but I'm pretty sure there's a grommet on the underside to prevent the leather from tearing. 

Yea they do actually. The reason I didn't buy that yet was because I wanted to see how they turned out after I punched the holes in. I can still apply it after the holes are punched in right? Sorry. I've never done this before so I don't know lol. I was going to buy it afterwards if everything turned out good. I saw online that they only cost like 3 or 4 bucks at Home Depot.

 

[ace13x]

Style Forum Badlands GMTO's today waiting for service at the dealership:






My apologies for 1) the loud carpeting, 2) not so great back-up iPhone 4 pictures. Shoes, though, are SWEET.

 

[Newberry]



What a lousy day. In the middle of what should be the last, glorious throes of a Chicago summer, we get a day that's only supposed to get to 70. Unfortunately, I have to break out my new favorite boots. Poor me.

There are only 2 things wrong with this boot. 1. They only came with dark brown laces. 2. The laces they provide are a touch short for 11.5 boots. I can only lace the first two speed hooks. Oh well, I guess I'll have to order longer laces off Amazon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hmmm I bought the Higgins Mill in brown and my local AE store gave me an extra set of tan laces. Now that you mention it, my tan laces are longer than my brown laces. Now I'm thinking that it's because the tan ones came from a larger size pair.

 

[donkeyhoatie]

Yea they do actually. The reason I didn't buy that yet was because I wanted to see how they turned out after I punched the holes in. I can still apply it after the holes are punched in right? Sorry. I've never done this before so I don't know lol. I was going to buy it afterwards if everything turned out good. I saw online that they only cost like 3 or 4 bucks at Home Depot.

That's correct, you'll punch the hole first and then affix the grommet. I wouldn't lace and wear the boots around until the grommet is in place. Buy extra grommets and practice attaching them to the scrap leather. I've never put grommets in leather, but I've done it for tarps and canvas and whatnot. There will definitely be a learning curve.

 

[donkeyhoatie]

Hmmm I bought the Higgins Mill in brown and my local AE store gave me an extra set of tan laces. Now that you mention it, my tan laces are longer than my brown laces. Now I'm thinking that it's because the tan ones came from a larger size pair.

That seems odd, but it wouldn't surprise me if they carried different lengths for different size boots. If you want/need longer laces, I've had good experiences with the flat, waxed laces from this company on Amazon. I used them to switch out the rounded laces that came with the Long Branch after I felt like they were chewing a bit too much into the tongue leather. No regrets at all and I've since used them as a replacement for the rounded laces that came with the Darmstadt. They take about 2 weeks to deliver, since I believe they come from Europe, but they have a variety of lengths and colors. I need to measure these laces when I get home and figure out whether I need the 55" or the 59" version.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007BCUHV2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This link is for the 5mm version, but they also have 8mm versions, too. I can't remember what the thickness is on the current HM laces. Regardless, there are choices.

 

[harlequin782]

Its so crazy ...if you hang around here long enough, styleforum will have you believing that allen edmonds shoes are the lowliest, cheapest dress shoes on the market. But when you go into the real world, AE is leagues above most other mens' shoes. And I dont just mean they are above the oft maligned "black, square toe, bicycle toe monstrocity" either.

Thanks to this damn thread, I now gaze at men's dress shoes in public to compare them to mine. But I noticed a gentleman sitting in the coffee shop next to me, and at first I just thought "hmmm, nice shoes"...but the longer I stared the more I began to think they looked familiar. I began googling the AE shoes I thought looked most similar to his, and sure enough, it turned out he was wearing a brown mcgregor. I was able to confirm a positive ID match by matching the toe medallion on his to the online pics of the mcgregors. His mcgregors looked excellent, and certainly stood up well next to the other tanned cap toes and tan plain toes which were abound in the coffee shop.

 

[danwatts2005]

What a lousy day. In the middle of what should be the last, glorious throes of a Chicago summer, we get a day that's only supposed to get to 70. Unfortunately, I have to break out my new favorite boots. Poor me.

There are only 2 things wrong with this boot. 1. They only came with dark brown laces. 2. The laces they provide are a touch short for 11.5 boots. I can only lace the first two speed hooks. Oh well, I guess I'll have to order longer laces off Amazon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The coolness here in Chicago today also has me thinking what I'm going to wear with mine tomorrow.

 

[ace13x]

In other news, grabbed a pair of Merlot Park Aves at Paramus today. They were perfect. Unfortunately, what I wanted were Merlot First Aves. They were not so good. Loose grain on the side of the heel of one shoe (I could live with that), plus the most important detail the strip of broguing on the cap was wavy. So I passed. According to the SA, those were the last 8E's they had in the system.

Some things I saw:

Changed the shoe layout in the store so the boots were near the front (in the back before). Winter is coming.

Shelton 2.0, I like it more and more over the 1.0 every time I see it. The sleeker profile makes it a little more like a Carlyle with a saddle (@Lobster33 ) plus it retains the old-style piping.

Neumok 2.0's, they just don't work. AE has gone a little overboard with the blonde/neutral edging. It works in some cases (like the "orange" which is more like a bright walnut, and maybe the red), but using it across the whole color spectrum: no bueno. At least the Black Kudu had contrasting stitching which helps a little. The green could give my Morgan's a run for their money in terms of WTF.

They had 4 Carlyle's on display. The only decent looking one was Brown. Why? It had piping. The profila binding on the other three made them look like Walmart shoes.

Saw some non-"S" shoes (see crappy pictures below). They all had a little sample of leather glued on to the boxes. So I'm guessing these were made as samples or were the shoe equivalent of straight to video. Must say the Olive Westbrook (a true olive, not loden) looked really nice. They also had Westbrooks in a light purple and medium brown, also with out the "S" for seconds designation.



The suede Strands looked pretty good. I like the darker blue they used, but I thought the loden/olive looked the best. Also, they had piping.

 

[GerryD]

Neatsfoot should darken them (slightly). There are handfuls of options, though I can only vouch for this product:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000B3ASR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the responses. I think Neatsfoot is what Horween recommends. I think for now I will let nature take its course, and when it's time for a conditioning that is what I'll use.

 

[bkdc]

Is it possible they based the lace length on bar-lacing the eyelets like in the AE.com photos? If so, not a good move.

I should have checked that when I tried on a pair of 8D's.

I wear 7.5 EEE, and the laces are the perfect length on the Higgins Mills here. I can see how one size does not fit all for boot lacing. I measured the included laces at 56 inches. So you'll probably need the 63 inch standard.

 

[harlequin782]



Neumok 2.0's, they just don't work.  AE has gone a little overboard with the blonde/neutral edging.  It works in some cases (like the "orange" which is more like a bright walnut, and maybe the red), but using it across the whole color spectrum: no bueno.  At least the Black Kudu had contrasting stitching which helps a little.  The green could give my Morgan's a run for their money in terms of WTF.

I kind of agree with this. I like the red, and the grey, and even the orange (which is really just walnut, visually speaking), but the light welt thing is getting a little over done at this point.

 

[BackInTheJox]

Bad news, fellow weasels. I took a new job a month ago. I'm a physician, and my specialty often involves doing minor to moderately sized procedures in the office. In my former job/residency, I had specific days set aside for these procedures, but at my new job I will be having them sprinkled throughout most days. Because of this, I may end up having to switch to wearing scrubs all day every day. Unfortunately, none of my many dress shoes go with scrubs. I would hate to have to give up wearing all the wonderful and expensive AE (and non-AE) shoes I own!

Mulling over my options currently.

 

[M2511]

Bad news, fellow easels. I took a new job a month ago. I'm a physician, and my specialty often involves doing minor to moderate Lee size procedures in the office. In my former job/residency, I had specific days set aside for these procedures, but at my new job I will be having them sprinkled throughout most days. Because of this, I may end up having to switch to wearing scrubs all day every day. Unfortunately, none of my many dress shoes go with scrubs. I would hate to have to give up wearing all the wonderful and expensive AE (and non-AE) shoes I own!

Mulling over my options currently.

Solution: change constantly all day long giving you an opportunity to potentially wear even more pairs on a given day.