Allen Edmonds Appreciation Thread 2020 - News, Pictures, Clothing, Accessories, etc.

[sam67]

Not sure the greens in the shoes and trousers work that well but going to chance it. Have to take my son to the doctor.( I think he has strep throat ?.) I'm almost through my shoe collection. I can't keep up with most on SF. So here are my Ridgefields again!! Ya'll have a good weekend.

 

[CommanderMcBragg]

Happy Friday, Gents:

Question. I just purchased a 1st quality McAllister (Walnut) in pristine 2- or 3-wear condition off the popular auction site. It was a bit more than I usually pay for lightly-worn AE, but still about in line with what a clean dabondo1 store return 2nd will fetch. (I actually prefer buying AE in in this condition as opposed to brand new--someone else has taken the depreciation, and my mild neuroses always seem to constrain me from setting freshly-hatched AE article into the wild, where it will be subjected to greasy parking lot pavement, et al.)

At any rate, the shoes are en route to me now. By virtue of the inner soles, this appears to be a pre-Caleres McAllister. Can anyone amongst us decipher the code under the tongue to determine the year of manufacture? My only Caleres-era AE is a MacNeil in Chili that I bought during the big $179 closeout last winter; they seem fine. What's the consensus on quality, in terms of craftsmanship & finishes between a pre- and post-Caleres AE?

On another note, I received emails this morning about the big AE sneaker sale. Just my personal opinion of course, but from the looks of them, I don't think AE needs to be in the sneaker market...

 

[CommanderMcBragg]

Brown shell strands today

These have a scuff on the heel from an unfortunate encounter with the face of a stair. Is cordovan creme the remedy for this or do I need to break out the deer bone first then cordovan creme?


I tell ya, concrete staircases are dangerous for large feet. I have at least 2 other pairs of shell with similar scuffs

Size 13E; I can empathize. I'm also plagued by constantly whacking my heels against the 5-prong telescoping legs on my office chair while sitting at work. The heels are invariably the most scuffed area of my shoes.

 

[madhat]

Happy Friday, Gents:

Question. I just purchased a 1st quality McAllister (Walnut) in pristine 2- or 3-wear condition off the popular auction site. It was a bit more than I usually pay for lightly-worn AE, but still about in line with what a clean dabondo1 store return 2nd will fetch. (I actually prefer buying AE in in this condition as opposed to brand new--someone else has taken the depreciation, and my mild neuroses always seem to constrain me from setting freshly-hatched AE article into the wild, where it will be subjected to greasy parking lot pavement, et al.)

At any rate, the shoes are en route to me now. By virtue of the inner soles, this appears to be a pre-Caleres McAllister. Can anyone amongst us decipher the code under the tongue to determine the year of manufacture? My only Caleres-era AE is a MacNeil in Chili that I bought during the big $179 closeout last winter; they seem fine. What's the consensus on quality, in terms of craftsmanship & finishes between a pre- and post-Caleres AE?

On another note, I received emails this morning about the big AE sneaker sale. Just my personal opinion of course, but from the looks of them, I don't think AE needs to be in the sneaker market...

View attachment 1437426 View attachment 1437427 View attachment 1437431 View attachment 1437432

Notice how there's no wheeling on the bottom of soles following the stitching? That means they're post 2016. We're well past the point where stamped numbers can be used for dating, though.
Right before sale to Calares was probably the low point. But, honestly, who cares with a used shoe? People on here can get too hung up on having a pair from a certain time frame. At those prices, they're a good deal regardless. If they look good and fit good it doesn't really matter when they were built. Most of the issues we were seeing were poor stitching and other finishing issues that made it hard to accept full firsts pricing. Since they've been worn you have an idea of how they'll crease, so that reduces the concern about using a poor cut of leather.
That said, I don't even think they have two wears... That looks more like try on only wear

 

[mreams99]

You might recognize that carpet behind my Pattons today. I had to come in to clean out my office.

We are moving to a new building soon.

 

[CommanderMcBragg]

Notice how there's no wheeling on the bottom of soles following the stitching? That means they're post 2016. We're well past the point where stamped numbers can be used for dating, though.
Right before sale to Calares was probably the low point. But, honestly, who cares with a used shoe? People on here can get too hung up on having a pair from a certain time frame. At those prices, they're a good deal regardless. If they look good and fit good it doesn't really matter when they were built. Most of the issues we were seeing were poor stitching and other finishing issues that made it hard to accept full firsts pricing. Since they've been worn you have an idea of how they'll crease, so that reduces the concern about using a poor cut of leather.
That said, I don't even think they have two wears... That looks more like try on only wear

Thank you for weighing in, Madhat.

I suppose you're right in that it doesn't matter, but I was curious if these are a 15-yr-old shoe or a 5-yr-old shoe. I wouldn't know wheeling on the soles if it were to hit me in the a$$, to be honest.

Your point about "a used shoe" is poignant. I work in a casual office environment where a higher-end AE is overkill; I just like 'em, yet there is no reason for me to spend $400 on a brand new Strand when a nearly-new Steve DaBondo1™ Strand will more than suffice for $110, or whatever. Other than a shell cordovan--which I do own in a vintage 1990s MacNeil--is it really cost-effective to send a pair of shoes back to AE for re-crafting...? One of my favorite go-to shoes these past 3 or so years has been the McAllister in Bourbon that came to me courtesy of DaBondo1 for $100 or $120. These days the soles are worn and they are generally starting to look tired. Is re-crafting worth the expense, or do I Goodwill them/sell them for $25 on the popular auction site, and simply buy another pair for $100? I'm curious to hear pros and cons of re-crafting.

 

[ProfilaBinding]

I just heard from @jpm1 that Horween has discontinued natural cxl. So sad and heartbreaking. I guess this means, no natural cxl Higigns is ever returning again.

 

[madhat]

Thank you for weighing in, Madhat.

I suppose you're right in that it doesn't matter, but I was curious if these are a 15-yr-old shoe or a 5-yr-old shoe. I wouldn't know wheeling on the soles if it were to hit me in the a$$, to be honest.

Your point about "a used shoe" is poignant. I work in a casual office environment where a higher-end AE is overkill; I just like 'em, yet there is no reason for me to spend $400 on a brand new Strand when a nearly-new Steve DaBondo1™ Strand will more than suffice for $110, or whatever. Other than a shell cordovan--which I do own in a vintage 1990s MacNeil--is it really cost-effective to send a pair of shoes back to AE for re-crafting...? One of my favorite go-to shoes these past 3 or so years has been the McAllister in Bourbon that came to me courtesy of DaBondo1 for $100 or $120. These days the soles are worn and they are generally starting to look tired. Is re-crafting worth the expense, or do I Goodwill them/sell them for $25 on the popular auction site, and simply buy another pair for $100? I'm curious to hear pros and cons of re-crafting.

Certainly, and I wasn't intending to make you feel silly for wanting to know the dating on them. See the lines and dots? They stopped doing that around 2016/17 to save costs since no one will see the soles anyway. If I were to guess, I'd say they were 2018ish. There were still some of the old logo footbeds being sold as they transitioned to the new logo in 2019.

I'd say unless you are sentimental to a pair or they are unobtainable, if you can grab another new pair for the cost of a resole, there's no reason to resole. You can just pass the old pair along to someone else. If not, then resole is justified. My shoes that have reached resole time still look great, have the added benefit of already being broken in, and I rarely see unworn pairs for $100 I want, so I would be inclined to resole most of my pairs at that point.

 

[madhat]

I just heard from @jpm1 that Horween has discontinued natural cxl. So sad and heartbreaking. I guess this means, no natural cxl Higigns is ever returning again.

I'm not surprised with the way the leather flow as slowed so much on them. It's interesting that they are totally stopping and not just providing as it becomes available, like with lighter shells.
Would be cool to see them do a blog post explaining the reasoning.

 

[Lionel Hutz]

That could be hidden color-wise with cream, possibly even just spreading the color with some bick4, but will require a bit of boning to smooth out the leather again. My brown shell Strands were damaged by a pallet, but you can't tell now...

"will require a bit of boning to smooth out" reminds me of several early relationships

 

[sam67]

Not sure the greens in the shoes and trousers work that well but going to chance it. Have to take my son to the doctor.( I think he has strep throat ?.) I'm almost through my shoe collection. I can't keep up with most on SF. So here are my Ridgefields again!! Ya'll have a good weekend.
View attachment 1437430

It was........... strep throat, confirmed btw.

 

[woofmang]

It was........... strep throat, confirmed btw.

Sorry to hear it (I've had strep throat a couple of times and it's no fun). Hope he's feeling better soon.

 

[woofmang]

Bartletts for a trip to the Optometrist earlier:

 

[ProfilaBinding]

I'm not surprised with the way the leather flow as slowed so much on them. It's interesting that they are totally stopping and not just providing as it becomes available, like with lighter shells.
Would be cool to see them do a blog post explaining the reasoning.

I was told to buy natural cxl several months back because of the shortage. I was able to get a few things I really wanted. I hope others will act now and buy if you find something you want. Who knows how long it will be if they decide to offer it again.

 

[sterlingindigo]

I was told to buy natural cxl several months back because of the shortage. I was able to get a few things I really wanted. I hope others will act now and buy if you find something you want. Who knows how long it will be if they decide to offer it again.

So it’s more than just a few darker than normal batches that’s not going to ever get sorted out? What could be the reason?