ALLEN EDMONDS APPRECIATION THREAD EDITION 2O22

[JFWR]

Glad people like my pictures.

Have noticed many people have posted pictures of their green shoes. Has anyone ever encountered green shoes in the wild, other than their own green shoes?

I did yesterday. The violinist is wearing green shoes and they are not sneakers.

View attachment 1864257

Live Christmas music has returned to Two Rodeo. The string trio and the carolers are there on different days.
Since I like Christmas music yesterday I sat on a bench and listened to the string trio playing Christmas music for a while.

On Friday when I go to the barber will listen to the carolers for a while.

Those who find meanings in things may find some profound meaning in a string trio playing Christmas music in front of two of the many retail vacancies in Beverly Hills.

Nope, never met a fellow green shoe-ist.

 

[FatTuesday]

Tis the season...

 

[madhat]

Whisky is not the same as cigar, right? I saw that JSO had a pair of PTB shoes on Instagram that are in Whisky that look stunning. Almost like natural cxl color in shell.

Whiskey is lighter bourbon.
Cigar is horween brown shell; I think it’s officially a unique color to Alden. But, it is basically brown shell with Alden’s finishing. Can have hints of olive depending on the run. (Mine are a lovely olive brown!)

 

[audog]

Shoe Bank Daltons should be here tomorrow, and in the meantime....this kid is just plain awesome...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp8GUyht7IY

 

[ProfilaBinding]

Shoe Bank Daltons should be here tomorrow, and in the meantime....this kid is just plain awesome...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp8GUyht7IY

How funny given that I'm listening to the original Christmas album right now. I used to think I could play guitar pretty well until I discovered on Youtube some teenage musician shredding about 10 times better than me. You think you're good at something? Check Youtube first.

Anyway, I missed those Higgins today. I misread it as "8 days" when it was actually an "8 hours left" auction. Oh. well.

 

[Thrift Couture]

Spoiler: The Nasty

View attachment 1863838

So nasty! 👍🏾

 

[sam67]

Polo shark. Have a great week.

 

[TNshoefan]

Whiskey is lighter bourbon.
Cigar is horween brown shell; I think it’s officially a unique color to Alden. But, it is basically brown shell with Alden’s finishing. Can have hints of olive depending on the run. (Mine are a lovely olive brown!)

My Higgins Mill in brown shell also has an olive tint to them, especially in direct sunlight. So that makes sense that Alden cigar is the same as Allen Edmonds brown, just with Alden’s finish added.

 

[smfdoc]

Do you all think AE brown shell is the same color as Alden cigar?

As others have noted, cigar is a shade darker and one will often see some olive undertones. Cigar is also reportedly proprietary and only made for Alden. Edit. I guess I should read all of the posts before replying. Just so I do not waste everyone's time, I shall post today's selection of suede Leeds.

 

[donkeyhoatie]

Giving the little-loved tan saddle Gobi a run today. I can't figure out why it's not more popular with this group. It's a pretty great chukka, but with a TON of volume. If you don't like swimming in your chukkas, I can see how you'd pass on it. Oh, and it has Dainite. Yeah, you have to be OK with Dainite soles to wear them. I almost forgot, it's only got 2 eyelets, which can make tightening them to deal with excess volume problematic.

So, besides the extra volume, Dainite soles, and 2 eyelets, it's a great chukka! For real. Look at that storm welt. Look at it! Everybody loves a good storm welt.

All right, maybe I get why the Gobi gets very little love around here. Still, because I'm a weak man, I have a soft spot for it.

 

[Shoenut]

I just gave my Shaved Chili a liberal amount of conditioner. It is making the lights and shadows pop a lot more.

 

[manowar]

Thread catch-up day.

I'm surprised I didn't see more banter on the low-priced Freeports this season. They've been on my radar for too long, and it's always nice to see photos of them in the wild. If only they had a light tan suede instead of the green-ish "caper", I think I would be sold. Natural CXL could be tasty also, but I'd want a darker lug sole instead of the gray one, in which case a sole change means I'm stuck with whatever CXL I end up with. Dark brown suede looks the best, in my opinion, but would duplicate too many of my other boots!

Daltons are also at a historically low price. However, they seem to be falling out of favor in general. For me, I like Long Branches far more than Daltons. The Chapman wingtip boot is a curious substitute for the Long Branch but looks odd to me without a medallion. The proportions seem a little off, but they're growing on me as a very casual option. Light brown suede is available in the Chapman, and on my favorite Itshide lug sole. Too bad my size is out of stock.

Did he brighten up the factory finish? These seem very colorful.

Looks like perhaps some extra saturation in a photo editor.

Gentlemen:

A while back I mentioned this pair of the Strand in the limited 100th Anniversary "Hickory" finish that I somehow missed earlier in the year, but I nabbed on sale for $159 a few weeks ago. The only issue is that they are a full size down from my normal size, but one width wider. After a StyleForum member was generous enough to send me a shoe-stretching device, I invested in a bottle of liquid meant to aid in stretching, and I got to it.

After a few applications on each shoe, they have gotten to the point where they are *just* in the range of where I can walk around with them on the area rug while wearing the thinnest nylon socks I have, and the fit is acceptable. They don't feel like my normal size pairs of the Strand do, but they seem ok.

Somehow I cannot bring myself to maidening them (maiden voyage) because something in my head tells me not to. Ten minutes into wearing them out in the wild as opposed to taking baby steps on the living room area rug, will I decide I cannot endure wearing them for a full day? Thus, the resale value would be cut in half. Will my correct size pop up on Shoe™Bank®? Not likely that AE will be getting returns on these Strand Hicks at this late juncture, I figure.

For those of you who have stretched new shoes, is this a fool's gold of sorts, where they will eventually shrink back to their original size? First-world problems, I tell ya.

Just look at these bathing beauties:

View attachment 1862515

They are incredible-looking shoes. Thank you for keeping us updated in the shoe stretching department. Perhaps it was an ill fated adventure from the start, and it may be that they're best left unworn if you still find them uncomfortably tight.

These Rush Street's arrived today, unworn. The only problem is, they gave me bad memories about the first time I put on a walnut Strand. This is exactly what the Strands looked like on my feet and I assumed I bought the wrong size. That sent me down a rabbit hole of thinking I needed a different size and wasting time, money, etc. Anyway, despite this huge V gap, the shoes feel great. The fit without any pain, and the poron feels good. I hope the poron collapses downward a bit and hopefully closes that wide V. I'll just have to live with it because the odds of another one of these out there in unworn condition is like winning Powerball.

View attachment 1863591

Remove the poron?

I was going to say... you can try remove the Poron foam in part or all of the shoe. Since you need the room over your arch, its possible that just removing the rear half would work but it may upset the heel/toe balance and feel awkward. (Personally I have a few low-drop and zero-drop athletic shoes and rather like the feeling versus the raised heel of traditional footwear.)

I removed just the front portion of the Poron footbed in my latest shell HM's and it went well. This gives me more wiggle room in the toes while keeping it snug over my low instep and around my narrow ankles. (While this setup provides wonderful arch supper, last week I walked six miles in them and experienced some heel pain from the relatively raised heel... so I may consider taking the rear Poron out also).

This was the second time I have attempted it, and it was by far easier than before. This being a new pair of boots fresh from the factory, the Poron held together better, and the glue was maybe not yet fully set. Instead of scraping the foam out with a tool, I carefully pulled back the leather liner then worked my fingernails under the foam. I did this right after wearing them awhile to loosen up the cork and moisten the leather to weaken the insole adhesive.

Definitely lighter. Though all the Alden shades seem to vary from period to period. Ravello has hints of color 4 (IMO) lately. I’d say Alden Whisky and AE natural are cousins.

The dark cognac shell I have on my Higgins Mills seem incredibly dark. If Alden Cigar is darker, I would not want a pair of them. Whiskey, however looks fantastic to me in the photos. More akin to AE's bourbon shell than its natural variant, I think, on average.

Glad people like my pictures.

Have noticed many people have posted pictures of their green shoes. Has anyone ever encountered green shoes in the wild, other than their own green shoes?

I did yesterday. The violinist is wearing green shoes and they are not sneakers.

View attachment 1864257

Live Christmas music has returned to Two Rodeo. The string trio and the carolers are there on different days.
Since I like Christmas music yesterday I sat on a bench and listened to the string trio playing Christmas music for a while.

On Friday when I go to the barber will listen to the carolers for a while.

Those who find meanings in things may find some profound meaning in a string trio playing Christmas music in front of two of the many retail vacancies in Beverly Hills.

The harp is an unusual inclusion in a string trio, but I'm sure it added a nice bit of rhythmic percussion. Best I can tell, the shoes look to be Doc Martens or possibly Solovair. You could argue that there are worse things to put on your feet.


A photo from my aforementioned walk.

 

[audog]

F2 Daltons

 

[Shoenut]

F2 Daltons View attachment 1864378

Any idea why it is an F’2?

 

[audog]

Any idea why it is an F’2?

I cant find much, if anything wrong. Small nick on inside

shaft of right boot, not going to show, or impact them at all. That's all I can find. Also no signs of having been tried on and returned.