cincikid
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2012
- Messages
- 815
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STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.
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I did. I still can't see where they explicitly mention they are Goodyear welted, though it looks like it based on the images they provide.
I would like to point out something that is more qualitative than pure money vs. quality. AE has a much larger range of widths than Carmina and many other of the higher-than-AE-end shoe makers (other than of course the bespoke guys). Their lasts are also really good combination lasts, for the most part (even though they don't really bill them as such) much better than, say, that other USA-shoe maker whose "combination" lasts are laughable.
I think that no one can really argue whether Carmina is higher-quality or not, just one look and you can see it in the stitching. And some of their shoes are offered in EE by default, with no normal widths, so yes I'm taking that into account. But at the end of the day, for variety of sizes and fits, not to mention the availability of (relatively) dirt-cheap seconds, AE doesn't have much competition.
For those of you with normal width feet, though, carry on debating.
How casual would bourbon Mcallisters be? I think I'd prefer the look of them long term, and they seem to get MUCH better reviews than the Kenilworths.
Donate them! I'm sure someone could use them.
I just placed an order for a pair of suede Carmina's
Please post pics of them when they arrive (for comparison's sake)
So while Carmina may not have much as far as width options in individual lasts, they do have numerous options across the span of all their lasts.
Oh my gawd.I'd like to echo the above. The entire reason I was drawn to Allen Edmonds in the first place comes down to AA widths. I'd love to give Carmina a shot -- NAMOR's navy shell boots make me cry -- but yeah, that's not happening ever. So I hang out in here instead to avoid torturing myself in the Alden and Carmina threads.
I am not intimately familiar with Carmina, so I don't know how their widths fit. I just figured if I didn't mention the EE width, someone else was going to.
Here's the problem with their options over all their lasts: I'm going to assume (though perhaps this is wrong) that they can't make each of their styles of shoe on any of those lasts. So, for example, their LWB can't be made on a narrow last, if its only made up for their extra wide last. So yeah, they have options, but if you want a pair of their boots, and they only come on a last that doesn't work for you at that width, you're out of luck. This is as opposed to AE who does a wonderful job of making their lasts available over the full range of widths.
I'd point out these, which my brother-in-law wore for his wedding (he's in a suit maybe three times a year and didn't want to spend AE prices).
They look a bit similar to the Rush from the AE Independence collection
I'd gladly sign that. Even though I don't have a MTO, I do have this:
I have been gone for months, but I wanted to follow up on round 4 of these McAllisters. Here they are made with the new experimental pattern to remove the toe ridge. Proof that it can be done:
The only possible blemish I saw was a particularly wrinkled piece of leather in the lacing, either from weaker leather or just sitting in the box wrong, but after some Reno and lacing them properly, I think it's not a big deal:
Looking forward to wearing these for the first time not-this-but-next weekend at a good friend's wedding!
That's awesome that they agreed on the ridge being an issue. I noticed the ridge on my AE's wingtip models. It's great to see that AE is doing things to change this.
Thanks for being the catalyst for this change!