Allen Edmonds: So many shoes, so few choices

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by Nantucket Red

I'm definitely with you on this. I have every color of both the Fairfax and Hastings.

I remember those pics you posted of your collection before The Great Crash, I could hardly believe those were AEs!
THE AE site makes those two shoes look really ugly and blobby which is unfair to them, frankly.

 

[Jared]

Originally Posted by rick lombardo

We don't buy shoes becaus they are a good value. They must speak to us, must instill a sense of awe and wonderment. We want to see the shoe and wonder how a craftman can get get it so "right"
Speak for yourself. As I said: if you're a shoe fetishist, AEs hold nothing for you. They are the perfect shoes to discuss online. Most forum members have some available at retail in their city so they can find their size. There's a good amount of authoritative information about them online (unlike Vass' garbage website, for example). And online is one of the best places to buy them. OP excepted, they might also be gateway shoes: once you're comfortable buying AEs, you start to branch out.

 

[JLibourel]

Originally Posted by rick lombardo

We don't buy shoes becaus they are a good value. They must speak to us, must instill a sense of awe and wonderment. We want to see the shoe and wonder how a craftman can get get it so "right"

"Speak to us"..."instill a sense of awe and wonderment"? Good Lord, isn't that laying it on a little thick? Some shoes can arouse acquisitive lust in me, but "awe and wonderment"...never! I've scrutinized Greens and JLPs, and, yeah, they're a notch up the quality scale from A-E. If they were $100 maybe even $200 more than what I customarily pay for A-Es, then I'd be tempted, but even if I won a high-dollar lottery, there is no way I'd pay the ridiculous prices currently asked for those shoes. I certainly was never stricken with "awe and wonderment." When all is said and done, they're still just shoes! C&J Handgrades have always left me cold; the Benchgrades strike me as no whit more appealing than A-Es. Santoni FAMs are, eh, nice, but there's no way I'd pay the high prices asked for them. The lesser Santonis just look flimsy to me and do absolutely nothing for me. Bottom line: While there are plenty of other shoes I find as appealing as A-Es and some few a bit moreso but never appealing enough to pay a substantial premium over A-Es for them.

I just figure that if A-Es are good enough for the POTUS (the last three of them actually), they are certainly good enough for me!

 

[rick lombardo]

"I just figure that if A-Es are good enough for the POTUS (the last three of them actually), they are certainly good enough for me!"

They wear them, for the most part, because they are American Made. And so they should, but I doubt it has anything to do with their passion for the shoes.
I know that you may all think I am laying it on a little thick when it comes to shoes, but those who purchase a great suit or fab.tie must have at some time been overwhlmed by it's perfect shape, texture, or colour.

This is a forum for people who have a passion for their clothes.
Not only for people who want to a good deal for the money.

Look up "PASSION"

 

[Sator]

Originally Posted by JLibourel

"Speak to us"..."instill a sense of awe and wonderment"? Good Lord, isn't that laying it on a little thick? Some shoes can arouse acquisitive lust in me, but "awe and wonderment"...never! I've scrutinized Greens and JLPs, and, yeah, they're a notch up the quality scale from A-E. If they were $100 maybe even $200 more than what I customarily pay for A-Es, then I'd be tempted, but even if I won a high-dollar lottery, there is no way I'd pay the ridiculous prices currently asked for those shoes. I certainly was never stricken with "awe and wonderment." When all is said and done, they're still just shoes! Bottom line: While there are plenty of other shoes I find as appealing as A-Es and some few a bit moreso but never appealing enough to pay a substantial premium over A-Es for them.

Having collected quite a few pairs of shoes by EGs (enough for a decent rotation) I have lately started to wonder what it was all for when you consider that the Park Avenues are actually a bit sleeker and in some ways almost as elegant as the Oxfords in the EG or C&J catalogue. Yes, the finish on EGs is better, the stitching finer... etc. Yet in many cases 99% of people out in the real world would be unable to tell which was the finer shoe. I sometimes fear we just buy really high end shoes to impress ourselves and to show them off on shoe Appreciation threads. Beyond that I am often troubled by doubts as to whether paying much beyond the price of AEs adds significantly to the overall impression of being elegantly dressed. Or at best it is a game of diminishing returns.

 

[topbroker]

Originally Posted by rick lombardo

I know that you may all think I am laying it on a little thick when it comes to shoes, but those who purchase a great suit or fab tie must have at some time been overwhlmed by it's perfect shape, texture, or colour.

This is a forum for people who have a passion for their clothes.
Not only for people who want to a good deal for the money.

Look up "PASSION"

Whatever. I like Allen Edmonds. I even (horrors!) own shoes that are less rarefied than AE.

I once wrote in another thread that "upping the ante is what it's all about. Practically every online forum I have ever checked out, whether it be about politics, sports, sex, cars, clothing, movies, music, beer, book collecting -- all utterly male-dominated, of course -- is ultimately, on close inspection, pretty much of a ******* contest. Alpha males and wannabe alpha males have always been into comparisons

, but the ease and anonymity of the Internet fuel that tendency considerably. Many posts in many forums could really be boiled down to a single statement: 'Dude, I'm more extreme than you are.' (I spend more on it than you do, I own more of it than you do, I'm more into it than you are, my tastes are more pure and rarefied than yours are, my enthusiasms are more obscure than yours are, my knowledge is deeper than yours is, my commitment is more intense than yours is, etc., etc.)"

My passion can lick your passion!

 

[josepidal]

I think I've been underrating AEs. I saw a CEO give a talk today, wearing dark brown cap toes with a bit of patina that I mistook for C&Js. I saw the AE logo on the soles, though.

 

[EL72]

Originally Posted by josepidal

I think I've been underrating AEs. I saw a CEO give a talk today, wearing dark brown cap toes with a bit of patina that I mistook for C&Js. I saw the AE logo on the soles, though.

How did you get a look at his soles? Was that during or after the Q&A?

 

[norcaltransplant]

Originally Posted by topbroker

Whatever. I like Allen Edmonds. I even (horrors!) own shoes that are less rarefied than AE.

I once wrote in another thread that "upping the ante is what it's all about. Practically every online forum I have ever checked out, whether it be about politics, sports, sex, cars, clothing, movies, music, beer, book collecting -- all utterly male-dominated, of course -- is ultimately, on close inspection, pretty much of a ******* contest. Alpha males and wannabe alpha males have always been into comparisons

, but the ease and anonymity of the Internet fuel that tendency considerably. Many posts in many forums could really be boiled down to a single statement: 'Dude, I'm more extreme than you are.' (I spend more on it than you do, I own more of it than you do, I'm more into it than you are, my tastes are more pure and rarefied than yours are, my enthusiasms are more obscure than yours are, my knowledge is deeper than yours is, my commitment is more intense than yours is, etc., etc.)"

My passion can lick your passion!

Great post. I believe that the great part about Styleforum is that the majority of posters, due to economics or common sense, attempt to develop their own place on the value/price/quality curve. A few individuals enjoy strictly bespoke clothing a la Manton and Will, while others enjoy footwear (aportnoy). There are even ecclectic examples like Mac Grayson, who enjoyed bespoke suitings that all looked vaguely identical, or Dr. Bresch who elected to documented every step of his sartorial journey.

Anyways, Allen Edmonds makes a quality, workshorse shoe that can be readily found at discount. Finding specific models may take some investigation and/or require a greater outlay than a few of the "super-deals" listed on the forum, but for the price, they are a great staple. Personally, I'm a discounted Crockett & Jones guy. I could have purchased a few sale Lobbs and Greens and cut my collection in half, but I believe that I prefer the variety and the educational experience to arrive at this point.

 

[josepidal]

EL72: He was walking slowly up and down the aisle in a room with elevated seats, so you could see the soles as he walked. They were almost new shoes.

 

[dah328]

Almost new AEs with a patina? The only way I can see AEs having a nice patina is if they're many years old and well-cared for.

 

[dah328]

Originally Posted by topbroker

Many posts in many forums could really be boiled down to a single statement: 'Dude, I'm more extreme than you are.' (I spend more on it than you do, I own more of it than you do, I'm more into it than you are, my tastes are more pure and rarefied than yours are, my enthusiasms are more obscure than yours are, my knowledge is deeper than yours is, my commitment is more intense than yours is, etc., etc.)"
Perhaps so, but that doesn't mean there isn't a substantial difference between the products they describe. I don't care about watches so I'm happy to concede the advantage to the watch enthusiasts here who own Pateks and whatever else. I do care about shoes, so I'd rather have a rotation of EGs that's one-quarter the size of an AE rotation because the tangible superiority of EG matters to me.

 

[Jared]

Originally Posted by dah328

Almost new AEs with a patina? The only way I can see AEs having a nice patina is if they're many years old and well-cared for.
Isn't a new shoe with a patina kind of like pre-distressed jeans, anyway?

 

[JLibourel]

Originally Posted by Sator

Having collected quite a few pairs of shoes by EGs (enough for a decent rotation) I have lately started to wonder what it was all for when you consider that the Park Avenues are actually a bit sleeker and in some ways almost as elegant as the Oxfords in the EG or C&J catalogue. Yes, the finish on EGs is better, the stitching finer... etc. Yet in many cases 99% of people out in the real world would be unable to tell which was the finer shoe. I sometimes fear we just buy really high end shoes to impress ourselves and to show them off on shoe Appreciation threads. Beyond that I am often troubled by doubts as to whether paying much beyond the price of AEs adds significantly to the overall impression of being elegantly dressed. Or at best it is a game of diminishing returns.

Glad to see someone who actually owns EGs backing up my position. I was somewhat fearful I might be banned from the Style Forum for blasphemy, laesa maiestas or something similar!

 

[jmatt]

Originally Posted by JLibourel

Glad to see someone who actually owns EGs backing up my position. I was somewhat fearful I might be banned from the Style Forum for blasphemy, laesa maiestas or something similar!
Actually, my original point was that I like AE a lot, and have been wearing them for 15 years. They just don't make much in a traditional balmoral shoe. EG (just as an example) makes about 20 shoes I'd buy, all available in about 8 colors, all available in about 6 lasts. If AE made ANY of those shoes, I'd buy the AE. Not only would I buy them, but I'd pay full retail plus the additional custom fee to get it in whatever AE color I'd like.