Allen Edmonds = What English shoemaker in quality?

[Ich_Dien]

All in the title really lads...there are a few AE locally and was tempted but then though, am I just buying a pair of Loakes in disguise?

 

[grimslade]

No, you're not. I'd put AEs on par with benchgrade C&Js in terms of quality of materials and construction.

EDIT: OK, let the trashing begin. I won't argue the point, but I've owned enough of both to have an informed opinion on the matter, which is more than can be said of most of the AE h8erz.

 

[sho'nuff]

i would put the AEs above loakes. perhaps on par with benchgrade but not in styling and last shapes. AE has perhaps the ugliest lasts ever.

 

[antirabbit]

+100
AE really has the least elegant lasts on the planet.
Terms like, blob, shapless, and clunky come to mind.
However, if the metric is how it is made, AE is am amazing value.

 

[Tarmac]

I would say maybe Cheaney. But easier to get

 

[fcuknu]

I would say Prada era Churchs... maybe.

 

[dkzzzz]

Es I tried once and found them to be incredibly comfortable. I came to conclusion that the demographics for AEs are in 60+ age.

I would compare them to the makers of ugliest British shoes: Tricker's and Church's. Except AEs are actually priced right.

 

[lee_44106]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

i would put the AEs above loakes. perhaps on par with benchgrade but not in styling and last shapes. AE has perhaps the ugliest lasts ever.

Originally Posted by antirabbit

+100
AE really has the least elegant lasts on the planet.
Terms like, blob, shapless, and clunky come to mind.
However, if the metric is how it is made, AE is am amazing value.

While I'm no fan of the 360-welt, to blanketly state that AE has the ugliest last is to ignore the fact that some lasts are quite elegant.

My Park Avenue, Lamberts are in fact quite sleek. There was a thread a while back comparing the shape of the AE Park Avenue to that of the EG Chelsea. The result was NOT as lopsided as one would think.

 

[lee_44106]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

AEs I tried once and found them to be incredibly comfortable. I came to conclusion that the demographics for AEs are in 60+ age.

.

Conclusion: you are an old fart?

 

[sho'nuff]

well, i ve seen all of the AE lasts. imo, they are all not elegant. the 5 last for PA is so not befitting captoe bal due to its lack of defining between where the toebox starts and where the vamp ends.

 

[marc237]

I agree re: the comparison to the bench grade. I also think the stylistic judgments being made are not dissimilar to those made of different high-end stereo speakers. Most of the time the degree of difference is not nearly as pronounced as the hyperbole would imply. For all but the most persnickety/discerning, the lasts are perfectly fine on the AE and light years beyond the plastic, square toed monstrosities most everyone else wears.

One side note, I find the AE lasts to be more forgiving for a foot widening ever so slightly with age.

 

[Vintage Gent]

Originally Posted by grimslade

I won't argue the point, but I've owned enough of both to have an informed opinion on the matter, which is more than can be said of most of the AE h8erz.

I realize the OP asked about quality (which, to me, implies materials and construction, so I'll avoid spewing invective against AEs for their lack of elegance). Are there specifics about each that inform that comparison? Admittedly, I'm not sufficiently educated to speak to how well a given shoe is constructed. But I own a few pair of AEs and a pair of Loakes, and the leather quality seems about equal.

 

[Cary Grant]

Originally Posted by antirabbit

+100
AE really has the least elegant lasts on the planet.
Terms like, blob, shapless, and clunky come to mind.
However, if the metric is how it is made, AE is am amazing value.

Their new shoes the last season or so have a number of more elegant lasts. Not C&J but better than the have been for a while.

 

[sweisman]

Originally Posted by Cary Grant

Their new shoes the last season or so have a number of more elegant lasts. Not C&J but better than the have been for a while.


+1....The Evanston, Soho, Strand, Mora, Thayer etc....Not Blob, Shapeless, Clunkyetc.etc.

 

[KObalto]

What about the Weybridges? I find them relatively sleek. And I love my clunky shell McClains.