An Honest Question about Shoes

[Mr. Soprano]

Originally Posted by NAMOR

eBay. You can easily pick up a brand new pair of $465 Brooks Brothers shoes in the $150-200 range in you are patient. A lot of it comes from the BB clearance center so once you id the seller, just keep checking back for new inventory. I recently saw a new pair of brown medallion captoes sell for under $200

Do you have any links to some good sellers I should follow?

 

[enolasfinest]

Originally Posted by Mr. Soprano

This is my first post, and in order to keep a long story short, I am a 29 year-old graduate student that interns at a professional clinic.

I live in the south, but I abhor the southern laziness that is the polo shirt, slacks and slip-ons look. I don't try to fit in, but I also cannot afford the best there is on a student's salary.

I am slowly becoming a shoe buff, and in the midst of re-organizing my shoe wardrobe, I need a classy pair of both brown and black shoes. I find Florsheim to be right around my price range and I am looking at these two.

These are at the absolute TOP of my price range.

The Millport in Black ($140)

and

The Otavio in Brown ($165)

Now, my question is posed to you. Can you recommend these to me, or should I be looking at something else?

Also, combined with the ones below, should I be looking for a nice loafer as well?

For a little more information, here is what I am working with currently

The above were both Christmas gifts

Dude, you'll be fine with either of them. Yeah, there not Alden's or AE's but hell, you're not paying that $$$ either. Also, the Florsheims will be enough to get you through until you're making money. I have vintage Florsheims (USA made gunboats), italian made Florsheims (imperials), and indian made Florsheims (imperials), along with AE MacNeil's and others. The current indian made Florsheims aren't great, but they're still better than what you can find at most malls in the U.S. They're ok enough to tide you over until you can buy AE's, C&J's, AE's etc. You have a good point in that you don't have time as some would suggest to scour thrift stores and ebay just so you can say you wear AE's over Florsheims. Good luck!

 

[Mr. Soprano]

Originally Posted by enolasfinest

Dude, you'll be fine with either of them. Yeah, there not Alden's or AE's but hell, you're not paying that $$$ either. Also, the Florsheims will be enough to get you through until you're making money. I have vintage Florsheims (USA made gunboats), italian made Florsheims (imperials), and indian made Florsheims (imperials), along with AE MacNeil's and others. The current indian made Florsheims aren't great, but they're still better than what you can find at most malls in the U.S. They're ok enough to tide you over until you can buy AE's, C&J's, AE's etc. You have a good point in that you don't have time as some would suggest to scour thrift stores and ebay just so you can say you wear AE's over Florsheims. Good luck!

thanks!

And thanks to everyone for the input. It makes a newbie less afraid to post here in the future.

 

[NORE]

There is a shoe ticker atop this page. Click it. Scroll to the bottom and click the view all xxxx items on ebay. Then set $150 as your max price and select your size range (10-10.5). Set up an alert that will give you daily results for all shoes that fit your criteria.

You may wish to delete some of the brand names. You may wish to only include new shoes, but I would leave that field blank because some shoes are sold as used and literally just have shop wear.

Keep checking it and you will find some nice stuff within your budget.

Here's an example for all items including used shoes.
Here's one of just new shoes.
Here's one with just buy it now items.

I would do the same for ebay UK but your size range should be 9-10.

 

[NORE]

There was/is a craze going on right now on the other site for these and these and since you live in the south they may be ideal for the warmer summer months.

 

[Master Squirrel]

Just be careful with the cheap Strawfuts, the defects are usually tears in the mesh. (factory damage)

 

[spitfirees20]

Originally Posted by Mr. Soprano

I'm confused. If you already own the second, why would you buy the first? You don't need two pairs of nearly identical black shoes. Eventually you might want a black loafer, but that's about it for black shoes. Take the money you would have spent on both of these pairs of shoes, and if you save about $25 more you can get almost any Allen Edmonds model you want in brown, which will be a better quality and more versatile shoe. For a basic do-everything shoe, I'd go with either the Park or Fifth Avenue.

 

[Mr. Soprano]

Originally Posted by spitfirees20

I'm confused. If you already own the second, why would you buy the first? You don't need two pairs of nearly identical black shoes. Eventually you might want a black loafer, but that's about it for black shoes. Take the money you would have spent on both of these pairs of shoes, and if you save about $25 more you can get almost any Allen Edmonds model you want in brown, which will be a better quality and more versatile shoe. For a basic do-everything shoe, I'd go with either the Park or Fifth Avenue.

Well, the first one has less brogue-ing in the cap toe, which might lend itself to a different occasion. Its not my immediate need, but something i was looking at nonetheless