BColl_Has_Too_Many_Shoes
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Necessary, no but certainly recommended that your shoe tree follow the shape of your shoe in order to maintain that shape. Two easily visible purposes for shoe trees are to straighten your sole, and to fight creasing. A generic shoe tree may straighten your sole but also slightly deform the heel of your shoe because the generic shoe tree has a strong spring to correct for fitting all lasts regardless of cm length differences. A generic shoe tree might not fill the vamp or sides of shoes completely (or fill them too much) leading to more creasing of the leather or warping of the shoe’s leather. AM makes it easy and fairly cheap, compared to JL or Saint Crispin’s, to get a lasted shoe tree for your 500+ Euro priced shoes. My thought is always that if I’m paying so much for a pair of shoes, I wouldn’t begin to cut costs at the very important shoe tree.
I would agree & disagree with @cliffordcaucus. Agree in that, as I already mentioned, it is not a necessity. Disagree, in that you will have your heel compromised by a 3rd party tree. Although I am sure he meant it as an issue of possibility more than a statement of certainty.
I mostly base my assertion on my experience thus far. I have several EGs and JLs in non lasted shoe trees with no discernible differences, and those are considerably more expensive than the AMs.
Having said that, if the lasted shoe trees are not outrageously priced I probably would spend a few more dollars on them. As @cliffordcaucus does point out, they do tend to be more inexpensive then your Lobb and EG trees. Additionally, I feel like those "lasted" trees are no different across several lasts. For instance, I have JL 7000 lasted trees which oddly fit better into my EG 202s.
So again, your shoe life will not come to an end if you decide to do 3rd party trees. Conversely, if the trees are not exorbitantly priced, then by all means. It also does complete the look of your overall purchase. It is so pleasant just to have the whole ensemble, as Meccariello really delivers a beautifully complete product (box, bags, trees, and shoes).
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