thebigcicero
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Church's are good at making good quality conservative shoes and that is what the company is about, Lobb is the same in the bespoke department. If you want fancy designs then look elsewhere, if you are not a customer of the two firms.
As for price, they probably cost more in the US then in the UK; Church's do cost slightly more than C&J and I think both should be priced equally. Basing opinion only on price is tricky, Meyer & Mortimer are about £500 cheaper than Dege & Skinner for a two-piece suit, both have a military cut but if you preferred Dege would you go to Meyer?
The opinion that Church's is overprice is flawed.
- Lodger sell Alfred Sargent shoes for £550, Church's Royal Collection is £430.
- Is the quality different between Church's normal range and Edward Green worth over £200
- How about the quality difference between the Royal Range at £430 and G&G at £565; besides more design options G&G are not worth £135.
Even the points above are flawed, but it shows how it is difficult to compare.
We have different styles, I am looking 4 new work shoes and would ideally want, all shoes with a round toe last, in black calfskin: cap-toe, punched-toe, semi-brogue with medallion and full-brogue with medallion. Church's have this in their Royal Collection, although I would prefer a more tradition toe.
Someone else may go for oxfords, derbys and maybe even loafers, in different shades of brown and red in a chisel-toe.
Church's make their shoes so they can be resoled three times; use shoe-trees, polish and treat the shoes as required and they should last three resoles. I went to Church's a few years ago and was talking shoe rotation with the assistant, he said an older gent recently has his 10 year Church's resoled with some repair and they also had a women bring her husband's 6-month old Church's. Take care of your Church's and they will last a long time.
Thanks for the nice analysis!
I'm surprised to find how tricky it really is to put a value on shoes. What made it complicated for me was that I wanted a good quality shoe but also something that looked modern but not too modern, something afforded by this new design. Unfortunately the C&Js, with modern design and offered cheaply by PLal, didn't fit my foot, so with the clear winner in low price unavailable I had to use "likability" to choose other shoes. The comparable Alden shoe looked a little too traditional for my goal. After I bought the Church's I found some Allen Edmonds that were quite nice (new model called Rawlins... http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline...ategory=120552 ). They look similar, have full leather lining, nice looking leather, and they're $150 cheaper than the Church's... but they don't look quite as nice and sleek as the Church's!
It's tricky to figure out if "looking nice" is worth an extra $150, when the Church's look like they won't last as long as the AE! I personally have a hard time overriding my value-conscious logical brain because of styling... but these particular Church's look good on my foot.