• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Shoe trees

HitMan009

Senior Member
Joined
May 23, 2003
Messages
700
Reaction score
5
Hey Everyone, I could have sworn I saw a topic on shoe trees before on this forum but I can't for the life of me find the thread. I am looking for some nice cedar shoe trees and stumbled upon this site. http://www.dunkelman.com/result.....20trees I like the 647 shoe tree. It has support for the whole shoe. If I remember correctly, someone mentioned that paying more then $10 for shoe trees is crazy. I wanted to know if the shoe trees without a full heel is even worth purchasing. Where would I find shoe trees such as the one I mentioned above or something to that effect for a good price. I would prefer at least a pair of trees with a full vamp like the the Washburn model pictured here. http://shoeshineexpress.com/tree.asp My last inquiry would be trees for boots.... Can I use a trees made for shoes in boots. I tried to fit a shoe tree into my boots only to find it doesn't fully fill the entire toe and vamp of the shoe. It seems to defeat the purpose of shoe trees except for the part of absorbing the excess moisture. Thanks in Advance......
 

Kai

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
3,137
Reaction score
806
Get trees with full heels. In particular, make sure that the heels are nicely rounded. Some shoe trees have heels that are pointy and sharp. Over time, they will deform your heel counters.

Cedar is the best material.
 

AlanC

Minister of Trad
Joined
Nov 7, 2003
Messages
7,805
Reaction score
97
For a full shoe tree you're going to spend more than $10. You'll find them for $22 and up. I have a pair of the Rochester trees, mine look like the Woodard model at your link, which I like quite well. Rochester makes shoe trees for Alden.

The other main shoe tree company in the US is Woodlore, which is owned by Allen Edmonds, and, of course, makes trees for AE. I'd say you would do fine with either.

Most of my shoe trees are cedar Rochesters without a full heel. I picked them up for $10 and less at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. From now on I'll buy full shoe trees, but a shoe tree without a full heel is better than no shoe tree at all.
 

RIDER

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
1,357
Reaction score
147
Dunkelman & Son makes great shoe trees. Expensive though. They are distributed thru Alden (they also make Aldens' shoe care products and genuine horn shoe horns) and Vogel in NYC. The cedar trees with Aldens nameplate might very well be Rochester, but the hardwood trees are from Dunkelman. I have the birch 640 tree and think it is better than the cedar Woodlore or Rochester trees I have. BTW, the split front trees are technically for mocassins, as the pressure is side-to-side and therefore will not pressure the unconstructed toe while full trees are for shoes. Boot trees are available for boots and feature a higher/sculpted vamp. As AlanC said, you can find seconds of both Woodlore and Rochester thru the discount outlets at 10$ or less. However, you can expect to pay 25$ plus for a first quality, full tree from either, and 45$ plus for Dunkelmans'. Next time you purchase a nice shoe at a full service store, ask for a free tree - you'll probably get it.
 

A Harris

Distinguished Member
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Jan 6, 2003
Messages
4,599
Reaction score
78
Very interesting link. From the look of those trees, I'd say that Dunkleman probably makes the trees for a number of high end brands.
 

j

(stands for Jerk)
Admin
Spamminator Moderator
Joined
Feb 17, 2002
Messages
14,663
Reaction score
105
I was one person that said you would be crazy to pay more than $10 for certain trees, those being the standard cedar split-front barely-differentiated-L-to-R single-cheap-tube rawhide-loop non-full-heel type I got at Marshalls. For these nicer ones I would expect to pay much more but with that volume discount they actually sound pretty reasonable.
 

General Koskov

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2004
Messages
68
Reaction score
0
Are shoe trees as important in shoes such as running shoes, ski boots, or boat shoes?

I realise this question (especially the part about running shoes) seems stupid, but if any shoe gets sweaty and distressed, surely sports shoes would, and would thus benefit from the moisture absorbtion and shaping of shoe trees.

Or not? I don't use trees in my sports shoes currently, but I've always wondered....
 

HitMan009

Senior Member
Joined
May 23, 2003
Messages
700
Reaction score
5
Thank You for all your responses to my inquiry.  I have a question now.... Since Brooks Brothers has 25% off right now, I was thinking of picking up a couple of their shoe trees.  Any comments on them?  They seem to be made by Rochester.

Thanks Again
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 45 40.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 44 39.6%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 5 4.5%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 18 16.2%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 25 22.5%

Forum statistics

Threads
504,469
Messages
10,574,041
Members
223,699
Latest member
JointCBDUS
Top