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Sneakers With Tailoring: Yes, No, Maybe?

Sneakers With Tailoring: Yes, No, Maybe?

  • No, never.

  • Yes, it can be done tastefully.

  • Not sure.


Results are only viewable after voting.

JFWR

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It's fairly well understood thet AE is sewing and making uppers in DR and shipping the uppers to the US to be finished.

Literally the first Google search:

It started slowly about 15 years ago. Since the company was sold in 2015(16?) denigration has been accelerating.

To quote the article:

"WHAT’S STILL MADE HERE? Shoe uppers for Allen Edmonds’ handsewn collection are cut and sewn in the Dominican Republic before being shipped to the Port Washington plant, where shoe construction is completed."

The handsewn collection is a small part of their business.


Note: They put "imported" on all these shoes. Contrast this with:


The "fine imported materials" is the calfskin, which comes mainly from France.
 

H. E. Pennypacker

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I tend to think red-toned shoes don't look good with black, but chili strands are sexy looking half brogues in general.
It wasn’t an outfit with much thought and the first pairing with chili and black. I went to a dingy cocktail bar in Koreatown/LA too.
It’s interesting to me, with all of these topics, that sweatpants with tailoring set people off the most
lol I feel like women wearing menswear was the more emotional topic, but I wasn’t a part of the sweatpants subject. I merely skimmed through it.
 

JFWR

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It wasn’t an outfit with much thought and the first pairing with chili and black. I went to a dingy cocktail bar in Koreatown/LA too.

lol I feel like women wearing menswear was the more emotional topic, but I wasn’t a part of the sweatpants subject. I merely skimmed through it.

I don't see why anyone got upset with sweatpants and sneakers. I won't **** on someone for wearing sneakers with sweatpants. I will only **** on them for doing anything other than jogging or picking up a few groceries in that outfit.

Koreatown in NYC is a scary place filled with insane, drunken, violent Korean men and cocaine dealers. It's fantastic.
 

H. E. Pennypacker

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I don't see why anyone got upset with sweatpants and sneakers. I won't **** on someone for wearing sneakers with sweatpants. I will only **** on them for doing anything other than jogging or picking up a few groceries in that outfit.

Koreatown in NYC is a scary place filled with insane, drunken, violent Korean men and cocaine dealers. It's fantastic.
We have the same mindset on the topic then.

Hmmm, it’s almost about the same here. There’s a few interesting bars and good places to eat at Koreatown in LA. Horrible ******* parking due to the forestry of apartments. I’m more likely to find street parking in Santa Monica than Koreatown.
 

JFWR

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We have the same mindset on the topic then.

Hmmm, it’s almost about the same here. There’s a few interesting bars and good places to eat at Koreatown in LA. Horrible ******* parking due to the forestry of apartments. I’m more likely to find street parking in Santa Monica than Koreatown.

Koreatown in midtown NYC is actually quite small: it's about four blocks. It is absolutely packed with great places to eat, bars, and nightclubs. It's one of the best places to party. The parking situation sucks there, too, but in NYC we aren't usually parking - we're taking cabs or the subway.
 

ValidusLA

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To quote the article:

"WHAT’S STILL MADE HERE? Shoe uppers for Allen Edmonds’ handsewn collection are cut and sewn in the Dominican Republic before being shipped to the Port Washington plant, where shoe construction is completed."

The handsewn collection is a small part of their business.


Note: They put "imported" on all these shoes. Contrast this with:


The "fine imported materials" is the calfskin, which comes mainly from France.

Yes the mocassins are made completely in the DR i believe.

Here is an AMA w/ AE's CEO in 2014:

He was asked "How do you envision the future of Allen Edmonds? Will it join J&M and Florsheim's path or maintain its idealism? Really can't blame you if you give up too, after all you have to achieve profitability, especially since Allen Edmonds is owned by a private equity firm now. If you maintain Allen Edmonds' current state, how are you going to make it? I know you already move all leather upper production to Dominican Republic to cut the cost but I also noticed a price hike recently and obviously make your products more unattainable for most."

He did not correct the asker on all leather upper production to Dominican Republic.

This is btw before the Caleras takeover and before they moved to a constantly on sale model, before they attempted to stop shipping felt bags with shoes, before they tried their awful rebrand to the flip top boxes.
shoebag-group-grey-top-web.jpg
 

JFWR

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Yes the mocassins are made completely in the DR i believe.

Here is an AMA w/ AE's CEO in 2014:

He was asked "How do you envision the future of Allen Edmonds? Will it join J&M and Florsheim's path or maintain its idealism? Really can't blame you if you give up too, after all you have to achieve profitability, especially since Allen Edmonds is owned by a private equity firm now. If you maintain Allen Edmonds' current state, how are you going to make it? I know you already move all leather upper production to Dominican Republic to cut the cost but I also noticed a price hike recently and obviously make your products more unattainable for most."

He did not correct the asker on all leather upper production to Dominican Republic.

This is btw before the Caleras takeover and before they moved to a constantly on sale model, before they attempted to stop shipping felt bags with shoes, before they tried their awful rebrand to the flip top boxes.
View attachment 1674720

The CEO was responding to the dearth of American manufacturing. I don't think his response should be indicative of refuting every point made there, or that is a requirement.

I'm literally not finding anything that says "our shoe uppers are made in the DR".

Here, let's ask @ae_ashley. Ashley, do you know to what extent AE are made in the USA? Is Validus here right that AE uppers are all done in the DR, or am I right that only shoes marked as "imported" are primarily made in the DR? What exactly is made in the USA with AE mainstays like Strands, Park Aves, 5th aves, etc?
 

ValidusLA

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Here is an AAAC thread back to 2014 that also seems to indicate that uppers are coming out of DR.

My point is here, I'm not making it up, and if you say that there is no discussion on it, I'm not sure you're looking.

AE doesn't have to mark it necessarily, depending on % of makeup and statutory compliance. As that AA thread points out, I believe you can get away w/ "Made in America" at 70%.

Also, anecdotally, there is just marked decrease in quality and packaging care. My last pair of AE were delivered in January 2019. They came with no felt bags included in packaging and the box torn. I filed an incident report and got no response from them.
Went back to check my email and confirm this. Full price shoes, not seconds or anything.
1632533249824.png

Those shoes are actually $35 cheaper now than they were, in Jan 2019.
 

ValidusLA

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From their wikipedia entry:
In addition to their handsewn collection, Allen Edmonds also utilizes the Dominican Republic factory to cut and sew the uppers of their Goodyear welted collection of shoes. Similarly to the "American Made" handsewns, these welted uppers are shipped to the factory in Wisconsin, where the remainder of the lasting, welting, and soling are completed.

If that isn't true, I guess no one from the company ever checks out the wiki page.
 

JFWR

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Here is an AAAC thread back to 2014 that also seems to indicate that uppers are coming out of DR.

My point is here, I'm not making it up, and if you say that there is no discussion on it, I'm not sure you're looking.

AE doesn't have to mark it necessarily, depending on % of makeup and statutory compliance. As that AA thread points out, I believe you can get away w/ "Made in America" at 70%.

Also, anecdotally, there is just marked decrease in quality and packaging care. My last pair of AE were delivered in January 2019. They came with no felt bags included in packaging and the box torn. I filed an incident report and got no response from them.
Went back to check my email and confirm this. Full price shoes, not seconds or anything.
View attachment 1674740
Those shoes are actually $35 cheaper now than they were, in Jan 2019.


Here's an import list for AE. Nothing on here says Dominican Republic. Most of the leather seems to come from Europe. For instance: notably, Dannonay and various Italian and Turkish tanneries. More concerning is that some of this stuff seems to come from China.

I also have gotten some pairs of AE with felt bags, others without. The boxes have never been torn on mine.

I'm not saying people haven't raised the question of whether or not it is made in the USA. I am saying I have never seen anything that says AE aren't made in the USA definitively. In fact, it seems like the evidence suggests only shoes labelled as "imported" are not made in the USA.
 

JFWR

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From their wikipedia entry:
In addition to their handsewn collection, Allen Edmonds also utilizes the Dominican Republic factory to cut and sew the uppers of their Goodyear welted collection of shoes. Similarly to the "American Made" handsewns, these welted uppers are shipped to the factory in Wisconsin, where the remainder of the lasting, welting, and soling are completed.

If that isn't true, I guess no one from the company ever checks out the wiki page.

In 2006, concerned with rising manufacturing costs and endeavoring to compete more directly with the boat shoe and handsewn market, Allen Edmonds discontinued their Lewiston, Maine manufacturing plant and moved the handsewn production to their new, company owned factory in the Dominican Republic.[citation needed] Currently, shoe uppers for the Allen Edmonds handsewn collection are cut and sewn in the Dominican Republic.[15] The raw materials are sent there from the U.S., where the uppers are sewn together, then shipped to the factory in Port Washington, Wisconsin to complete their construction, thus allowing them to be labeled "Made in the USA."

I am reading this as saying:

The handsewn collection are sewn in the DR, and -those- shoes have the raw materials are sent there from the US and sewn in the DR. That seems to me to be the context of this message.

I think you're misunderstanding things.

In addition to their handsewn collection, Allen Edmonds also utilizes the Dominican Republic factory to cut and sew the uppers of their Goodyear welted collection of shoes. Similarly to the "American Made" handsewns, these welted uppers are shipped to the factory in Wisconsin, where the remainder of the lasting, welting, and soling are completed.[citation needed]

This passage notably has a "citation needed" part I don't know what AE does in respect to its marketing/wikipedia edits. I have no idea how AE conducts its business on that side of things.

I mean, we could call corporate on Monday and resolve this?
 

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