The 2023 Allen Edmonds (AE) Appreciation Thread

[donkeyhoatie]

Woke up to a chilly -7 degree day, so I broke out the Chili Higgins Mill. Obviously, I'm super clever. Just kidding, there's no cause and effect here with temperature and footwear color choices. That would just be dumb. No, I opened the closet, saw the dwindling number of clean shirts, grabbed a super-worn-in JCrew brown and blue flannel I've had for well over a decade and figured these boots would work with it. Boom. Done. I'm definitely not SF CM quality material. If you guys want to kick me out, I totally get it.

 

[Shoenut]

Going with the Landshark on this cold morning.

 

[Roycru]

Wore snuff suede Neumoks yesterday.

For fans of "A-E In The Wild" pictures sitting on my favorite tuffet at UCLA Medical Center yesterday on a dark and stormy (by local standards) day.

For some reason this picture came out a little blurry. Oddly enough this is the same way things look through my left eye since my eye surgery on January 4th.

My vision through my left eye will get better as my eye heals. On the other hand, this picture will never get any better.

Still wearing the same things I have worn for the last two weeks.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday January 18th and old dead tree fell through the ceiling of my apartment. Have been at a hotel until the tree is removed and the power reconnected.

Had the landlord used a professional tree trimmer and a professional electrician to remove the tree and repair the damage to the electrical connections the tree probably would have been removed and the power back on in two or three days. Instead of that, the landlord is having a friend drive down from Oxnard in his spare time to remove the tree and fix the electrical connections.

It was bad enough having the tree fall and the rubble come though the ceiling, mostly to the right of where I was sitting, although some of the rubble fell on my right hand and the mouse. At first I thought it was an earthquake, the ceiling was going to fall on me, and I would be crushed under the ceiling. Having the repairs that should have taken two or three days take two weeks (so far) is also bad.

Since it happened I have found I was more shaken up by the experience than I originally thought. Been having problems sleeping and often feel rather unsteady.

 

[middlepP]

Yesterday I walked out the door on an unusually cold morning (for this native Texan anyway) and realized I was wearing 5 items from AE.

Cognac HM, Sockwell compression socks, Ace Ave belt, Greyers coat, and a scarf.

The deep dark brown shell is slowly starting to lighten ever so slightly and I'm all for it!

That said, I have been wondering if it feels like the dollars I've been putting towards my enthusiast status and my ability to post here could be better used to support purchases of more limited-runs... elsewhere? (/s)

 

[middlepP]

Since it happened I have found I was more shaken up by the experience than I originally thought. Been having problems sleeping and often feel rather unsteady.

I hate to hear this, Roy. Your lovely posts bring much joy to so many. I hope over time your anxiety level begins to decline.

 

[Vincent George]

The MacNeil.

 

[Shoenut]

@Shiner
"My dear Shiner,

Every day I am grateful to have you in my life. You bring me so much happiness and joy, and I am always in awe of your strength, beauty, and kindness. You are my best friend, my confidant, and my soul mate, and I love you more and more.

I want you to know how much you mean to me and how much I appreciate everything you do. Whether it's your loving hug, your words of encouragement, or your beautiful smile, you always find a way to make my day better.

I am very grateful to be able to share my life with you and I promise to always value and love you, now and always.

With all my heart Shoenut

Fixed!!!!

 

[mreams99]

I went with the old Cayugas today. I love the patina on these.

 

[tcbinnc]

Wore snuff suede Neumoks yesterday.

View attachment 1885359

For fans of "A-E In The Wild" pictures sitting on my favorite tuffet at UCLA Medical Center yesterday on a dark and stormy (by local standards) day.

For some reason this picture came out a little blurry. Oddly enough this is the same way things look through my left eye since my eye surgery on January 4th.

My vision through my left eye will get better as my eye heals. On the other hand, this picture will never get any better.

View attachment 1885379

Still wearing the same things I have worn for the last two weeks.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday January 18th and old dead tree fell through the ceiling of my apartment. Have been at a hotel until the tree is removed and the power reconnected.

Had the landlord used a professional tree trimmer and a professional electrician to remove the tree and repair the damage to the electrical connections the tree probably would have been removed and the power back on in two or three days. Instead of that, the landlord is having a friend drive down from Oxnard in his spare time to remove the tree and fix the electrical connections.

It was bad enough having the tree fall and the rubble come though the ceiling, mostly to the right of where I was sitting, although some of the rubble fell on my right hand and the mouse. At first I thought it was an earthquake, the ceiling was going to fall on me, and I would be crushed under the ceiling. Having the repairs that should have taken two or three days take two weeks (so far) is also bad.

Since it happened I have found I was more shaken up by the experience than I originally thought. Been having problems sleeping and often feel rather unsteady.

Wow! Glad you escaped mostly unscathed and things are all put right soon.

 

[bluejazzmonkey]

Fresh off the roach coach.
I like the black CXL.

 

[bluejazzmonkey]

Been a few days. Still clearing the fog from my brain after a bout with the 'VID. Lots of discussion on here lately, which is nice to see. Sure, it's a lot more of the bitching and moaning rather than the weaseling I've come to love over the years.

Anyhooooo, I've been thinking a lot about the 2 items that have generated the majority of the discussion: Cordovan price increase and no more AE-sponsored presence on this site and how both are indicative of a death knell for the company.

As usual, I'm a skeptic.

There's no way around it, the shell price increase sucks. And, if it were occurring in a vacuum, I'd probably be more concerned. But, it's not in a vacuum. EVERYTHING costs more right now and, according to emails from The Shoe Mart, Alden prices are set to increase in the pretty immediate future. I'd imagine the same will happen for many shoe companies imminently. So, the mindset of, "Well, I'll just have to buy shell from [Company X/Y/Z] instead of AE since the price difference now is negligible" will probably only be true for the next few weeks until those other companies follow suit.

Thinking about work for me, and we do annual price increases at the same time every year, and the majority of the industry is on the same time line. Historically, we'd increase our prices around 3% or so, but the past few years have seen unprecedented price changes as material costs skyrocket and supply chains crumble. In order to maintain some sort of semblance of respectable profit margins, we increased prices to the tune of about 25% in the past 3 years, including one year where we raised prices over 12%. Our material costs have gone up about 50% in that time same time frame, even though we're the clear market leader and can [theoretically] leverage our purchasing power. Shipping costs have gone through the roof. The world is nuts and prices reflect that. So, when I see an increase of about 13% for shell boots and another 8% for shell shoes, I just kind of shrug. Shell is expensive to begin with. It takes time to make. Production has been declining for years. This has been a storm brewing for quite some time and everyone is going to get wet.

As for the upcoming loss of @AE_Lauren, I'm sad about it. But, I get it. Companies are tightening belts and taking a hard look at where their dollars are going. I'm guessing someone in Caleres Finance is looking at the ROI of sponsorship here on Styleforum and not seeing what they'd hoped for when the idea was first floated. Like a good number of you, I'm not part of the Facebook group. While I don't share the exact same feelings about the Metaverse that a good number of you do, I do enjoy my anonymity, as it allow me to be the jackass you all occasionally tolerate here. The idea that @Shiner could find out my real name if I were to cross-post, terrifies me. I don't want that dude living in my head. I've seen what he's done to @Shoenut and I want no part of that. But, I get why AE would rather focus on a presence there than here. What does their money get them here that they can't get for free from the FB group? Sure, FB is a cesspool for the most part, and from the week or two I spent as a lurker in the FB group a couple of years ago, I believe that the overall discussion here is generally of a higher quality (my presence, excluded, obviously). But, is it a quality worth paying for? Without knowing the cost of sponsorship, or knowing the non-visible benefits they received from their sponsorship, I can't answer that. But, Caleres Finance did, for now. So it goes.

In the meanwhile, I'm going to shift back to putting emphasis on the "Appreciation" portion of this little group. Broke out the #8 shell Higgins Mill boots from the first AE trunk show. Still one of my favorites.

Love,

Donkey

View attachment 1884912

You remind me of my brother. He also uses a lot of words.

 

[donkeyhoatie]

You remind me of my brother. He also uses a lot of words.

Yeah, but I'm guessing he uses them a lot more coherently than I do. I just prattle on like a Donkey with CTE which, given the number of concussions I've sustained in my life, probably is an accurate description at this point.

 

[dpgaloot]

Greetings Friends!

@middlepP had me doing a quick search of Sockwell above for over the calf compression socks in my size. They had about 4, which is better than most. Maybe I'll give them a try.

Speaking of sizing issues, I've noticed that a LOT of the AE imported stuff is not available in the same extended sizes. While I'm not a sneaker guy at this point, I'm a casual shoe guy for sure. Many days when I don't post here it's because I'm wearing wearing AE Boulders or Quoddy penny mocs. It feels like AE is having fewer of their new styles in an extended range of sizes. Fortunately I do love boots, which seem to be holding in there.

Green Daltons today, fresh from a conditioning and new laces.

 

[Hisheirness23]

Wore snuff suede Neumoks yesterday.

View attachment 1885359

For fans of "A-E In The Wild" pictures sitting on my favorite tuffet at UCLA Medical Center yesterday on a dark and stormy (by local standards) day.

For some reason this picture came out a little blurry. Oddly enough this is the same way things look through my left eye since my eye surgery on January 4th.

My vision through my left eye will get better as my eye heals. On the other hand, this picture will never get any better.

View attachment 1885379

Still wearing the same things I have worn for the last two weeks.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday January 18th and old dead tree fell through the ceiling of my apartment. Have been at a hotel until the tree is removed and the power reconnected.

Had the landlord used a professional tree trimmer and a professional electrician to remove the tree and repair the damage to the electrical connections the tree probably would have been removed and the power back on in two or three days. Instead of that, the landlord is having a friend drive down from Oxnard in his spare time to remove the tree and fix the electrical connections.

It was bad enough having the tree fall and the rubble come though the ceiling, mostly to the right of where I was sitting, although some of the rubble fell on my right hand and the mouse. At first I thought it was an earthquake, the ceiling was going to fall on me, and I would be crushed under the ceiling. Having the repairs that should have taken two or three days take two weeks (so far) is also bad.

Since it happened I have found I was more shaken up by the experience than I originally thought. Been having problems sleeping and often feel rather unsteady.

Sorry to hear about the apartment, but extremely thankful that you weren't seriously hurt. I don't blame you for feeling unsteady as that experience would've shaken any of us.

Hope that as time goes on that your anxiety and your vision return back to normal!

And please do not take this as a sign from the AE gods to defect to the FB group...you're much too important to this community to rob of us of your wonderful posts! I feel like you should publish your posts into a blog and maybe that can eventually grow into a vlog!

 

[Hisheirness23]

Yesterday I walked out the door on an unusually cold morning (for this native Texan anyway) and realized I was wearing 5 items from AE.

Cognac HM, Sockwell compression socks, Ace Ave belt, Greyers coat, and a scarf.

The deep dark brown shell is slowly starting to lighten ever so slightly and I'm all for it!
View attachment 1885467
View attachment 1885469

That said, I have been wondering if it feels like the dollars I've been putting towards my enthusiast status and my ability to post here could be better used to support purchases of more limited-runs... elsewhere? (/s)

Those Dark Cognac HM are spectacular!

I also know what you mean about the money, however, all of the other brands seem to be raising prices, as well! I saw recently some Color 8 Shell Aldens retailing for over $900! It is a shock to see, but guess it was only a matter of time before even this brand (and hobby) would experience corrections due to current market conditions.