THE 2024 ALLEN EDMONDS (AE) APPRECIATION THREAD

[SpallaPerfetta]

Alligator and Croc are expensive. Unless you find a good deal on a pair that fits you *really* well I don't think people should be paying "retail" on genuine croc or alligator. If someone is going to pay that kind of money it should probably be MTO (at minimum) or bespoke.

What if you go down to Florida and harvest your own gator and ship the hide up to Port Washington? I wonder if we could get a hunting trip/GMTO going

 

[ProfilaBinding]

@Shoenut, sorry to hear that. I know that abnormal thyroid can cause very serious problems. It runs in my wife's family and her cousin almost died from a hyperactive one. I don't know why it seems to affect women a lot more than men.

 

[AEfaninTampa]

Damnit! I might NEED a blucher.

My apologies to those of you that suffer from OCD if my use of one shoe tree with a rectangular badge instead of an oval one has triggered you.

 

[ProfilaBinding]

@AEfaninTampa Wow man, you have a Stirling and a Park Ave in croc? Pretty impressive. I've seen maybe 3 Parks in croc on Ebay in total over the last 7 years.

 

[donkeyhoatie]

An early September day in the 60s is rare for Chicago. Can't waste a good chance to wear selvedge and shell. Mass shoe maintenance is scheduled for the NFL Sunday openers so these HMs can live their best life this fall.

 

[lcdx22]

Happy Friday. Bradley Shell for a rainy day.

 

[Peak and Pine]

They're mine, whole cuts with decorative punch-thrus, shoes that I put on the bedroom mantle when not wearing because I like to look at them. The color is maple, my designation. AE's Greenwich, after a very Trad town, though you may think the shoe otherwise. They're no longer offered. They rest on cozies handmade specifically for these shoes.

 

[swiego]

I love AE but $1,499 for navy cord shoes when my boots in the same price and leather were 2/3 the cost and weren’t finished particularly well doesn’t make sense.

$849 is what I would have selected. (Not because of a good deal but because that is the target I would have set.)

 

[CommanderMcBragg]

Well Men...first time for me posting in quite a while, and after not having made an AE purchase in over a year, I just appropriated a new/unworn Strand Weave from the popular auction site. I'd been monitoring these for a month or two, and I was conflicted: When the Strand Weave was discontinued a few years ago, AE was blowing them out for $149, and in a dour moment, I only purchased one pair and ignored the very basic tenet of ALWAYS buying backup when good article is discovered on sale. The guy on the popular auction site (not Steve Dabondo) had been asking $350 at one point.

I had successfully weaned myself off buying AE for over a year until a curious pair of new/unsold Strand #6155 from the 1980s somehow came across my radar on the auction site in July; these were called a "Tan Pin Grain Calf" shoe, and they had the little pin points not unlike a leather football. Of course I sent an email to Strand king BFT9000 to inquire, and he linked me to a writeup he'd done on them years earlier. The price was a reasonable $195, although I noted they'd been offered since last December with no takers. With the green light from BFT9000, I sent the seller a message advising that I would be a buyer at $175. At that point it turned into a Seinfeld episode where the seller responded in sum & substance: "NO SOUP FOR YOU."

The seller bumped the buy-it-now price from $195 to $495 on the basis of my attempt to chisel him down $20 on the shoes that hadn't moved since last winter. Kind of bizarre.

As a consolation prize, I made a $240 offer on the aforementioned weaves, and the seller accepted. I wouldn't necessarily say I am feeling buyer's remorse from my purchase a few moments ago, but I would be lying if I said there isn't a melancholy feeling within my gut at having dropped a quarter of a thousand dollars on a pair of shoes--albeit new/unworn--that I could have had for $149 two years back.

All reassurances welcomed.

Thank you.

 

[CommanderMcBragg]

Tough crowd; a very tough crowd.

 

[ProfilaBinding]

@CommanderMcBragg Okay, that Ebay seller is... not all there. I would avoid.

 

[CommanderMcBragg]

Hello PB--

Long time, no speak.

I should have clarified in my post that these were two separate sellers. For over a year I had successfully avoided dabbling in the crack that is AE, though I was lured in by that taste of the Tan Pin Grain Calf pair that the guy more than doubled the price on when I asked for a little discount.

At that point I needed my AE fix, so I put in a $240 offer on the Strand Weave that was accepted.

 

[matwa]

Bourbon Strands today

 

[MajorDash]

Brown PG MacWilliams today. Still undecided if I chose the correct sizing on these as it was sort of a guess with the 2016 last, but they’re still very wearable. I went for the 8.5EEE instead of my normal 8EEE based on trying out the 8D and 8.5D blucher at the store and an 8.5EEE loafer. I feel like I probably could have done the 8EEE and been a bit better off, but I’d rather it be a touch too long and a good width than not long/wide enough.

 

[EZB]

Wedding events Saturday and Sunday. Best color shoes for dark green suit Sunday and all white clothes Saturday….?