Versatile Alternatives to Aldo

[rkearns10]

Hey Gents,

So I know how most of you feel about Aldo around here.. and that's totally fine with me, but I'd prefer some objectivity here and not another bash fest. Anyways, having said that, I just want to premise this by saying that I actually admire the style of some of their shoes. They have a slim,sleek,modern look to them that can work very well with a nice pair of slim jeans and slim dress pants in a casual setting. I've also come to realize that after wearing them for about 3 weeks, a pair I recently bought already look very worn. This has bothered me. So.. in my self admitted ignorance and humility I'd like to inquire as to anyone's opinion on possible higher quality alternatives within the $100-$200 range. I understand Allen Edmonds makes high quality shoes with a significant return on investment over the lifespan of the shoe, but I find that Allen Edmonds only has a limited shoe styling in terms of color and applicable shades beyond a suit setting. I work at a bank and have a business casual dress style, and also dress up slim denim with sleek dress shoes as well. So it's important for me to find shoe types that can transfer from dress pants, chinos, to denim and a night out as well. Aldo seems to have shoes that can do that and look pretty good, but as we all know, the quality is pretty ****. Any suggestions? Much appreciated.

 

[cyc wid it]

There's no decent quality alternatives under $300 retail that I can think of. You can probably wear AE's in all situations you described. Also, not thread worthy.

 

[ylkim30]

$100 to $200 is hard.

If you buy Loake 1880 over the Internet, you can get them for around $250 (minus the VAT, but not including import duties). But, you won't be able to try them on first and it will be hard shipping them back to the UK for a return.

For more casual mocs and handsewns, check out Rancourt. They have a lot of stuff in the $200 to $300 range.

Besides that, you have the usual suspects like Aldo, Bostonian, et al.. Nothing wrong with wearing them if that is all you can afford, just realize that they are probably corrected-grain shoes and bond-welted (i.e., glued).

 

[Distorbiant]

 

[rkearns10]

I really like what Loake has to offer. It seems more versatile to me than Alllen Edmonds. I love AE shoes, I really do. It just seems like the majority of what they have sort of varies in shape and 90 % of what they have are wingtip/stitced kind of style. Loake is pretty much what I was looking for... except still pretty unobtainable and expenseive haha. Anyways, now that I know that those kind of shoes are only in that kind of price range, I guess I just need to add a pair or two to my collection every year or so and build them up. Thanks for the help though, as those are exactly what I had in mind.. sleek and modern but definitely more versatile than AE.