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Which shoe trees to go with?

pg600rr

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I have been doing some searching and it seems there are a number of different trees to go wtih so I am not quite sure who to buy from. Here are some of the ones floated around that I have found on here:

Costco
Nordstrom
AE
The ones from Grapevine Hill (apparently these are AE?)
One cedar lane
Affiliate Hanger Project.....
 

grimslade

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Woodlore is owned by AE. Woodlore makes the AE, GVH, maybe OCL; don't know about Hanger project. Costco's are made in China and only come in one size. Nordstrom's are probably also Woodlore. Rochester is the other big American manufacturer. There's not a lot of reason to prefer one brand over another unless you are buying them from the shoe maker and they are sized and/or lasted.
 

pg600rr

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Originally Posted by grimslade
Woodlore is owned by AE. Woodlore makes the AE, GVH, maybe OCL; don't know about Hanger project. Costco's are made in China and only come in one size. Nordstrom's are probably also Woodlore. Rochester is the other big American manufacturer. There's not a lot of reason to prefer one brand over another unless you are buying them from the shoe maker and they are sized and/or lasted.

Thanks! Just reading through the other posts I found, it looked like people had complaints about some of the brands falling apart or no fitting the shoe correct... just wasnt sure if one is considered better than the other.

What about the trees from the cedarville store, the 'epic'?
 

Keon

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Just make sure they are cedar and have no plastic parts! I use Woodlore.
 

grimslade

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Epics are made by woodlore, and they're available elsewhere too. I use Epics whenever possible, but they are wider and shorter than some other models. YMMV.
 

mljones99

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I buy mine at Nordstrom. Never had a problem with them plus Nordstrom is right around the corner from the store I work in so it is convienent for me to grab a pair when I need them.
 

pg600rr

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I think I am going to go with the cedarville store epics, although you mentioned they are made by woodlore, they lok quite different then the woodlore ones I am seeing, plus they are close in price (about $5 difference) my only concern is the sizing.

I wear around a 10.5 - 11 US/ 44-44.5 (usually 11) depending on which brand, all the shoe tree sizing seems to point me toward a m=up to 10.5 or L=11 and up, or in the other brand it is a L=up to 10.5 or XL=11 and up, either way I am not sure if I should get the smaller or larger possible tree? I am thinking I should get whatever size goes with an 11... but as mentioned some of my dress shoes are 10.5
 

Tarmac

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Unfortunately you are in the Woodlore Epic No Mans Land size, it's hard to say whether a M or L would work better for you. If you were 10-even I would tell you M with high certainty.

The best middle of the road trees are the simple split toe rochesters with the ledge-handled heel. As it is, the Epics work fine for me so far
 

Scrumhalf

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I got the one from Grapevinehill. They are AE shoe trees, rebranded with the Grapevinehill logo. It comes to about $15 or $16 per pair from the Grapevinehill ebay store.
 

pg600rr

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Originally Posted by Tarmac
Unfortunately you are in the Woodlore Epic No Mans Land size, it's hard to say whether a M or L would work better for you. If you were 10-even I would tell you M with high certainty.

The best middle of the road trees are the simple split toe rochesters with the ledge-handled heel. As it is, the Epics work fine for me so far


well I suppose it would be wiser to go with the smaller size if I am right on the sizing fence. I figure they will still keep the shape of the she and shouldnt stretch them out much (on the other hand if I went up a size when I am in the middle there may be a better chance of stretching)..
 

Reborn

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You also have to keep in mind the shape of the heel on the trees. The Woodlore split trees are significantly narrower then others such as the Rochester St. Paul model. Not sure what is better. Both shown here:

IMG_5069.jpg


Left to right is:

Edward Green generic tree for the 606/202 last IIRC.
Edward Green for Ralph Lauren Purple Label 89 Last.
Nordstrom branded Woodlore split tree.
Richard's of Greenwich branded Rochester St. Paul model.
 

PolePosition

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Are shoe trees supposed to be specifically fit to each shoe? That is, should I bring my shoe with me when getting shoe trees? In those pics seems like they are differently shaped.
 

Reborn

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Originally Posted by PolePosition
Are shoe trees supposed to be specifically fit to each shoe? That is, should I bring my shoe with me when getting shoe trees? In those pics seems like they are differently shaped.

Generic shoe tress made by either Woodlore or Rochester will not fit specifically to each shoe.

The two tress on the left from the picture above are made by the maker of the shoe specifically to fit into the near exact original shape. They cost much much more and are only offered from the higher end shoe makers.

But as you can see even with the generic shoe trees in the picture, the two on the right, the shape of them does vary in both the front piece as well as the width and shape of the heel. It all comes down to how anal you are about these things, as the far right tree, the cheapest of the four, will be sufficient for most people. But stylefourm people by nature aren't very reasonable about these types of things and we love to over analyze them.
 

ennui

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Newbie question: size 40 and 41 (as listed on that website) correspond to US 7 and 8?

What do you like about these trees? I am in the market for a few and was just going to go for the Nordstrom Rack ones.

Originally Posted by Steven Aver
I think these varnished beechnut ones from TMlewin are great for the price unfortunately they only have size 7 and 8 left.

http://www.tmlewin.co.uk/product.asp...essories!13626
 

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