Thread: Casual Shoes - Allen Edmonds

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

A nicely spit polished Army boot is a joy to behold, esp when you use a really traditional method of boot polish ('Kiwi' or 'Nugget' brand), spit, and a cloth and cotton wool...

The old Australian 'AB's' (abbreviation for Army Boot believe it or not) with the leather sole worn with gaiters were really nice only after you went through the bayonet assault course in them first, and then spent the next week polishing them...

I remember those days. Trick I learned was to use rubbing alcohol rather than spit or water. Just as pretty with a bit less work.

Originally Posted by Wullie

I remember those days. Trick I learned was to use rubbing alcohol rather than spit or water. Just as pretty with a bit less work.

Yeah, spit of course has containments, like what you just ate, etc. Breathing on the boot, to get a mist on it, worked well, but was dependant on the atmosphere. Those WERE the days...

I've been a big Irish Setter oxford fan for years. They wear like iron and they are so comfortable.

Interesting...

Here is my casual footwear:



Here is my work footwear:




Here is my dress footwear:

As far as well made casual shoes, i've probably bought 4 or 5 pair of these Bruno Magli "Ashton" shoes in the past 5 or 6 years

I can't really as for much more out of shoes and you can find them online for $150-$250...although I think normal retail is around $400...

It turned out that those were indeed 'clearance-seconds' - when I was sending them back I noticed a label on the side of the big external box they came in:


Here are few pictures of the actual shoes that I got





Meanwhile another online shoe merchant emailed me a 20%off coupon and it turned out they had the same shoes at a big discount already, and of the two pairs I ordered to see in person one was good enough (though not quite as good as the best pair that didn't fit me). I decided that I can live with the little imperfections (nothing as horrible as the pictures above) for half the price.

Sorry about your recent experiences with AE. I've bought 2 pair of their balmorals and one slip-on in the last 2 years and had to return one pair. The left shoe just felt "weird." There's a store in Minneapolis and their customer service is top notch. They took the pair back without hardly even asking what went wrong (and that was only to ensure that the problem was communicated to the makers back in WI).

The guy there did let me in on a secret that a small portion of their manufacturing for certain shoes was being done in Mexico. It didn't sound like that was going to be the plan for the long term. At any rate, they seemed to be genuine and it was clear to me that they valued even my lowly opinion of their product.

They do have some vendors aside from their online shop and company stores. Nordstrom is one, I believe. You might have better luck in person there.