Thread: Casual Shoes - Allen Edmonds

I was considering posting this in the Finer Things in Life, but it's probably going to be misleading.

Anyways, I thought I need a new pair of brownish casual shoes, and since my local options are fairly limited these days, I went with online shopping. The ones that I liked best for what I'm looking for are Allen Edmonds Black Hills. However, when the shoes arrived, I must say that the quality wasn't what I expected to get from Allen Edmonds, or in any $250 pair of shoes for that matter.

The leather has distressed look, which is just fine, so I expected the creases and the variation of texture (that's the look I went for anyways), but that's not what I'm talking about when I say quality. There were scuffs, there was leftover whitish film on the eyelet tabs, the stitching looks like it was done by me (uneven)... I guess the scuffs may be just fine if I put a bit of netsfoot oil, or fromm strop dressing, it's leather after all, but the stitching is just plain poor.

Now, since those would've been my first pair on this Allen Edmonds last (65, their longest) I ordered as well a pair half size smaller with the intention of keeping the one that fit. The smaller size was just a tad too small, but that pair was significantly better made than the one that fits me, not perfect but good enough for a casual shoe to keep. So, my thinking went that may be I just got a fluke. So I sent both back and reordered two new pairs of the correct size. They just arrived today and craftsmanship is again nothing to speak about, so they will be going back. It looks like the one pair that was well made may have been the actual fluke.

Anyways, has anybody else noticed this? I've been quite happy with my dressy Allen Edmonds (they're certainly not where my Testonis or Ferragamos are but for the price are good), but they're from a number of years back, or it is possible that they put extra effort in those (after all they're about $100 more than the casual line). Or this may be the internet effect, and if I go to an actual store the quality there would be better.

Would love to hear other people's thoughts. Or may be you could suggest a good quality brand for casual shoes?