Allen Edmonds Anmeldelser 124

What you’re buying with any expensive, high priced shoe, even custom-made ones, is “Oldness” - old materials and old styles. The shoes are mostly made of leather – both uppers and lowers with an occasional rubber sole thrown in (hence the “mostly”). Leather has been around for centuries. There’s nothing new about leather. Likewise, the styles mostly originated in the 1800s and have never changed. Oxfords, bluchers, and derbies are the norm with not much variation except in the brogue, i.e. number of holes and etchings in the uppers. Oldness is not necessarily bad as long as you understand the pros and cons of what you’re buying and this is why I write this review.

The pros, so I’m told, are that these shoes, if properly cared for, can last for 10 to 15 years – 20 to 25 for shell cordovan (or horse-a). You have to be willing to invest in premium shoe polishes and leather conditioners (aficionados wouldn’t dare use Kiwi) and be willing to do the polishing work yourself. Gone are the days when every man had his personal shoe-shine kit. Polishing involves multiple layers of creams and waxes and one saddle soap stripping per year. I cannot verify that the shoes last because I haven’t had mine for long. This is only what I’ve read. However, I’m not averse to polishing if it means doing the job right and I like things that last (I wish I could say this about just one model of car even an expensive one, but planned obsolescence makes the economy spin). This “lasting” thing, however only applies to the uppers. The soles have to be replaced several times over the life of the shoe. This is why AE advertises “re-crafting” for certain models. Presumably you’ll have to send your shoes back several times for re-soling … er, re-crafting, over their lifetime. So far, so good.

The con is the biggie: there’s a significant break-in period. We’ve forgotten this once ubiquitous experience mainly because, since the 1960s, shoe manufacturers have widely adopted the use of synthetics. These materials rarely need breaking in and frequently last quite long. I had synthetics for 5 years and they were very cushy. Every designer uses synthetics. However, with leather, our synthetic and sneaker coddled feet have to be prepared for a long period where they get abraded, chaffed, scraped, and cut to pieces. I’ve had to practically bandage my feet in order to wear my new AEs (Like everyone else I wear sneakers most of the time. Why haven’t sneakers become office standard?). In addition, the only thing between your feet and the pavement is a quarter inch, or maybe half, of leather. This often leaves you feeling like you’re walking on two wooden boards. Insoles were invented for “old” style shoes. The only padding you’ll find in these shoes is cork – again “old.” Why they don’t use synthetic soles and cushioning I’ll never know. Perhaps leather uppers and synthetic lowers don’t mix.

Again, we’ve become so used to synthetics that leather feels strange, or rather “old.” That’s because it is. So, keep in mind that with these high prices you’re not getting a rocket-age space shoe that’s super comfortable and cushy like a pair of running shoes. You’re getting an “old” shoe from the past that, just maybe, if you take care of them, will last! Now, if an interviewer happens to look down and say “Wow! Nice shoes” well that’s an added bonus but no one can promise that. Keep studying.

EUROPEAN COSTUMERS BE ADVISED* PRICES ARE INCORRECT
They are overcharging you in your own currency!
Their products may be okay, but they are cheating you, and have a terrible costumer service when confronted with this:

A product, an example, a shoe that cost 350 USD should cost around 292 EURO, but when you choose to get charged in EURO, they will charge you 309 EURO for the product. That is 370 USD. This counts for other European currencies as well, (danish crown, there be more)
(These prices were calculated by regular currency exchange per.22.september.2017)

When ordering, be sure to get charged in USD only, and not any other currency to be sure, to get the correct prize of the products...

Dear Allen Edmonds. If you have a proper response to this, please contact me or answer my emails on the eservice@allenedmonds correspondence...

Good honest shoes. Not sure if they were made in America, but they held up

I bought a pair of men's dress shoes (Wilber?) and loved them at first. Nice looking and the real deal. Unfortunately, after awhile, I do a lot of standing, the sole compressed somehow and the outside of my feet really started hurting. It seems that the cushioning moved away and I was standing on leather construction underneath. These shoes look good, but are not kind to your feet. The second pare it tried (having not experienced the problem yet with the first shoes) did the same thing.