Frequently, friends of mine ask me for my advice on what shoes to buy when they want good quality shoes; however, frequently these same men are on a limited budget, and therefore they are looking for a good deal. Lots of these men are just starting out in their professional life, so they don't have a lot of money to blow on shoes.
This made me wonder: how should we rank the options for the entry level, good quality men's dress shoes?
There are certain brands which at this point, I never recommend whatsoever. These would be the Rockports, Florsheims, J&M, Nunn Bushes, etc, of the world. These are not what I call entry level shoes at all, because they simply do not have the quality to be considered decent shoes. They're made of awful leathers, polyurethene soles, have terrible lasts, have crappy styles, made with synthetic crap that falls apart in a year, can't be resoled, etc. At best, some of the options from say, Rockport, might serve as horrible weather shoes. Other than that, you shouldn't be putting your feet into these shoes. They're not good.
But what about brands like Meermin, Ace Marks, Thursday Boots, etc? What should we rank them relative to say, Allen Edmonds?
By good quality, I mean satisfying these basic requirements:
1. Non-cemented construction.
2. Real leather soles or rubber soles like Dainite or comparable.
3. Leather lining (at least partial).
4. Full grain leather uppers, not corrected grain/polished cobbler/technohorse.
5. Can be bought regularly (even if on sale) in the $200.00-300.00 range.
Given Allen Edmonds are usually on sale for around 199-240, I generally still recommend Allen Edmonds especially as they have tons of retail stores around the US (where my friends are chiefly located). You also have a wide option of sizes and styles from that brand. Allen Edmonds is certainly not on par with super high-end shoes like say...Edward Green or Gaziano and Girling, but they are pretty good bang for your buck.
But you know, what about the other options? How would you say they stack up? Are there other brands we should be aware?
EDIT: Think of this thread not as providing just concrete advice for the random gentleman wanting new shoes, but sort of a discussion for how the entry level shoes compare to one another. Like, what would you say is the heirarchy of entry-level shoe options?
This made me wonder: how should we rank the options for the entry level, good quality men's dress shoes?
There are certain brands which at this point, I never recommend whatsoever. These would be the Rockports, Florsheims, J&M, Nunn Bushes, etc, of the world. These are not what I call entry level shoes at all, because they simply do not have the quality to be considered decent shoes. They're made of awful leathers, polyurethene soles, have terrible lasts, have crappy styles, made with synthetic crap that falls apart in a year, can't be resoled, etc. At best, some of the options from say, Rockport, might serve as horrible weather shoes. Other than that, you shouldn't be putting your feet into these shoes. They're not good.
But what about brands like Meermin, Ace Marks, Thursday Boots, etc? What should we rank them relative to say, Allen Edmonds?
By good quality, I mean satisfying these basic requirements:
1. Non-cemented construction.
2. Real leather soles or rubber soles like Dainite or comparable.
3. Leather lining (at least partial).
4. Full grain leather uppers, not corrected grain/polished cobbler/technohorse.
5. Can be bought regularly (even if on sale) in the $200.00-300.00 range.
Given Allen Edmonds are usually on sale for around 199-240, I generally still recommend Allen Edmonds especially as they have tons of retail stores around the US (where my friends are chiefly located). You also have a wide option of sizes and styles from that brand. Allen Edmonds is certainly not on par with super high-end shoes like say...Edward Green or Gaziano and Girling, but they are pretty good bang for your buck.
But you know, what about the other options? How would you say they stack up? Are there other brands we should be aware?
EDIT: Think of this thread not as providing just concrete advice for the random gentleman wanting new shoes, but sort of a discussion for how the entry level shoes compare to one another. Like, what would you say is the heirarchy of entry-level shoe options?
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that might answer some technical questions not obvious online. Or we could just ask the folks who make 'em. But subjectively, they're... fine? I can wear them all day and be perfectly happy. Dress shoes I've worn in the past were not nearly as nice looking nor comfortable so it's a win for me.
