The 2023 Allen Edmonds (AE) Appreciation Thread

[Shoenut]

Better Carbón than Cabrón, I always say.

My keypad is in Spanish.

 

[MajorDash]

Well, that's not the kind of surprise I was referring to. Perhaps my expectations for 2022 were a bit stupid, but you have to remember is that I was coming off the excitement of the marbled black Strands. I figured things would pick up from there, but the opposite happened for my tastes.

This thread goes in cycles with the imported thing. At least so far, they haven't shown signs that the stuff we love is going elsewhere. I hope that continues. But you have to remember that inflation might be a problem. I'm honestly surprised Alden has as much business as it does with the prices being so high. AE can't really claim they are Alden quality if they keep raising prices to keep up with rising costs. AE might just say "screw it" and put everything overseas if it gets really bad. I want to be wrong on this though.

I would guess that Alden doesn't really have all that much business. They're selling their non-cordovan offerings at essentially double the cost of AEs, and they don't have that overhead that AE does in terms of online presence or physical retail.

 

[M2511]

I would guess that Alden doesn't really have all that much business. They're selling their non-cordovan offerings at essentially double the cost of AEs, and they don't have that overhead that AE does in terms of online presence or physical retail.

Well, AE is doing everything they can to reduce that overhead. Alden is not in the same league in terms of volume though. AE is trending toward mass production overseas, Alden has not shown anything to indicate this intention. They raise cost in order to produce their shoes while maintaining the quality. AE does not do this, instead they just reduce quality, and implement cost cutting practices. I haven't seen them claiming to be Alden quality, frankly would be a ridiculous claim at this point. At retail it is hard to want to buy AE, on sale (which they often are) the offering is not bad, I'm not sure there is much out there that competes with AE at sale prices.

 

[Neo1]

Well, AE is doing everything they can to reduce that overhead. Alden is not in the same league in terms of volume though. AE is trending toward mass production overseas, Alden has not shown anything to indicate this intention. They raise cost in order to produce their shoes while maintaining the quality. AE does not do this, instead they just reduce quality, and implement cost cutting practices. I haven't seen them claiming to be Alden quality, frankly would be a ridiculous claim at this point. At retail it is hard to want to buy AE, on sale (which they often are) the offering is not bad, I'm not sure there is much out there that competes with AE at sale prices.

For me AE's biggest strength AND weakness is it appears to be clueless in terms of strategy and knowing who it's competitors are.

In recent years it has done more bread & butter styles like strandmoks & HMs but AE is one of the few places I cam think of that just throws out all these new platforms like darts on a dartboard. Different styles, different lasts, different locations for manufacture, different types of media used. Then they clearance stuff out & repeat. Chances are good that they'll get out at least 1 or 2 styles that are good in the "mess" of everything else.

AE had the fifth Ave available for sub 160 for 1sts not that long ago - I challenge anyone to try to beat that in terms of price & quality ratio. Anyone who thinks they can get something like that from another place like Meermin needs to get their head examined.

On the other hand, AE seems hellbent on jumping into every possible market / front - the featherwelt nomads, tons of sneakers, blake stitch, now more cemented. My issue is when all this....crap.... gets in the way of the good stuff. I would hate to see AE ruin their core just to sustain the haphazard approach.

 

[DawgPound]

Happy New Year! I was looking in my closet to see what pairs haven’t been worn much, and decided to give the Carbon Strands some love. So, last night they got the Saphir treatment. Apparently they still need to be broken in…V-gap is a wider than most of my 65-lasted shoes.

Carbon is such an interesting color. Here they are in two different settings.

More gray:

More warm/earth toned.

 

[dpgaloot]

Good conversations going on here!

Back to work today after a 2 week break, I'm wearing slip-ons for a trip to the podiatrist later.

Navy Randolph's, which I like very much.

 

[Shoenut]

Shell Landons always look good.

 

[ProfilaBinding]

Rush Street with my oldest son joining in. This week is the most rain I've seen in SoCal in a decade. It's awesome.

 

[JFWR]

Well, AE is doing everything they can to reduce that overhead. Alden is not in the same league in terms of volume though. AE is trending toward mass production overseas, Alden has not shown anything to indicate this intention. They raise cost in order to produce their shoes while maintaining the quality. AE does not do this, instead they just reduce quality, and implement cost cutting practices. I haven't seen them claiming to be Alden quality, frankly would be a ridiculous claim at this point. At retail it is hard to want to buy AE, on sale (which they often are) the offering is not bad, I'm not sure there is much out there that competes with AE at sale prices.

Alden has questionable quality, as shown in the teardown video of that boot guy on yt.

Has ae recently reduced quality of the dress shoe or boot offerings?

 

[M2511]

Alden has questionable quality, as shown in the teardown video of that boot guy on yt.

Has ae recently reduced quality of the dress shoe or boot offerings?

That teardown with references to leather types was... questionable at best. But sure, details, finishing have significantly deteriorated. Shell comes from the same place so we can assume that the base shell material is the same, beyond that I am not sure where they each get their suede or other leathers to accurately state this is or that is better. One thing is definitely the steel shank but AE has been doing that wood shank for a long time. Then is there is the value (if you value it) of being completely MiUSA from Alden. AE for sure they got rid of piping for the profila binding but instead of doing a good job of that, it looks sloppy as hell. Other companies do this without leaving the shoe looking like it hasn't been finished. But again, at sale prices, it you'd be hard pressed to find better quality than AE.

 

[Harwid]

Found a pair of new AE Williamsburg chukka boots in chili on the big auction site. Need long and narrow.

I have been wearing a lot of chukka boots and Chelsea boots with jeans since early October. Decided to get a dressier pair of chukka. Lots with leather soles for wearing with dress slacks.

Jeff

 

[Shoenut]

Casual visit to a client.

 

[bluejazzmonkey]

A week with three AE shoes/boots, so these again...

 

[audog]

Carbón for a little night sidebar. View attachment 1874219
I am getting my wife a special meal because my daughter stopped by and put this picture on the shelf. View attachment 1874220
Then asks my wife who’s picture is on display. Then my daughter just leaves. It took my a half hour to make her understand that the picture is in fact my wife at 23. To kick it off, now she wants lamb to settle down.

Que Bonita

 

[audog]

My keypad is in Spanish.

What a dumbass thing this is