Allen Edmonds "Empire"

[BAK]

Empire

Yes, GWD, you're correct. Sorry - somehow that original post didn't come across as I'd intended it. I'm the Northeast (New England, NY & NJ geography) territory manager for AE. The Empire caught our attention. Amazing how that last remains relevant. As best as we can determine it is the same as our current 5 last, although it was obviously "carved" a bit differently back in the day. Our IT guy Dave, and his co-worker Ryan, recently posted the old catalogues online via Issuu, so I hope that's helpful (as well as a huge time suck for the AE fans). Enjoy.

 

[Tomasso]

I think the Empire shoe is vintage 1956 to 1958.

But the "Osteo-Path-Ik" name was phased out in the late 20's.[huh]

Company history from the A-E website:

"In the late 1920s Spiegel left the company, bought out by William Edmonds,who owned a Milwaukee company called Edmonds Foot Fitters. Edmond's trade name soon replaced the "Osteo-Path-Ik" moniker, and the company's expanding range of shoes now became known as Allen-Edmonds Footfitters"

 

[GWD]

The oldest catalog posted on the site (Thanks by the way, what a great resource) is 1956. It doesn't mean the shoe wasn't around way before then, does it?

There are a few models in that catalog that are around today, it stands to reason the Empire could have been around 20-30 years prior to the catalog. [huh]

 

[davestlouis]

Those are beautiful...I wonder if AE could/would put a spade sole on a modern shoe as part of the recrafting process? As long as the shoe was built on a last where a spade sole looked appropriate, I don't see a functional issue with it.

 

[GWD]

Taken from the 1956 Allen Edmond Catalog

Wish I had those golf shoes too!

 

[BAK]

osteopathik

But the "Osteo-Path-Ik" name was phased out in the late 20's.[huh]

hmmm... you're correct Tomasso. That would definitely date it to late 1920s or somewhere there abouts. It certainly wouldn't be the first time we revived a relevant pattern from the archives. That shoe is even more impressive now because of it's age. A miraculous survival.