Custom Allen Edmonds "Chestnut" Spectator Wingtips

[Zemke Fan]

Strange phenom, Matt...

I was wearing Allen Edmond's Daily then I lost weight and I think all my triple E shoes became too wide.

Strange... I've heard it said that even your hat size can change...

 

[Matt Deckard]

Strangly enough.. when I lost the weight I think my head got bigger.

 

[Lawman]

I have a very serious shoe problem, and I thought that I had finally stabilized. Zohar's picture, however, has me in a tailspin. I have to have those Broadstreets.

Zohar, do you have a pair of the black and white ones as well?

 

[undertaker]

Now this is something i look forward to with interest.I have a pair of the J & M broadstreets coming from "undertaker",but the AE's are my favourite brand.

Photos please!!!

JD

You might very well have the shoes before the photos. I am having a problem getting my photographer (my wife) motivated. She keeps upgrading cameras and I don't know how to use the new ones:eusa_doh: . I must admitt that I am electronically challenged .

Let me know how they work out.

Regards,
J.S.

 

[moustache]

Surely!

You might very well have the shoes before the photos. I am having a problem getting my photographer (my wife) motivated. She keeps upgrading cameras and I don't know how to use the new ones:eusa_doh: . I must admitt that I am electronically challenged .

Let me know how they work out.

Regards,
J.S.

I hope to get them tomorrow or friday.All depends on the USPS.
I will let you know James.

Thanks.

JD

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What's frustratingly difficult is finding a classic pair of black suede cap-toe dress shoes (with hard leather, not rubber, soles). Ferragamo and Lobb occasionally sell them, but for sooooooo much $$$.


True, black suede doesn't last well and gets ugly creases in a jiffy. But still!

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Some spectators I'd like to have, Allen Edmonds or no:

 

[SPAD]

Just stumbled onto this thread, glad to see other people appreciate wingtip spectaters. Just had the occasion to wear my brown and white Allen Edmonds again as the dress was"Casual Elegant" at a reunion. My Specs are 20 plus years old and still going strong, beautiful and comfortable shoe. SPAD

 

[The Shooman]

What does this mean?

David

Some Allen Edmonds are definately grain corrected (polished cobbler leather). Grain corrected shoos are horrible because the leather won't absorb any polish, and if you scuff them they will be damaged for life (if you scuff full grain shoos, you can always polish the scuff out, with grain corrected you can't so they permanently damaged because the plasticy seal is broken).

Grain corrected shoos use damaged or inferior leather (the calf gets mozy bites or damages it's hide on the top or has scar tissue. The leather may also be very uneven). This leather is consequently shaved down so the hide is even or so has no bite marks or scar tissue showing. The leather is then pressed with a heated waxy/plasticy substance......that's why grain corrected shoos look plasticy.....no natural patina will ever develop on these shoos. lnstead of the shoos looking nicer with age, the grain corrected shoos will look worse with age.

The better shoos avoid grain corrected leather.

Grain corrected shoos are always very shiney, that's why they sell so well. People associate shiney shoos with high quality......this is often not the case.

l scuffed a brand new pair of [grain corrected] $930.00 Aust Prada shoos after only 5 minutes of wearing. l haven't been able to wear them since because the seal got broken and they can't be fixed. (bad mean faced smilie here)

 

[Orgetorix]

Grain corrected shoos are always very shiney, that's why they sell so well. People associate shiney shoos with high quality......this is often not the case.

The opposite is also true: often quality shoes made with nice, non-corrected-grain leather will not be shiny straight out of the box and will need a few coats of polish to get them in tip-top shape.

 

[herringbonekid]

Marc, here's another dream pair similar to those above...

i don't think i've seen that unusual gap across the toe-bend area reproduced on a modern pair.

 

[The Shooman]

The opposite is also true: often quality shoes made with nice, non-corrected-grain leather will not be shiny straight out of the box and will need a few coats of polish to get them in tip-top shape.

Completely true, you are right. But high shine full grain footwear are much more in the minority. Grain corrected shoos are much more common.

 

[The Shooman]

Shooey wrote:

l scuffed a brand new pair of [grain corrected] $930.00 Aust Prada shoos after only 5 minutes of wearing. l haven't been able to wear them since because the seal got broken and they can't be fixed. (bad mean faced smilie here)

Here they are.

$930.00 down the drain after only 5 minutes of wear folks. Buy grain corrected shoos at your own risk.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Marc_au/PIC_00022-1.jpg

 

[Tomasso]

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.


SHOOS !!!






.

 

[Canadave]

Thanks for the explanation, Shooman. How does one distinguish between full grain and grain corrected before they are damaged?

David

 

[Top Hat]

Allen Edmonds Custom Spectators

My specs arrived via FedEx today, and I couldn't be more pleased. They are beautiful and fit great! I only wish it were the right season so I could wear them in public right away! Thanks to Zohar for the inspiration - I have long wanted a pair, and now I have precisely what I sought.

 

[moustache]

Wow!!!!

My specs arrived via FedEx today, and I couldn't be more pleased. They are beautiful and fit great! I only wish it were the right season so I could wear them in public right away! Thanks to Zohar for the inspiration - I have long wanted a pair, and now I have precisely what I sought.

Absolutely stunning!!!!!

Congratulations.

JD

 

[reetpleat]

Seasonal spectator wearing.

I read this thread and took not of te mention of season. It may have been discussed to death somewhere else, but I thought I would bring it up. How do you all feel about seasons for spectators?

In SF, me and my friends tended to take the attitude that in Hollywood and California, it was always warm and the movie stars and band leaders tended to wear them year round as a flashy statement, not as a proper summer shoe. So we tended to adopt the any time of year attitude. Same with white suits. My favorite new years outfit.

Occasionally some purist would comment snidely, but we would respond with a "It's always summer in California." attitude as most californains must have felt.

Now in Seattle, I don't dress seasonally too much. I will wear black and whites for a night out. But I would never wear light slacks, brown and white or worse yet brown and tan mesh, or white bucks in the winter. Those are pretty much summer wear to me. It just wouldn't seem right in the rain and wouldn't keep clean either.

 

[Barry]

I read this thread and took not of te mention of season. It may have been discussed to death somewhere else, but I thought I would bring it up. How do you all feel about seasons for spectators?

Reetpleat,

I wear mine during the late Spring and then throughout the Summer. The rest of the year they're sitting in my closet.

Barry