ICLife.Style – 02 – Practicing what I preach

Peter G. 2 Aug, 2009 at 1:32pm ET Article published in Life

Cordovan Allen Edmonds - $600? Guess again

While Primesuspect may claim to be a shoe fetishist, I’ve got a much more serious problem–I own tons of shoes. Sure, he regales us with lustful diatribes about women’s footwear, but that’s not costing him anything (except my dignity -ed.) Me? I’ve got quite the sneaker collection. And it doesn’t seem to be shrinking. Nope, it grows quite frequently, spilling out from under my bed across the floor like kudzu.

I blame GHoosdum on my most recent purchase. It all started when he asked advice on a pair of shoes he found on eBay. They were nice cordovan (that’s expensive horse butt for the uninitiated) leather loafers with an incredibly low price. Being the consumer whore pusher I am, I of course told him they looked awesome and he should totally snag them if possible. That’s when I did it. I searched for “Allen Edmonds” in my size.

I’ve got a narrow foot. With a proper fitting shoe, I’m an 11.5 A. It’s like having skis for feet. Not too many people share my curse, which makes most sneakers (except for Converse Chuck Taylors) floppy, uncomfortable messes and means my dress shoes cost hundreds–yes, that’s plural–of dollars.

The search returned two results. One was a pair of nice buttery carmel leather shoes in the same style I already own. The other was a cordovan version of the same shoe; a rare bird indeed. If the cordovan version were still in production and on the market today, they’d cost $600. These were $15 with no bids. The seller only took PayPal, so GHoosdum bid on them for me. We netted them for $35 shipped. Here’s what I got:

The soles and heels are a bit worn and they have a few scratches on the toes but they’re otherwise in incredible condition. The insides show very little wear. They also seem to have never been stored on proper shoe trees, causing the wrinkling of the soft leather across the top of the toes. Some wear and time on shoe trees should smooth things out there.

Because the soles and heels are worn differently than how my feet naturally wear things, they feel a bit odd to walk in. Also, the right shoe is a bit stretched. I’m almost positive I’ll send them to Allen Edmonds for a recrafting.

The recrafting process should return them to their factory-fresh glory. When they return, I’ll take more photos, documenting the change. In our first ICLife.Style installment, I spoke of doing this very thing. What better than to put my money where my mouth is!

Comments

2 Aug 2009 ~ 1:52pm NiGHTS Very cool - that's a neat service they provide.
3 Aug 2009 ~ 7:45am poofie grats on the great deal! i'd like to see pics of them on, with you all spiffed up
3 Aug 2009 ~ 9:50am MAGIC 600 dollar shoes for 150, good deal. I've wanted a pair of AllenEdmonds for a while, but never thought to go that way. Good idea.
3 Aug 2009 ~ 10:04am fatcat Nice deal and shoes Pete. But I can't see myself ever spending $150 on shoes.
3 Aug 2009 ~ 10:10am Thrax Look at it another way: That $150 pair of shoes will last you a decade. There's no possible way that any lesser shoe is going to be a better deal in the long run.

Last winter I spent $400 on a Calvin Klein wool bridgecoat. It's a coat I will have for years to come. In 3 years, I will have saved more money than I spent by not buying a new -- lesser -- coat every year.
3 Aug 2009 ~ 10:30am fatcat Very good point sir.