Originally Posted by AR_Six
Vibram soles. 1mm thick piece of rubber applied to the bottom of your sole by just about any shoe repair place. Your soles will never wear through. Also makes floors less slippery.
Not accurate. Almost no one welts by hand. Vass does, but EG and Lobb? No. I don't even think Gaziano & Girling do this.
Having owned nearly every reputable shoe brand up the chain, I can assure you that this is also not true. Your AEs (or better still, Aldens), especially if made 10 years ago or so, will last at least as long as EG's or Lobbs. The real difference between these kinds of shoes is mainly styling, i.e. the elegance of the lasts, which is generally noticeable. A lot of AE lasts are pretty gunboatish and I personally hate the cap on the Park Avenue which is their flagship shoe. Higher end makers will certainly use better leather, but this is a "diminishing returns" thing, to really notice the difference between the calf Alden uses and a pair of Lobbs is going to take someone who knows their stuff. The finish is a big thing - the attention to really minute detail and craftsmanship you get out of the top makers is really something, and elevates their product to art-form levels. But 99% of the population will not notice, appreciate or care at all about this, so paying 1200 bucks for it is only worth it if you REALLY care.
This is classic wisdom but actually a lot of Varvatos shoes made in Italy are goodyear welted in, IIRC, the same factory that makes mid-range Ferragamos. Granted, the styling is often gaudy but the quality isn't necessarily poor. Boss, you're less likely to do well with. The other thing is that to the uninitiated, one brown captoe is the same as another. You can easily get ugly brown captoes. You can also end up wearing a really elegant shoe and have it completely fail to work with your preferred cut of suit.
Advice correct, condescending snobby attitude uncalled for. There is always going to be someone who knows so much more than you that it makes you look like the guy wearing the square-toed Aldos. Ron Rider from Rider Boot Company occasionally shows up on web forums for the sole apparent purpose of making everyone feel stupid about their knowledge of shoes.
I should say that if you ARE going to step up into the realm of top-flite dress shoes, a name that gets less recognition than it deserves is Sutor Mantelassi. The shoes are on par with Lobbs but are generally sold under $1000 retail and half that at discount. As far as widely available names are concerned, Ferragamo's "Tramezza" line is extremely well-made and has some really beautiful lasts, though the leather is arguably not quite up to the price point. Also, if you go to Brooks Brothers and look at their shell offerings (the ones that are US-made), those are made by Alden. Their made-in-England offerings are mostly Alfred Sargent, and are pretty decent shoes as well, though the materials are hit-or-miss.
To be perfectly honest, having sampled just about everything at the buffet, for value and quality, I could happily live the rest of my life just wearing Alden footwear.
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