All right! Its just falling apart, but this looks like the insole right underneath. So, you see this is not aniline-dyed leather but, in fact, the top brown is a lot lighter than whats underneath. So, you had a layer of leather, then some form of tape that was applied to the leather. All right, heres the heel block. No shank here. Lets see if we can learn a little more about that. I would assume its to keep things together, maybe in the uppers or anything like tucked in. It was this like elastic material, and then they took leather, embossed it, knowing that they could. And then, here, the allotments label is sewn in, so you see it from the front. And this here is the insole. Now, the welt is cut from the bottom and, ideally, now, we want to remove the outer sole. So, overall, what did we learn? Its the same lining material that you had here. I also think its partially based on this moccasin style. So, its a good indicator but its not like absolute truth. Solid leather, I mean, well-done stuff. When aniline-dyed, chances are it is of high quality. If you look at it here, we still have those seven nails that we saw before. Theres still a leather sole underneath of it you can rip out the sock liner and its all good, so youre still getting a good quality shoe. This looks like not even rubber. These are quite soft. And now, you can see as I pull, it actually comes off. We dont have that anymore. Now the last thing was this really cool-looking strip here and whats inside of it. And here we see, probably the biggest difference to modern-day Allen Edmonds. The thing says Handcrafted in the USA. I have my doubts based on the fact that its a shoe thats very different. Heres you see its nailed still from the inside and, uh, I want to take those at first, so dont hurt myself. You can see it. Okay. Same construction, right? Yeah, a lot more porous if you compare. They have the Allen Edmonds slogan on the inside. 8 Buys to Celebrate Milestones & Success. The touch is pretty nice. Also, if you look at the Biscayne, the Allen Edmonds labeling, here, its pretty center, here, its kind of slightly off-center. Okay, so you can see the outer sole, thick leather. Now, here you see that fabric backing all across the bottom here. So, that makes even wonder if they make it in the same factory, and if so, if they just do it for the loafers. See all the tags, just like in the old shoes. So, you could see it on the inside. Nice level of workmanship. So, this was the tongue on top, just folded and then glued, skived beforehand, so it doesnt, so it looks neat and flat from the front. Definitely scuffs up more easily. Its kind of the outsole here. All the sewing here creates a little bulging and then nice piping on top. Here we have the oldest ones of the modern Allen Edmond shoes. Its obviously a new shoe that has never been worn, so the glue is working really well. I dont know why they use those. This white cloth interlining in the back and then some black underneath and that was, of course, the thermal cap, which is still on this side. I can feel theres that fabric layer underneath. The welt, the construction is all pretty much the same. So, pretty cool. So, do you have a chance that, for some reason, you do it too much, it can break. So, that was the outer sole. Maybe to take out material, so it doesnt stretch. So, now, this is interesting. One, two, three, or four layers of leather basically. Over here, you can see theres a little metal tag here. All right. I dont know. Again, there doesnt seem to be any shank, part of their flex promise. Seems to be a leather product, pretty stiff. And look at that, its that same kind of riveted nail weve seen before. Their lasts are a little bit boxy and not as refined in my mind. This is not a layer of cork as maybe a custom shoemaker would offer you. Got a smooth edge on top. (Uniqlo, Everlane, & More), Reward Yourself! Its definitely dry but, you know, youd expect from a shoe that old. Fabric backing another kind of layer here in the back, and then the thermoplastic cap. This does have like a compressed look to it though. You can see all those metal tags on the side here. They say Custom Cork Insole. Id assume it would be sold as a damaged pair. You can see their nails, their nails in there, in the heel. So, yeah, this is good quality. It was just wrapped around on the side. Some other companies use a composite shank or a metal shank typically. Its very flexible. But, still, like, stiff sole leather. The heel cap is supposed to keep the heel stiff, so the shoe lasts for a longer time. The model is called Strawfut. You can see the inside sole still has the kind of slightly older Allen Edmonds logo, which is the same as on the sole. So, Ill just keep the shank here. I mean, cork, right? Also, I detest burnishing and it appears that virtually all Allen Edmonds dress shoes except solid black are now burnished (and dont tell me I can always remove it, I had my fantastic shoe repair guy try that, and it was ok at the first, but 6 months later the burnishing is back like the Terminator). Leather quality, I mean it seems very nice leather, even after all these years. Exact same texture on the old shoes and thermal cap with the familiar cloth lining on top. Okay, so this is the Leeds insole with the gem band attached. So, pretty impressive they kept it consistent so far in the heel construction. Pretty cool. This is very, very typical. You had this Ostendo heel, which was this kind of blackish material. Okay, full brogue upper here. That being said, theres really no difference in having a welt that goes from here to here or around the heel. This is a Blucher style, some say blau-cher, so named after a German general or admiral von Blcher. You see, on the welt here, its disconnected here because the welt is actually a long strip that is then bent, formed into shape, and its open. You see all these metal tags in here. All right, the next layer here, very similar to the top one. Otherwise, it doesnt look like its sanded. See, over here, the piece on top is continuous. Underneath the cork here, you can see another layer here. Here in the old shoes, they have a different last shape. So, its basically nailed down. Okay, otherwise, here is the lining, obviously. Honestly, this seems more like cardboard even though it may be another kind of leather fiber, but definitely more lower quality material here in the heel cap. Pretty cool level of workmanship. It has this kind of, nice kind of a hatch grain pattern. Maybe its just hardened over the years. All right, lets take apart the newest model from the current ownership with the new branding, and this one here is a Grandview model in walnut leather. This is a kind of fabric material with an adhesive backing that was added, and you had it again from the other side. Almost looks like a plastic strip here thats built-in. This is a nice thick cork. Video Transcript [Lightly Edited for Clarity]: Budget Cashmere: Myth or Magic? Thats the kind of stuff you see there. As far as the upper leather goes, you can see, you know, the layer on top its lighter underneath. I wonder if they did this or if they bought the piece like that. Interestingly, you also see this, uh, metal shank, which, you know, typically, Allen Edmonds has the wooden shank. Must be synthetic of some kind, which is fine. So, it wasnt a full layer. Yeah, you can see its not high-quality material. So, basically, the welt is on top here. These are the back pieces here. Heres this crappy kind of insole. Looking at the stitches, you can see theres a different stitch density here than it is here. If not identical lining. You can see here another underlayer underneath the fabric, which is already backed. Handcrafted in America from Import Materials. Its the style Grandview. So, next up, lets go through the sole stitching here and try to cut it open. The pieces underneath are not. Theres basically this layer of glue, it almost looks like glue tape. If I scrape up the top coat here, you can see underneath this is kind of whitish leather. So, you can see, again, theres this kind of fabric liner all over the place, between the lining leather and the uppers. The new Leeds are still around, a little more updated, more than last. Its between the outer layer and the lining. The claims that, you know, from this shoe to that shoe, the quality has declined is not true from what I can see. But, who knows? I just taped it over. Then we have this model here, which is the Leeds, which is, in fact, still available today. Biscayne Allen Edmonds Ostendo cushioned heel. So, the next layer is the midsole. Still in good shape, as you can see, and the little tags seem to be oxidized inside of here. The other one here doesnt have it. Alright, here is the insole from the bottom, and now they have an insole lining. Its not stiff or anything. The short thing to start is the Elites one has the heel with the Allen Edmonds on it. It wasnt meant to come off the way it does now. There was no foam or anything of that kind. You can see the texture its different here. Otherwise, the leathers may be a little stiffer, but its just a matter of preference. Now, the leather heel again, we have these seven nails here. Okay, so the insole liner was on top of this partial leather fiber insole foam. And up here you can see a piping was attached, a dark color. When I was at Allen Edmonds in Port Washington, they said that all of that hand stitching is done in the Dominican Republic, yet the whole shoe is still always marked as Handcrafted in the US, so I thought it was an interesting side note. This is 100% our own true, unbiased opinion. Seems to be like a nice lining liner by the way. The shank is attached with two little rivets. As you see, no shank quite yet. This area stays a little straighter versus here. Look at that big heel pad. It has that angle. So, this is basically a lining leather material insole. Outer sole. Well, we got a nail out here. Then you have that thermal cap again, just like you had in the heel, and then underneath, theres really just, its just glued on onto the leather. Im gonna take off that gem band now. Theres just one layer of leather pretty thick than these fabric interlinings. Theyre nailed in top-down, not bottom-up. When you buy something using the affiliate links on our site, we may earn a small commission. You see that theres just the layers that all come together and then this leather is sewn on top so its nicely piped. You can see a layer of plastic in here. So, if you define the crease line you know thats whats going to happen, and thats exactly what they did here. I wonder how they, maybe they stretch the fibers, then put the leather around it and let it go back. This is the welt strip. I had not seen it before and I appreciate that more. The only difference really is that you dont just stand on this anymore, but you have a little bit of a foam pad under the heel, and then another layer of lining on there, which I dont think is bad at all per se. Maybe its because the shoe hasnt been worn much and it wasnt compressed. So, Im just curious to see what well have here. The little tacks that they used all along are still here. Very similar to the other one with the same logo. Because the embossing was there, thats where the leather would continue to crease. You can see the tape at the edges with the same material that weve seen before, just to reinforce it. I looked around to see if I could quickly see a damaged piece. I mean, theyre constructed the same way in the same factory, so Im not too concerned about it. We had one outlier: this Sanibel shoe here, which almost seemed like it was made in a different factory. Seems to be, to me, like good-quality leather. In our series Taking It Apart, today, we will be taking apart four pairs of Allen Edmonds shoes. I dont think its age-based. If you look inside of here and cut, you can see there are individual fiber strands attached to it. Otherwise, you see here, this is cork. It just doesnt have the AE branding on it. But, thats the same construction that we saw, that this extra kind of triangle piece that they laid in. Same construction as before with the exception of the shank being further back. I find it quite comfortable. This is the gem band and its like glued on to here. One thing that I do miss are the old Allen Edmonds footbeds. These are just sewn together and kind of cut straight and taped over the lining, the shoe, with this stiffened toe cap and this kind of leather paper-ish feeling heel cap. I dont know if these were outsourced or made in Port Washington. You see the cork mass that we also saw before. You also can see here they have it zigzagged at the edge, allowing it to be a little more flexible when it goes along the edges. After all these years, its obviously a little more brittle, but it still feels nice and supple. Theres no gem band, but its connected by sewing it; its not just glued. Its a flexible shank, but it breaks, right? At the end of the day though, you can buy Allen Edmonds with confidence. Its not a different material and it looks very similar to the insole that was in the other Allen Edmonds shoe that you would directly stand on. Sven Raphael Schneider: Welcome back to the Gentlemans Gazette. This is a great Brand I hope theyre able to fix everything and turn it around. It seems much more like you know high-quality leather. If you look here, the heel is some sort of leather. You see here, theres like a lining material underneath the penny loafer part and you can also see that the leather was burnished after it was sewn together. You can even see, this feels like a linen, so the front was linen-lined, which is not something thats done today anymore, but I have some old Churchs shoes, where they did it as well. This was definitely a more difficult thing to do. New label, new marketing, but construction, pretty much identical. Here, we have the Allen Edmonds Leeds. Here, that seems to be the insole. Getting it out here. I cant peel that off. The leather has a nice kind of soft, cushy touch. The lining, which seems to be leather, and its attached to the outer layer, which has an additional lining layer. This is the outer leather sole and thats usually what you walk through. Thats why this is a little older and its also, as you can see, its kind of a spectator with some canvas. It doesnt look, doesnt necessarily seem like top-grain but maybe its because its all so dry. The next one had the same kind of sole logo, but a different inside one. Not something we saw at the others, and its just tacked in here on this side and on that side with a little, little tack. You see a nail here. It gets a little wider, so I would guess this was done by hand because of the inconsistent stitching. Exactly the same construction as what weve seen before. You can see here, this is one piece of leather and they just put a liner up to here, which gives it a little more fullness and they tie it together tightly from underneath. Yeah, I wonder if thats supposed to be instead of a shank. Now, you can see theres again this interlining, leather lining, fabric interlining; gives the leather a little bit softness upon the touch, upper leather lining. Theres no benefit. As you can see, no shank. If you have smaller pieces, you can get more yield out of any given skin. After, its wetted. So, well see how cushioned the heel actually is. Its a slight the broguing piece is still stuck in there after all this time. Based on the catalog information, this is from the 70s here because it was only produced in the 70s. Now, this is not the Goodyear welt. It had these kinds of perforated leather linings. They had these, you know, leather that was embossed and folded around an elastic. Its just like 3L. Before, remember, we saw those little kinds of tacks that were used all along. The leather seems to be of decent quality. We bought all the shoes for the video. So, leather-wise, if you look at the leather here, you can really see the white coming through. Thats probably what they meant by that and, at the time, it was probably a novelty. Sole! This material is pretty typical to what you see in a ready-to-wear Gucci welted shoe, so theres nothing bad about it. It seems to have the same construction as the old one. for example, where you should know its going to crease, right? I know that all the hand-sewn, typically, is done in the Dominican Republic these days. Otherwise, though, if you look at the others. This is kind of like, I dont know, almost like a softish linen. Down here you see all these tacks again. But they didnt just put a ribbed elastic band there, but they put leather on top there. The level of workmanship is a little finer here. Apart from that, very similar to the loafer that was non-moccasin and Goodyear welted, and the modern Port Washington Allen Edmonds. Its interesting that they made this, this cut and overlaid it with this part. So, the back was leather-lined, and the front was linen-lined. I dont know exactly what it is, but it was supposed to be a comfort heel. It definitely, you know, has this top coating. If you have been an avid reader of the Gentlemans Gazette, you might notice that when we talk about mens shoes, the brand Allen Edmonds always comes up. So you can see these are the uppers. Yep, looks very much the same again. Sometimes, the shoe factories wrap the shoe in plastic so the leather cant be scuffed, and then, when its tacked on, theres a little layer of plastic film that you can still see here. You can see it folded over on top to get it a little more glued down. So, lets take a look. Some kind of glue in there. I think it was also bigger. It has a little stamp here that says damaged, so I assume those were their seconds. Apparently, theres like a layer of something. Yes, they use a different machine here than they did here. And, now, here, we see the Ostendo Cushioned Heel. This one doesnt have a leather or linen lining. They use the same tags from here to here. Alright, you can see here, this is the rubber heel block. Its nice leather. Wooden shank, not thermal plastic. Yes, they use a sock liner all the way through and a little foam pad, but it doesnt hide any, like, solders of inferior quality. Otherwise, same here, slight reinforcements here: the toe area, glue, and the leather lining. I cant tell the difference. Lets take the rest of the heel off. Even this here you know I didnt cut this this just came apart like that. Its durable. By cutting them all apart and comparing them side-by-side, we can really understand what has changed and if that was a change for the better or for the worse. No, thats just at the edges. As you can see here, a reinforced black fabric layer on leather is glued to this muslin piece, which is backed by another layer. The Biscayne just has a lighter color. It feels like plastic. If you see here, theres a little nail, but definitely not the nails that were used to seeing otherwise. I dont see any issue with it. Top-coated leather can be good, but the majority of cheap leather is always top-coat colored, not aniline-dyed. Now, thats unusual. In a custom or bespoke shoe, youd have this insole to work out a channel and then a gem band. They havent been re-soled. Well, as you might know, ownership of Allen Edmonds has changed a few times over the last few decades and some people argue that the quality has deteriorated over time. Just like before, typical leather uppers are packed with a lining. Otherwise, the leather lining is very, very similar. There it is. Leather insole gem band and the cork. You still can recognize the layers. Its not stamped or cut out from a single piece of leather. Thats the first time were seeing a nail. I have been an Allen Edmonds wearer since 1995. So, thats pretty cool. We see the same kind of construction and the same thread color as before. Okay, the heel looks pretty similar to the old ones. Typically, you see it more like may be placed here. Now, aniline-dyed leather is generally a very good leather. This thread seems like a waxed thread, which is typically what you see when shoemakers use stuff. I dont know if they buy it like that and then just add it to the shoe in one piece, which is, I think, what they do. In here, you can see it says No Warranty, so it assumed this was a second, and it was stamped that way at the time. Alright, heres the kind of welt. Leather lining and this is just another layer of fabric. Well see. I wonder why they did it. Just like a shoemaker would do it. Here it is. Sometimes, they claim that when you have a metal shank, you know, and you go to the airport the TSA, it will beep and you have to take off your shoes. Whatre we gonna have? I dont know. A very stiff leather is shaped. I know its cotton nice material for spectators I think. That seems less durable. What is that? And the idea is that your foot will get used to it over time and it will be more comfortable to walk in without being too squishy and soft. That interesting front cap is not leather. Of course, its drying out over the years, but one, two, and then on top. No idea what that was for, to be honest. There, you can see like before, leather underneath almost like crust leather and nicely burnished and finished and colored on top. Its floppy. Obviously, it was on the shoes. All right, now, lets take apart this Sanibel loafer. Nice piece of solid sole leather. It looks like a compressed leather of some kind I would guess or maybe its just because its so old. As you can see here, this is the gem band that was, again, glued onto the insole, so the 360 welt could happen. And then, we have the thermoplastic heel caps again. So, it looks good. Now, you see the famous 360 welt from Allen Edmonds. All right, this is the insole and you can see, from the bottom here, there was the insole. Effectively hasnt changed much. Same procedure here, 360 welt all around, a slightly different color but still one piece of leather. Now, on the inside of the shoe here, you see its like moc-style sewn together all the way underneath here, and then connected here, and then at the bottom they added in another layer of foam that left a hole here for a shank as well to get the foam through. Youre looking at it here. So, I wonder why it was placed so far back? Otherwise, the other five here, are pretty much similar in construction. Yeah, this is just the gem that was just glued on. Interesting. Its not a shank, but its a stiffer, kind of, almost like a thermal plastic layer. Looks more like cardboard, but it still feels a bit like leather. I dont know if this is a thermal layer and out here it is the welt and then, in here, these are like the upper leather, the lining leather kind of stuff here, and well see more as we take them apart. Its definitely a slightly different shoe, so you can see Allen Edmonds changed the way they did things over the years. One nice piece of leather. As you can see here, it says handcrafted in the USA. This is the top piece. Okay, leather material seems to be very similar to what we had before. You can even see all the tags. Seven nails here again and you can see the typical, kind of, thicker-on-the-outside, thinner-on-the-inside. Pretty much like before. Ill start with the Biscayne. Now, as we come to the back here, you see something white and this is a thermal or thermoplastic cap. Full leather and, again, our Ostendo friend. I think, over time, as you stand and put pressure on it, it may sag a little more. I mean, the last has changed, but I mean look at this thick leather sole. It gives you stability when you walk. To me the Allen Edmonds dress shoes from the last 3-4 years feel lighter and less substantive than those I have from 15-20 years ago. Interesting. Its just a handmade, handmade product. So, Im not sure what exactly happened there. The same lining that we found underneath the loafer bridge there. Why would you do that, you might ask, considering that weve already done an Is It Worth It? for Allen Edmonds. So, you can take that apart and we see, again, this heel cap. The tape actually came from here. Same nails though and different like construction where the outside was built up. You can see your little edge, meaning there are different layers of leather. Alright, you can see Im having problems here. Pretty cool stuff! You can see this shoe wasnt heavily walked on. Nice piece of leather. The biggest difference is no thermoplastics. And here you see those little tacks again. So, without further ado, lets get started here. So, this layer, now, comes off like so and then, you see. Interesting! So, its another lining that you would see. You can see theres a finer backing, relatively thin. You can see its like the stitching kind of slight irregularities, but thats, thats cool. Looks quite a bit darker, looks like they put a piece of fabric on there again. These two have the Allen Edmondss wooden shank that helps a little more when you kind of move. Its all kind of the same machine channel. So, today, almost a century after, we dissect their offerings from over 50 years to find out their true value! Nothing was paid for. Reviews & Articles About Classic Men's Clothing & Accessories, Copyright 20102022 Gentleman's Gazette LLC All Rights Reserved Terms of Service & Accessibility Policy Privacy Policy.
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