Well, another year of the annual AE Tent Sale has come and gone. This year I was offered the flyer for an extra 50% off my purchase so I made my way up to Port Washington on Sunday.
I arrived and it was a madhouse; litterly like Black Friday at Best Buy. There had to be 150 under this smallish tent all trying to find their favorite pairs. I was not expecting much so I headed over to the 10.5s along with 30 other folks and started my search.
My strategy is pretty simple; scan to see if there are any unique materials (cordovan, french calf, etc), and then take a look at style. I saw lots of folks looking for Park Aves and 5th Aves, but I have those and then two pairs caught my eye.
First was a Rush Street casual shoe in light brown chromexcel (CXL) with a Danitie sole. I had read lots of reviews that these shoes had color issues (some noticing the chromexcel was a bit green) so I had my doubts, but I inspected them nonetheless. These shoes ended up being nearly perfect except for a small dent in the leather on the inside heal area. New firsts for these shoes were $325, seconds are normally $260-$270, these were marked down to $220 and I got 50% off that...mine out the door for $110.
The next pair was a nice looking set of Harrisons (from their Independence Line). These are kind of like a Park Ave with a more square, pointy toe. I love the Independence line which are named after Presidents and I already had a pair of Jeffersons and Hancocks (which I dyed black), and they are made with French Calf leather. This pair was black, but looked like they had been worn very lightly by someone (just a bit of creasing). I saw no defects, scrapes, or anything so in my hands they went. New these are $495 (though now they are $379), this pair was at $280, with the discount $140.
So, I left with two awesome pairs of shoes for a total of $250...I love the tent sale!
I arrived and it was a madhouse; litterly like Black Friday at Best Buy. There had to be 150 under this smallish tent all trying to find their favorite pairs. I was not expecting much so I headed over to the 10.5s along with 30 other folks and started my search.
My strategy is pretty simple; scan to see if there are any unique materials (cordovan, french calf, etc), and then take a look at style. I saw lots of folks looking for Park Aves and 5th Aves, but I have those and then two pairs caught my eye.
First was a Rush Street casual shoe in light brown chromexcel (CXL) with a Danitie sole. I had read lots of reviews that these shoes had color issues (some noticing the chromexcel was a bit green) so I had my doubts, but I inspected them nonetheless. These shoes ended up being nearly perfect except for a small dent in the leather on the inside heal area. New firsts for these shoes were $325, seconds are normally $260-$270, these were marked down to $220 and I got 50% off that...mine out the door for $110.
The next pair was a nice looking set of Harrisons (from their Independence Line). These are kind of like a Park Ave with a more square, pointy toe. I love the Independence line which are named after Presidents and I already had a pair of Jeffersons and Hancocks (which I dyed black), and they are made with French Calf leather. This pair was black, but looked like they had been worn very lightly by someone (just a bit of creasing). I saw no defects, scrapes, or anything so in my hands they went. New these are $495 (though now they are $379), this pair was at $280, with the discount $140.
So, I left with two awesome pairs of shoes for a total of $250...I love the tent sale!