I believe a w00t is in order. 
Long story short, about a year ago I ordered some 'Peal & Co.' dress boots from Brooks Brothers (in a nice dark brown, with 'Dainite' rubber soles.) Well, these boots were well made and stylish, and more importantly fit me perfectly.
I don't mean the fit was good, I mean it was fantastic.
Now, living in the wintry northern reaches of Canada, where ice and snow are our constant companions, I've found two things: dress boots are a lot more enjoyable to wear with a suit in winter than dress shoes (especially when wading through snowbanks or slush puddles by the curb), and 'gumlite' sloes made by Vibram are phenominal for traction on ice and snow. "Dang", thought I, "if only these boots came with Vibram gumlite soles, I'd buy a dozen!" No such luck, of course, but a guy can dream.
Time goes by and I see this ... http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2010/03/of-trousers-and-cuffs.html It's nominally about trousers and cuffs, but the boots in the photo made me drool. I can't afford bespoke boots like those, but if I could ever find a pair like that ... then I remember that most of the Peal shoes are made by Alfred Sargeant, so off I go to various shoe websites to see if AS does something similar. Low and behold, I find what looks like a dead ringer for 'my' Peal boot, but in a tan pebble grain. Hoping for the best, I e-mail AS to ask if 'that' boot is the same as 'my' boot and what English size should I order to match the US size I ordered from BB. Well, it turns out that it wasn't so easy, since the Peal boots are made on different lasts than the English ones I found on the website ... but the fellow I'm e-mailing with says they'd be happy to do me up a pair of "this" boot on "that" last.
Hmm ...
Let't go for gold ... can you do that, but put a Vibram Gumlite sole on it? No problem, says he. Well, good English dress shoes take a while to make, but yesterday in the mail I get my box from England. The boots fit perfectly, as I had hoped. Alfred Sargeant has been an absolute pleasure to deal with.
Long story short, about a year ago I ordered some 'Peal & Co.' dress boots from Brooks Brothers (in a nice dark brown, with 'Dainite' rubber soles.) Well, these boots were well made and stylish, and more importantly fit me perfectly.
I don't mean the fit was good, I mean it was fantastic.
Now, living in the wintry northern reaches of Canada, where ice and snow are our constant companions, I've found two things: dress boots are a lot more enjoyable to wear with a suit in winter than dress shoes (especially when wading through snowbanks or slush puddles by the curb), and 'gumlite' sloes made by Vibram are phenominal for traction on ice and snow. "Dang", thought I, "if only these boots came with Vibram gumlite soles, I'd buy a dozen!" No such luck, of course, but a guy can dream.
Time goes by and I see this ... http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2010/03/of-trousers-and-cuffs.html It's nominally about trousers and cuffs, but the boots in the photo made me drool. I can't afford bespoke boots like those, but if I could ever find a pair like that ... then I remember that most of the Peal shoes are made by Alfred Sargeant, so off I go to various shoe websites to see if AS does something similar. Low and behold, I find what looks like a dead ringer for 'my' Peal boot, but in a tan pebble grain. Hoping for the best, I e-mail AS to ask if 'that' boot is the same as 'my' boot and what English size should I order to match the US size I ordered from BB. Well, it turns out that it wasn't so easy, since the Peal boots are made on different lasts than the English ones I found on the website ... but the fellow I'm e-mailing with says they'd be happy to do me up a pair of "this" boot on "that" last.
Hmm ...
Let't go for gold ... can you do that, but put a Vibram Gumlite sole on it? No problem, says he. Well, good English dress shoes take a while to make, but yesterday in the mail I get my box from England. The boots fit perfectly, as I had hoped. Alfred Sargeant has been an absolute pleasure to deal with.
