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shoe advice. dress shoe

starting a new job soon and have to dress business. looking for a shoe i can wear with dress pants and shirt to the office and possibly even dress down. maybe something that can work with jeans as well.
i would like to keep the price down as much as possible,, $100 ball park.. i have been looking at some online, some names i have heard thrown around this site recently. i dont know what you guys do for a living, but i WANT IN!!!:tongue_sm

"holy stupid prices batman"!!!:scared: i can justify 100. with inflation, cost living ect., i can justify 200.. but i am seeing shoes that are reaching over $700!! what is the profit margin of a shoe that costs over $500?

anyway,, what im looking for is something that looks good. if it is versatile enough to wear with jeans? great.
hoping you guys can steer me in the right direction. i dont have any fashion sense.:bored:.....at all.
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
I have had good experiences with Johnson & Murphy over the years, but most of their shoes seem to be made in China now - so take that for what it's worth.

They have quite a few outlets with good prices and quite a few shoes in their lower line that are near your price point.

Just as a FYI - their Aristocrafts are about $200 in the outlets and will easily last twice as long as $100 shoes and look better the whole time. I have a lot of shoes, so the fact that my original pair of cap toes is about 14 years old might not mean much - but I've worn them at least 1500 times and they still look great.

Expensive shoes are expensive for a reason. If you're looking for value for your money there is certainly a price point below $700 (I assume - I don't have any $700 shoes) that hits the sweet spot between looks, longevity/quality and price. But I promise you it's not $100. All this is moot if you only have $100 in the shoe budget, but know that in the long run you'll save more money and look better doing it with Alden or AE.
 
"holy stupid prices batman"!!!:scared: i can justify 100. with inflation, cost living ect., i can justify 200.. but i am seeing shoes that are reaching over $700!! what is the profit margin of a shoe that costs over $500?
I'm sure they're making a decent profit, but quality shoes in $300-700 range are usually priced that way because of 1.) Handcrafting by skilled First-world labor, 2.) High quality leathers, 3.) Recraftability and value-added post-purchase services (think polishing, oiling, recrafting, etc.). All of these in the long run save you money and end up with a better shoe. They're not the same junk as the $100 just with a bigger markup because of some fashion magic. I used to think that way too, until I started actually looking into it and comparing the two products in my hand. Now I'm 100% quality all the way.
 
i have been reading reviews on amazon and some people are saying their shows were falling apart after 1 use. or feet hurt ect. and now,, yes some are outsourcing to china?
this has been (and will continue to be) quite an education for me. if i find the right shoe, i may indeed fork over some dough. and you guys are just confirming what i seem to be discovering online. "dont skimp on quality"

thank you for your input. i do appreciate it.
 
The biggest thing to keep in mind is you have to take care of dress shoes. Rotate them if you can (don't wear them every day so they can dry out fully between wearings) keep them clean, conditioned and polished. A well maintained pair of less expensive shoes will last longer and look better then an abused neglected pair of $700 hand stitched high end ones.

Start with the basics (Black, conservative dress shoes) as quality cared for shoes will last a long time. Eventually you can start to add more and niche types but the basic blacks will always be the correct choice.

Marc
 
http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Madden-...d=1390843165&sr=1-69&keywords=dress+shoes+menno reviews on this one yet.. idk if its new or what? any thoughts on this brand?i like the look! and color!
Steve Madden is a kind of crappy brand. Granted, you're not going to get super high quality stuff at your price point, but I've owned Maddens in the past and they're not the best. How about these? I've had a pair of Born casual shoes around the same price point (e.g. "fancy sneakers) for two years now and they've held up beautifully. Note that the leather on the Born pic is a little creased, but those Steve Maddens will look exactly like that, and possibly worse, after you wear them a bit.http://www.zappos.com/born-hamburg-black-full-grain
 
Long time no post. Decided I needed to reply to this thread because of some of the ridiculous responses.

You don't need to spend a ton of money for a decent pair of shoes. The Steve Madden's that were linked to will do the job just fine. They may not last forever, but you don't really need that. Millions of people wear Steve Maddens and are quite happy with them.

Another good brand is Rockport. I have a pair of Rockport Castleton's in brown wingtip that I got on sale for just under $100 and they are fine. Maybe not as "good" as my pair of Allen Edmond Park Avenue's, but so what. They do the job (fit well, look good, and are very comfortable).

The only caveat about the cheap shoes- Some brands use either materials or glue that gives a Petroleum smell to the shoe. I am sensitive to the smell for some reason and can immediately tell when someone walks into my office wearing one of these cheap shoes. I once bought a pair of Aldo shoes that had that smell, and had to eventually just throw them out. So, you may want to check out the shoes in person to make sure that they don't have that smell.

So, don't fret. You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a decent pair of shoes. A pair of Rockport's will do just fine and fit right into your budget.
 
Allen Edmonds 2nds are going on sale Feb 2. I'm sure there will be a thread here covering it. Challenge will be to figure out your size and then email or call the shoe bank.

Prices should be below $200 and will blow away any $100 shoe. Heck, even the J&M shoes I've had in the past were $160 and a AE is miles beyond it in quality.
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
Call Allen Edmonds and ask for their sale listing per e-mail. You will find there a number of shoes drastically reduced in price. I was just last week at their Shoe Bank in Port Washington and picked up two great pairs for the price on one!! Remember, what you pay more now will save you in the long run. These are great handmade shoes and they can be re-crafted when needed. I have on pair that was re-crafted three times, and a couple others that were done twice. Some of them are over 15 years old and still look super.
 
Call Allen Edmonds and ask for their sale listing per e-mail. You will find there a number of shoes drastically reduced in price. I was just last week at their Shoe Bank in Port Washington and picked up two great pairs for the price on one!! Remember, what you pay more now will save you in the long run. These are great handmade shoes and they can be re-crafted when needed. I have on pair that was re-crafted three times, and a couple others that were done twice. Some of them are over 15 years old and still look super.

+1 I love my Allen Edmonds...I bought mine used and had them resoled. They basically came
back like brand new!!!

I also love Clark driving moccasins...they go well with khakis or jeans...or
lounging around the house for that matter.
 
one thing i did not mention is , i will be at a desk the entire time. besides bathroom and lunch breaks.
so,,, for me,, i'd say looks trump quality. at least to a point. im not running tack in them.. but, i am coming to the conclusion that i will want to buy them in person so i can try them out.

logisticsearth,, very kind of you to try but i think that was a swing and a miss.

doc4 ,, again, very kind but im not seeing any difference in price there. (in general anyway) i didnt look apples to apples

f308gt4, didnt mean to cause such a fuss to wake you, (jk) but i think you hit the nail there. im at a desk.. if a $100 shoe falls apart from that well,, we got problems. but i dont think i will be buying online. this one i'll do in person.

grayson, you may be right, but maybe they will get me to a point where i can afford a better shoe..?

matt and rudy, i will definatley look into Allen Edmond. <--- this is another reason this post was made. i dont know what brands are good or bad. nor do i know where to go for these//// scratch that.. i'll just look it up online and see who is selling this brand near by me. but at least now i know thanks to all of you.
 
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