Nice piece of solid sole leather. Now, this is not the Goodyear welt. 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. Just felt a little more supple when you touched it. It was just wrapped around on the side. When aniline-dyed, chances are it is of high quality. Heres some of the new stuff. The thing says Handcrafted in the USA. I have my doubts based on the fact that its a shoe thats very different. Yeah, you can see its not high-quality material. Looking at the stitches, you can see theres a different stitch density here than it is here. Alright, heres the kind of welt. After, its wetted. If I scrape up the top coat here, you can see underneath this is kind of whitish leather. Top-coated leather can be good, but the majority of cheap leather is always top-coat colored, not aniline-dyed. I also think its partially based on this moccasin style. Its durable. Its definitely dyed. So, the next layer is the midsole. These two have the Allen Edmondss wooden shank that helps a little more when you kind of move. Just like a shoemaker would do it. This does have like a compressed look to it though. All right! You can see the texture its different here. You can see the upper here for the wingtip, slightly kind of taped reinforcement here, so the leather doesnt rip in the areas where its, theres demand for support. You can see it. Thats the kind of stuff you see there. You can even see all the tags. And here you see those little tacks again. So, it looks good. 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. Here, that seems to be the insole. Glue was still working. How cool is that?! First, if you look here you dont see the welt stitching, its concealed but its still a Goodyear-welted shoe, and, second here, you have that moccasin toe construction, similar to the other loafer, and you could even see here that the thread was flamed off. No, thats just at the edges. Thats a very different alignment than what you usually see. So, you had a layer of leather, then some form of tape that was applied to the leather. for example, where you should know its going to crease, right? 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. These are quite soft. This is kind of like, I dont know, almost like a softish linen. Yeah, a lot more porous if you compare. So, its basically nailed down. I wonder why they did it. But, at the end of the day, if you like the look, you get a quality shoe that can be resold and rest assured that the quality level has only changed ever so slightly from 50 years ago, which, in terms of shoes, is a good thing because mass factory mage shoes typically have become a lot worse since then. Where is it? They had these, you know, leather that was embossed and folded around an elastic. Again, Allen Edmonds Ostendo Cushioned Heel. Video Transcript [Lightly Edited for Clarity]: Budget Cashmere: Myth or Magic? So, if you define the crease line you know thats whats going to happen, and thats exactly what they did here. Different labeling, different branding. And then, here, the allotments label is sewn in, so you see it from the front. Seven nails here again and you can see the typical, kind of, thicker-on-the-outside, thinner-on-the-inside. So, its just shifted, so its not on top of each other because if it was, it would create the leather to bunch up in that area and move it around, but preventing that from happening. Its nice leather. Theres no shank in there. You can see it folded over on top to get it a little more glued down. 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. So, you can take that apart and we see, again, this heel cap. See, over here, the piece on top is continuous. I had not seen it before and I appreciate that more. So, without further ado, lets get started here. Must have been a new technology at the time. Makes the shoe maybe a tiny bit smaller and tighter, but if they adjust last, I dont see why not. Im gonna take off that gem band now. Here, we have the Allen Edmonds Leeds. Its not a shank, but its a stiffer, kind of, almost like a thermal plastic layer. Okay, otherwise, here is the lining, obviously. As you know, as you can see, Allen Edmonds typically has this kind of open channel stitching and so, you can see where the outer sole was welted on. Solid leather, I mean, well-done stuff. The level of workmanship is a little finer here. There was no foam or anything of that kind. You can see the tape at the edges with the same material that weve seen before, just to reinforce it. Maybe an oversight. Now, aniline-dyed leather is generally a very good leather. Reviews & Articles About Classic Men's Clothing & Accessories, Copyright 20102022 Gentleman's Gazette LLC All Rights Reserved Terms of Service & Accessibility Policy Privacy Policy. Almost looks like a plastic strip here thats built-in. This looks like not even rubber. So, this is definitely leather on top, and you can see these strands in here, though. Same construction as before with the exception of the shank being further back. You see the cork mass that we also saw before. Voila! Heres you see its nailed still from the inside and, uh, I want to take those at first, so dont hurt myself. 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. Okay, full brogue upper here. The leather has a nice kind of soft, cushy touch. This is very, very typical. It feels very similar to what we had before. So, insoles are here and insole liner, and underneath that is a layer of white foam, just so its softer to walk on it, but underneath that is actually an insole made out of a material, which in Germany, its called Lifa. 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. The shank is attached with two little rivets. They use the same tags from here to here. Well take these apart and compare them to the modern ones. I mean, the last has changed, but I mean look at this thick leather sole. Looks more like cardboard, but it still feels a bit like leather. Some kind of glue in there. I just taped it over. Very similar to the other one with the same logo. Same construction, right? The tape actually came from here. 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. 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. This is the traditional shoemakers way, so I would guess this shoe is the oldest one of the bunch because all the others had the same system, all the way to the latest one we just opened. Its a slight the broguing piece is still stuck in there after all this time. I think, over time, as you stand and put pressure on it, it may sag a little more. And, now, here, we see the Ostendo Cushioned Heel. Sometimes, thats the way its done. If you look at it here, we still have those seven nails that we saw before. Same nails though and different like construction where the outside was built up. I find it quite comfortable. You can also more easily cut around defects. But, still, like, stiff sole leather. At the end of the day though, you can buy Allen Edmonds with confidence. This is a Blucher style, some say blau-cher, so named after a German general or admiral von Blcher. Theyre nailed in top-down, not bottom-up. I can feel theres that fabric layer underneath. So, that makes even wonder if they make it in the same factory, and if so, if they just do it for the loafers. You can see here they sew in the Allen Edmonds sticker from the back. Its between the outer layer and the lining. I dont know if these were outsourced or made in Port Washington. (Uniqlo, Everlane, & More), Reward Yourself! Yeah, but look at that. Seems to be like a nice lining liner by the way. Same looking Allen Edmonds rubber patch and they also kind of angle that because the idea is that, when you walk, the inside corner doesnt get caught in your cuffs or turnips. Its still looking good after 50 years, cant complain about that. Sole! Its not stiff or anything. 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. And now, you can see as I pull, it actually comes off. So, you see this is not aniline-dyed leather but, in fact, the top brown is a lot lighter than whats underneath. Interestingly, you also see this, uh, metal shank, which, you know, typically, Allen Edmonds has the wooden shank. Just different here, cut differently because of the model and sewn together differently. Otherwise, you see here, this is cork. In a custom or bespoke shoe, youd have this insole to work out a channel and then a gem band. But, thats the same construction that we saw, that this extra kind of triangle piece that they laid in. Then, heres the old stuff. So, overall, what did we learn? If you look here, the heel is some sort of leather. You can see your little edge, meaning there are different layers of leather. This insole, on the other hand, is leather. With allotments, typically in the newer ones, they all had a solid rubber block. The nail just doesnt come off, but Ill try if the others come off. Okay, so this is the Leeds insole with the gem band attached. So, leather-wise, if you look at the leather here, you can really see the white coming through. Getting it out here. 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. The outer sole is here. 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. It has a little stamp here that says damaged, so I assume those were their seconds. Its all kind of the same machine channel. Because you had the shoe that was curved, right, the heel was also curved. Getting out the insole of the shoe, which is exactly what you stand on here. Now, as we come to the back here, you see something white and this is a thermal or thermoplastic cap. The Goodyear welt is on the inside and well see that part later on. 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. You can see all those metal tags on the side here. Its soft. That interesting front cap is not leather. The cap is softer, so they used a much softer material there. So, this top part, similar to the other moccasins, they have had this kind of stitching here that was just decorative, and this all comes out one piece. They havent been re-soled. Maybe its just hardened over the years. This one, too. They use the same nails from here all the way to here and back, which I find impressive. Pretty cool level of workmanship. When you buy something using the affiliate links on our site, we may earn a small commission. So you can see these are the uppers. Top part, folded edges with an interlining of all leather. Yeah, pretty good quality. Otherwise, same here, slight reinforcements here: the toe area, glue, and the leather lining. Of course, its drying out over the years, but one, two, and then on top. Maybe it shifted during production. Leather insole gem band and the cork. Its a flexible shank, but it breaks, right? It has that angle. So, I wonder if it would color off if you had like white socks, for example. Full leather and, again, our Ostendo friend. That being said, theres really no difference in having a welt that goes from here to here or around the heel. The pieces underneath are not. Heres a shank again. 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. So, theres one, two, three, four, five, six, seven nails. It seems much more like you know high-quality leather. And this here is the insole. Typically, a bespoke shoemaker goes from here to here and leaves it off, so they can really tightly pull it up and just the heel looks a lot more elegant. All right. Its the same lining material that you had here. Its interesting that they made this, this cut and overlaid it with this part. Well, we got a nail out here. Its floppy. Its called the Biscayne.. It feels like plastic. But, who knows? It was placed rather far back in the shoe. Lets see if we can learn a little more about that. So, basically, the welt is on top here. 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. So, this is basically a lining leather material insole. So, today, almost a century after, we dissect their offerings from over 50 years to find out their true value! As you can see here, a reinforced black fabric layer on leather is glued to this muslin piece, which is backed by another layer. There it is. So, you can see, again, theres this kind of fabric liner all over the place, between the lining leather and the uppers. I would assume its to keep things together, maybe in the uppers or anything like tucked in. Metal tacks here that keep the uppers together so, probably, they dont shift when the shoe is sewn together or the uppers are sewn together. And up here you can see a piping was attached, a dark color. So, no shank here. I dont know why they use those. 8 Buys to Celebrate Milestones & Success. Okay, so the insole liner was on top of this partial leather fiber insole foam. The last two brand new parasite bought was during the pandemic and yes I agree the quality has deteriorated a little bit. I mean, cork, right? If you see here, theres a little nail, but definitely not the nails that were used to seeing otherwise. Its a bit like a Saffiano leather. This is the gem band and its like glued on to here. Otherwise, it doesnt look like its sanded. So, you could see it on the inside. And then, we have the thermoplastic heel caps again. Its not stamped or cut out from a single piece of leather. All the sewing here creates a little bulging and then nice piping on top. Definitely scuffs up more easily. You see all these metal tags in here. You can see the stitching is not quite perfect, so theres a little bit like a smudge on the sole. 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. Its very flexible. Now, in here, it doesnt flex as much because at the bottom its all attached, but it flexes a little bit. 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. We see the same kind of construction and the same thread color as before. Okay, so you can see the outer sole, thick leather. The heel cap is supposed to keep the heel stiff, so the shoe lasts for a longer time. It is the second oldest of the new shoes we have, and its slightly different from some other elements. Still feels a lot sturdier than yesterday. Here we have the oldest ones of the modern Allen Edmond shoes. Down here you see all these tacks again. Also, if you look at the Biscayne, the Allen Edmonds labeling, here, its pretty center, here, its kind of slightly off-center. I wonder if they did this or if they bought the piece like that. With a wooden shank, you dont have that issue. 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. 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). It definitely, you know, has this top coating. 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. Just like before, typical leather uppers are packed with a lining. This is just typical glue mixed with little cork. Handcrafted in America from Import Materials. Its the style Grandview. 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. Traditionally, you know, if you go to a custom shoemaker, this is all leather. Nice piece of leather. Its backed by a lining and a little foam pad is added for comfort. Effectively hasnt changed much. Theres no gem band, but its connected by sewing it; its not just glued. Its definitely dry but, you know, youd expect from a shoe that old. A very stiff leather is shaped. Pretty cool. No idea what that is for. Ive seen that before in shoes. I mean, theyre constructed the same way in the same factory, so Im not too concerned about it. It gives you stability when you walk. Okay. Its definitely a slightly different shoe, so you can see Allen Edmonds changed the way they did things over the years. Now, you see the famous 360 welt from Allen Edmonds. Here it is. So, glad we opened up this one because its quite different. It wasnt meant to come off the way it does now. Their lasts are a little bit boxy and not as refined in my mind. Debonair looks too good on you to second guess. So, Im just curious to see what well have here. The same lining that we found underneath the loafer bridge there. But overall, its a softer shoe. So, Ill just keep the shank here. It was this like elastic material, and then they took leather, embossed it, knowing that they could. And its kind of funny if you look here. The other one here doesnt have it. You can see its like the stitching kind of slight irregularities, but thats, thats cool. The new Leeds are still around, a little more updated, more than last. It had these kinds of perforated leather linings. You see a nail here. Nothing was paid for. The short thing to start is the Elites one has the heel with the Allen Edmonds on it. As far as the upper leather goes, you can see, you know, the layer on top its lighter underneath. Eventually, the foam will kind of wear out and lose its cushiness. We bought all the shoes for the video. Theres this fabric that is backed here and then something softer is added underneath. So, lets take a look. Its this bark from the tree, so I also dont know how these were stored over the last 50 years. Its definitely glued on; leather was glued into the fabric, so nothing shifts. 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. Typically, you see it more like may be placed here. 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. 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. You can see here, from the outside, it looked like it was one piece of leather but, in fact, they have seams here and they do that to just save on the cost of leather. Otherwise, the leathers may be a little stiffer, but its just a matter of preference. Even this here you know I didnt cut this this just came apart like that. This was definitely a more difficult thing to do. I cant peel that off. Its directly glued onto the outer layer. 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. If not identical lining. Alright, you can see here, this is the rubber heel block. Maybe its because the shoe hasnt been worn much and it wasnt compressed. 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. All right, now, lets take apart this Sanibel loafer. So, I wonder why it was placed so far back? So, next up, lets go through the sole stitching here and try to cut it open. So, two layers of some form of fabric material, and then, a heel cap made of what seems to be leather is quite cool. Now, thats unusual. We dont have that anymore. These are the back pieces here. I dont think theyll build up a leather heel one layer by layer as they would do at a custom shoemaker. Again, there doesnt seem to be any shank, part of their flex promise. It gets a little wider, so I would guess this was done by hand because of the inconsistent stitching. New label, new marketing, but construction, pretty much identical. I currently only 10 pairs that accumulated over the last 10 years or so. Allen Edmonds rubber heel here. Interesting. 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. Now the last thing was this really cool-looking strip here and whats inside of it. Okay, the heel looks pretty similar to the old ones. They say Custom Cork Insole. Biscayne Allen Edmonds Ostendo cushioned heel. The welt, the construction is all pretty much the same. Theres basically this layer of glue, it almost looks like glue tape. Yes, they use a different machine here than they did here. Oh, interesting! It seems to have the same construction as the old one. Now that we cut open four more modern Allen Edmonds shoes, were curious how they changed from back in the day, so we found two pairs here that are originally old. This is the welt strip. Allen Edmonds outsole. Yep, looks very much the same again.