Originally posted by Boris_Koch
Hello John,

Thanks much for sharing the pictures. Look like they've been taken from the book "Dressing the Man" by Alan Flusser. If you don't have it, I strongly recommend you get it.

About your shoes, Allen Edmonds do make very good shoes. The leather is of high quality and the construction is flawless. Same could be said of another american brand, Alden. I particularily like the models in cordovan calf. Now, as far as styling is concerned, they probably have not evolved as much as their European counterparts at Crockett & Jones, Edward Green or John Lobb. It would be nice to see them be a little bit more daring, and introduce new shapes. But maybe it's just me and my fussy European tastes.

Johnston & Murphy, if I remember correctly, used to be the official shoemaker for the Presidents of the United States, and had a lot of prestige. However, they went for mass production a few decades ago, and I feel the overall quality is not on par with the like of, say, Alden.

Happy holidays to you and your family, John. Hope you didn't get too much of the bad weather I saw was affecting the US. Here, in Singapore, it's about 28 degrees celsius and overcast (it's the rainy season).

Boris
Boris - thanks for the kind words. Yes, J&M has gone down in quality in recent years which is a real shame. I have a couple of pairs which I have gotten GREAT deals on eBay. By and large, I stick to AE's. Yes, they have that traditional clunky look to them...what can I say? I'm a traditional kind of guy.