Where to get good quality dress casual shoes

[allthatisman]

Can't stand KC. Everything I've ever bought from them was a piece of crap. 2 work bags - fell apart. Shoes, discolor and fall apart. My wife's purses fall apart.

Their biggest issue is that they use trash leather and rubber soles for their shoes with ulgly-ass square toes. The leather is cheap and is almost exclusively corrected grain leather, thus they hold polish poorly and discolor more easily.

+1 Kenneth Cole shoes tend to look good, but they wear horribly and don't last. If anyone is concerned about low quality when buying a shoe, I would suggest Zappos. They have been awesome about taking shoes back well after the fact when a certain manufacturers shoe ages prematurely.

 

[evident]

Most of the crap shoes love square toed, not sure why, but they do. some of the more "stylish" shoes have squares, but they aren't the blunt squares like KCs and others.

i think square toes are a bad fashion trend and brands are capitalizing on that fact and can get away with cheap quality ones. but you're right, all of my KC clothes look good at the store and after wearing them not even a handful of times they all fall apart and look terrible. I'm wearing my KC boots right now and while they still look alright i can't wait till they finally fall apart... lol will never make the square toe mistake again

 

[Exterous]

I am liking the Clark's ultralight series. They go well with jeans and business casual (slacks and long sleeved oxfords).

For formal wear I have a few pairs of Johnson and Murphy's. I don't like leather soles for my day to day needs.

I have tried AE, my brother loves them. The pairs I tried did not feel right on my feet.

I had a pair of clarks before this recent disaster and they alsted me less than 9 months before both soles were cracked in half

Lots of good options to look at - thanks guys!

 

[Howard]

Allen Edmonds, Crockett and Jones, Alden, Church's...

John Lobb, Salvatore Ferragamo, RL Purple Label...

 

[timosyy]

I picked up the Allen Edmonds Strand at Nordstroms when it was on sale for $200 and love them.

 

[evident]

I picked up the Allen Edmonds Strand at Nordstroms when it was on sale for $200 and love them.

they didn't have the brown ones on sale I got the Cliftons in both black and brown for $200 and i wear them all the time

 

[LegendKiller]

they didn't have the brown ones on sale I got the Cliftons in both black and brown for $200 and i wear them all the time

I know how you can get discounted AEs, PM me for details.

I love Strands, I have them in dark brown, walnut, and black. Also have McAllister in all 3 and Merlot. Have a couple Hales, Park Avenues, 5th avenues, and a pair of monk straps.

The only thing you really need to do with AEs is give them some good creme/polish at first to build up a good base, then maintain it every few months. I usually put heel/toe savers when I get them resoled. Get some cedar shoe trees and the things will last for years and years.

Less waste, less garbage, less money in the long run. I get a lot of compliments at work.

The only issue I have is that I wear custom carbon orthotics. They bite into the back leather. Need to find something to fix that.

 

[sjwaste]

For a while I was buying $80 Kenneth Coles and replacing them twice a year. I stopped doing that. Here's what I learned:

1. You need multiple pairs. Leather needs to dry. Don't wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row.

2. Some brands are worth the money. $400 for a pair of designer label shoes may not ensure quality, but paying in the $250-300 range for Allen Edmonds and such is completely worth it.

3. Shoes of the quality mentioned in #2 are seriously comfortable once the leather is broken in. They will save your feet.

4. Conservative, classic styles are the way to go for your first few pairs.

Right now, my rotation is 2 pairs of AE (Park Avenue and Delray) and 3 pairs of hand made Italian shoes that I got in Florence (from Quercioli, made for them). All were in the $250-300 range. The AE's are 3-4 years old and need to be sent off to be resoled, but I wore them quickly because I used to walk almost a mile to/from the metro each morning - often in them. They last a long time, and all of them can be repaired if needed as long as the leather upper is in good condition.

I don't want to pretend to know fashion, but when it comes to dress shoes, stay away from trends for every day. Square toed shoes are popular, but wearing them to the office tells me you're probably just out of college and therefore a noob to real life. If you work for a large company or are in a white collar role, stick to something more conservative. Cap toes, oxfords, that sort of thing. They never go out of style. You can have more casual or trendy shoes, but those probably aren't what you want to wear every day. It may sound contradictory at first, but a pair of trendy brown, square toed shoes with thick contrast stitching are better used to dress down a suit than they are worn every day with khakis and a polo. The former looks professional and purposeful, while the latter can look sloppy in some offices.