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. This is the gem band and its like glued on to here. We dont have that anymore. So, no shank here. 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. So, yeah, this is good quality. The thing says Handcrafted in the USA. I have my doubts based on the fact that its a shoe thats very different. If you look inside of here and cut, you can see there are individual fiber strands attached to it. One thing that I do miss are the old Allen Edmonds footbeds. Now, you can see the leather is so brittle that, even on the sole level, it already breaks. Its durable. These are quite soft. Sometimes, thats the way its done. So, maybe this one nail was just something that someone added. Some form of starched fabric, it seems. Theyre nailed in top-down, not bottom-up. Looks more like cardboard, but it still feels a bit like leather. Heres some of the new stuff. Otherwise, the other five here, are pretty much similar in construction. Seven nails here again and you can see the typical, kind of, thicker-on-the-outside, thinner-on-the-inside. Its this bark from the tree, so I also dont know how these were stored over the last 50 years. But, still, like, stiff sole leather. Different labeling, different branding. They probably didnt want to use black, but they didnt have that branded element. Now, aniline-dyed leather is generally a very good leather. You see that theres just the layers that all come together and then this leather is sewn on top so its nicely piped. 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. Maybe its just hardened over the years. Handcrafted in America from Import Materials. Its the style Grandview. Why would you do that, you might ask, considering that weve already done an Is It Worth It? for Allen Edmonds. All right. Theres no shank in there. How cool is that?! It has a little stamp here that says damaged, so I assume those were their seconds. I dont know. And up here you can see a piping was attached, a dark color. The same lining that we found underneath the loafer bridge there. 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. Now, here, you can see there are some nails in here, but theyre nailed in the other way. (Uniqlo, Everlane, & More), Reward Yourself! I mean, the last has changed, but I mean look at this thick leather sole. Almost looks like a plastic strip here thats built-in. Its not a shank, but its a stiffer, kind of, almost like a thermal plastic layer. They added another layer of interlining. What is that? 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. Theres just one layer of leather pretty thick than these fabric interlinings. But, who knows? Now, here you see that fabric backing all across the bottom here. Obviously, a thicker sole, they still sell this today, but the last is different and the shape. And then, here, the allotments label is sewn in, so you see it from the front. Biscayne Allen Edmonds Ostendo cushioned heel. After all these years, its obviously a little more brittle, but it still feels nice and supple. So, its basically nailed down. This is the welt strip. Here it is. Nice level of workmanship. You still can recognize the layers. As far as the upper leather goes, you can see, you know, the layer on top its lighter underneath. Yep, looks very much the same again. It doesnt look, doesnt necessarily seem like top-grain but maybe its because its all so dry. 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. So, its a good indicator but its not like absolute truth. Id assume it would be sold as a damaged pair. Its kind of the outsole here. Allen Edmonds damaged. And then, interestingly, its a piece of fabric here. And, now, here, we see the Ostendo Cushioned Heel. Its between the outer layer and the lining. Typically, you see it more like may be placed here. So, pretty cool. Still feels a lot sturdier than yesterday. Its the same lining material that you had here. Sometimes, they claim that when you have a metal shank, you know, and you go to the airport the TSA, it will beep and you have to take off your shoes. And here we see, probably the biggest difference to modern-day Allen Edmonds. Alright, here is the insole from the bottom, and now they have an insole lining. This thread seems like a waxed thread, which is typically what you see when shoemakers use stuff. Kind of mock-toe, just making it look neat. Theres no gem band, but its connected by sewing it; its not just glued. Its nice leather. They havent been re-soled. Here in the old shoes, they have a different last shape. This is a great Brand I hope theyre able to fix everything and turn it around. Nice piece of leather. Because you had the shoe that was curved, right, the heel was also curved. Their lasts are a little bit boxy and not as refined in my mind. Theres this fabric that is backed here and then something softer is added underneath. The other one here doesnt have it. 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. Im sure you can find softer, too. The Biscayne just has a lighter color. Now, you can see theres again this interlining, leather lining, fabric interlining; gives the leather a little bit softness upon the touch, upper leather lining. Its definitely a slightly different shoe, so you can see Allen Edmonds changed the way they did things over the years. Got a smooth edge on top. Full leather and, again, our Ostendo friend. 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. All the sewing here creates a little bulging and then nice piping on top. You know, well done. Stitch density is higher. 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. All right, the next layer here, very similar to the top one. One, two, three, or four layers of leather basically. Alright, you can see here, this is the rubber heel block. And this here is the insole. Must be synthetic of some kind, which is fine. I dont know if these were outsourced or made in Port Washington. The welt, the construction is all pretty much the same. Effectively hasnt changed much. Posted February 17, 2022 in Leather, Our Best Articles, Reviews, Shoes, Videos, Wardrobe, Clothing and Accessories. You can even see all the tags. Okay, so the insole liner was on top of this partial leather fiber insole foam. Seems to be like a nice lining liner by the way. It gives you stability when you walk. Its floppy. This material is pretty typical to what you see in a ready-to-wear Gucci welted shoe, so theres nothing bad about it. The touch is pretty nice. Looks like a compressed kind of fibrous leather. So, now, this is interesting. If you look here, the heel is some sort of leather. 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. Yeah, this is just the gem that was just glued on. All right! Theres nothing else there. 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. Its soft. 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. Of course, its drying out over the years, but one, two, and then on top. I would assume its to keep things together, maybe in the uppers or anything like tucked in. It was placed rather far back in the shoe. I think, over time, as you stand and put pressure on it, it may sag a little more. I also think its partially based on this moccasin style. Its all kind of the same machine channel. You can see it folded over on top to get it a little more glued down. Yeah, a lot more porous if you compare. Just like before, typical leather uppers are packed with a lining. Lets take the rest of the heel off. The new Leeds are still around, a little more updated, more than last. You can see this shoe wasnt heavily walked on. This one, too. You can see all those metal tags on the side here. The nail just doesnt come off, but Ill try if the others come off. So, here is the shank, little rivets. Yeah, but look at that. Its interesting. Pretty cool level of workmanship. Maybe its because the shoe hasnt been worn much and it wasnt compressed. Where is it? They say Custom Cork Insole. Fabric backing another kind of layer here in the back, and then the thermoplastic cap. You can see theres a finer backing, relatively thin. The tape actually came from here. So, the next layer is the midsole. You see, on the welt here, its disconnected here because the welt is actually a long strip that is then bent, formed into shape, and its open. Okay, so you can see the outer sole, thick leather. Apart from that, very similar to the loafer that was non-moccasin and Goodyear welted, and the modern Port Washington Allen Edmonds. 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. Nothing was paid for. Its a flexible shank, but it breaks, right? Same construction as before with the exception of the shank being further back. Otherwise, the leather lining is very, very similar. Traditionally, you know, if you go to a custom shoemaker, this is all leather. The outer sole is here. This is a Blucher style, some say blau-cher, so named after a German general or admiral von Blcher. 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. Its a bit like a Saffiano leather. Because the embossing was there, thats where the leather would continue to crease. Ill start with the Biscayne. So, overall, what did we learn? The last two brand new parasite bought was during the pandemic and yes I agree the quality has deteriorated a little bit. Based on the catalog information, this is from the 70s here because it was only produced in the 70s. Yeah, you can see its not high-quality material. Theyre all over the place. Outer sole. There was no foam or anything of that kind. Ive been to the Allen Edmonds factory and I did not notice these little tacks. Allen Edmonds outsole. You can see it. You see all these metal tags in here. This looks like not even rubber. Not something we saw at the others, and its just tacked in here on this side and on that side with a little, little tack. But overall, its a softer shoe. Seems to be, to me, like good-quality leather. Now, in here, it doesnt flex as much because at the bottom its all attached, but it flexes a little bit. I have been an Allen Edmonds wearer since 1995. This is very, very typical. It is among the more popular American brands and has been around since the 1910s. 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. I wonder if they did this or if they bought the piece like that. Look at that big heel pad. Its like a leather fiber material thats what you find in like, you know, 99% of all like cheap shoes. 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. So, Ill just keep the shank here. Debonair looks too good on you to second guess. Got my good pry bar here. I just taped it over. Some kind of glue in there. This is a nice thick cork. Otherwise, same here, slight reinforcements here: the toe area, glue, and the leather lining. The little tacks that they used all along are still here. Obviously, it was on the shoes. It looks like a compressed leather of some kind I would guess or maybe its just because its so old. Its interesting that they made this, this cut and overlaid it with this part. Theres no benefit. Nice piece of solid sole leather. Its obviously a new shoe that has never been worn, so the glue is working really well. You can see your little edge, meaning there are different layers of leather. So you can see these are the uppers. So, leather-wise, if you look at the leather here, you can really see the white coming through. So, that makes even wonder if they make it in the same factory, and if so, if they just do it for the loafers. Sven Raphael Schneider: Welcome back to the Gentlemans Gazette. Interesting. Its directly glued onto the outer layer. So, theres one, two, three, four, five, six, seven nails. In a custom or bespoke shoe, youd have this insole to work out a channel and then a gem band. Its definitely glued on; leather was glued into the fabric, so nothing shifts. Im trying to find the different layers and then, I want to take them apart. This is a kind of fabric material with an adhesive backing that was added, and you had it again from the other side. Leather insole gem band and the cork. Same procedure here, 360 welt all around, a slightly different color but still one piece of leather. Okay, otherwise, here is the lining, obviously. Its a slight the broguing piece is still stuck in there after all this time. They use a Goodyear welt, and they always advertise the 360 welt in recent history. Then we have this model here, which is the Leeds, which is, in fact, still available today. Its very flexible. Okay, the heel looks pretty similar to the old ones. And, look at that, the usual suspects. The seam just comes here on the side, versus on the outside, the seam was here in the back. I mean, cork, right? Well see. 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. This area stays a little straighter versus here. Yes, they use a different machine here than they did here. You can see here they sew in the Allen Edmonds sticker from the back. So, basically, the welt is on top here. Now, this is not the Goodyear welt. If not identical lining. I think it was also bigger. I find it quite comfortable. Pretty cool stuff! Its still looking good after 50 years, cant complain about that. Theres basically this layer of glue, it almost looks like glue tape. This is kind of like, I dont know, almost like a softish linen. So, next up, lets go through the sole stitching here and try to cut it open. If you look at it here, we still have those seven nails that we saw before. The leather has a nice kind of soft, cushy touch. So, that was the outer sole. You can see its, like, layered in here so, to me, it seems like this is a compressed leather product in the heel as well, but maybe of slightly higher quality than what we had before. So, now, as you can see here, we have a shank and Allen Edmonds is known for their wooden shank. So, glad we opened up this one because its quite different. See all the tags, just like in the old shoes. If I scrape up the top coat here, you can see underneath this is kind of whitish leather. Pretty much like before. for example, where you should know its going to crease, right? Just like a shoemaker would do it. So, its another lining that you would see. Its called the Biscayne.. You can see this is the sole, just a little piece of fabric. Must have been a new technology at the time. As you can see here, it says handcrafted in the USA. This is the top piece. 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. I currently only 10 pairs that accumulated over the last 10 years or so. Again, Allen Edmonds Ostendo Cushioned Heel. 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. Okay. We see the same kind of construction and the same thread color as before. Leather lining and this is just another layer of fabric. The lining, which seems to be leather, and its attached to the outer layer, which has an additional lining layer. This is just typical glue mixed with little cork. It feels like plastic. This is not a layer of cork as maybe a custom shoemaker would offer you. If you have smaller pieces, you can get more yield out of any given skin. It had these kinds of perforated leather linings. Maybe an oversight. Exactly the same construction as what weve seen before. The shank is attached with two little rivets. It seems much more like you know high-quality leather. I cant peel that off. Eventually, the foam will kind of wear out and lose its cushiness. As you can see here, leather heels are sewn together in the middle here. They use the same nails from here all the way to here and back, which I find impressive. 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. Not like a top grain for sure. All right, heres the heel block. Interesting. We had one outlier: this Sanibel shoe here, which almost seemed like it was made in a different factory. The biggest difference is no thermoplastics. When you buy something using the affiliate links on our site, we may earn a small commission. No idea what that is for. Makes the shoe maybe a tiny bit smaller and tighter, but if they adjust last, I dont see why not. No shank here. Its not stamped or cut out from a single piece of leather. So, you can see, again, theres this kind of fabric liner all over the place, between the lining leather and the uppers. Thats the kind of stuff you see there. Well see. Its just like 3L. I know its cotton nice material for spectators I think. We bought all the shoes for the video. The pieces underneath are not. I cant tell the difference. You can see the texture its different here. Now, the leather heel again, we have these seven nails here. Here its not as neatly finished. 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. I think this is a second, but its made the same way as the prime, first-grade quality. Apparently, theres like a layer of something. Oh, I see how its falling apart here, but this was a heel cap. 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. Thats the first time were seeing a nail. So, this layer, now, comes off like so and then, you see. So, you can take that apart and we see, again, this heel cap. Okay, leather material seems to be very similar to what we had before. Here, we have the Allen Edmonds Leeds. These two have the Allen Edmondss wooden shank that helps a little more when you kind of move.