Need Advice: Dress Shoes for Interviews, Cost no Object - Page 3

Wear nice clothes for an interview, but not clothes that are too nice. You shouldn't be dressed better than the person interviewing you. Wearing impractical shoes at an interview is not a good idea.

One's thing very clear - this isn't an engineering or IT interview...

In the US it is Allen Edmonds. Classic.  Available at Nordies!!   If you wear a size 7D ~ PM me I have a few in perfect condition.....

I worked my way through college selling high end British shoes in a little shoe store in England. As far as I am concerned you can't go wrong with footwear from Northampton! The only additions I would make to that in terms of absolute quality that I have personally experienced are Alden and Allen Edmonds from the US and Bottega Veneta from Italy.

You went with a great choice, one of the wonderful things about the higher end British and American shoes is that you can return them to the factory and have them refurbished and it is well worth the expense as you end up having the shoe re-lasted on the original lasts, re-soled and all the layers of old wax removed from the outers and refinished. Also the cork footbeds are replaced as well as the inner leather footbeds so for around $100-$150 you end up with a brand new pair of shoes. I have Churches shoes from the UK that I purchased thirty years ago that have gone through that process and they still look great to this day.

Spend a bit more initially and you end up saving a fortune in the long run not to mention your feet will love you for being encased in leather as opposed to plastic !

The EG's are definitely of superior quality to the Alfred Sargent's, but I am not familiar with the other ones. As to being re-soled as long as the shoe has a goodyear welt then it is an easy task for a cobbler. When it comes to the rubber quarters on the heels to be done though just take them to a good quality cobbler, no need for them to go to the factory for that.

I have to be honest that if I were to go for new British shoes now I would not go for my beloved Churches as since being taken over by Prada they simply are not of the same quality. Before Prada then they would have been the equals of EG's and such. If you ever want a pair of Italian shoes that are actually great quality rather than just a name then I really recommend the Bottega's I have a pair of their boots and they are stunning quality mind the are about three times the price of Churches and such so they should be! I also like that they have opened a school in Italy to make sure that quality leather work is still maintained in Italy.

If you want Alden pop into your nearest Brooks Brothers as they have some lovely cordovans made by them but with Brooks Brothers naming. I love Aldens, easily the equal of the high end bespoke Jermyn street shoemakers in England and higher praise I could not give!

We have RM Williams boots here but I don't think they are well known in other countries.  

Arghh! Cannot believe I forgot to include RM's in my list of great shoes! Thank you for reminding me. They have a dedicated store in London and are very popular in Canada though the Gardener versions are the most popular due to the rubber soles.

A great boot, cut from a single piece of leather and beautifully made and incredible value considering the quality! My favourites are the Jodhpurs, lovely kid leather.

Red Wing Beckman 9014 looks nice.

 

Not so sure about Magli anymore to be honest.

 

 

I know they're fairly popular but those shoes pictured previously say '******' and 'trying too hard' to me in equal measure, but there are plenty of mega-successful *******. For perennial style ready to wear, I guess you could look at Lobb, though I get the feeling there's a label aspect pricewise (i.e. if you're buying a Lobb, probably better to actually get a 'real' custom fit for not a huge amount more, as generally pointed out above). http://us.estore.johnlobb.com/oxford/philip-ii.html

Edited by bangraman - 9/9/12 at 5:46am

I agree on the Magli and Ferragamo accounts, not bad but no where near worth the price in terms of quality compared to the EG's or similar and I most certainly would put Allen Edmonds in a much higher catagory than the two Italians! No, if you want old school Italian then go Bottega Veneta.

Remember also, there are two John Lobb's ! One is still the bespoke manufacturer beloved of the likes of Frank Sinatra which are still made in tiny quantities in their shop in London

http://johnlobbltd.co.uk/main/main.htm

Or, the Hermes owned company that still make very high end shoes but they are very different beasts!
http://www.johnlobb.com/en/
Edited by ianmedium - 9/9/12 at 8:07am

Exactly. John Lobb (Hermes) are really nice shoes in their own right, but a custom pair wouldn't be that much more. Even a 'real' Lobb as I said, which is only about ~2x (which is a jump, but let's face it, if you're already looking to spend $1500-$2000 on shoes you can probably stretch to that... though you would need to arrange the logistics of fitting. Luckily in my case I'm literally around the corner).

 

 

However I dunno, maybe it's just the old-school fart in me but if a guy (I fully admit I'd give a woman a break as long as the ensemble was appropriately fabulous) came in dressed to the nines like the above for a position he'd actually have to interview for, as opposed to already being picked and then doing due dilligence, I'd be like, 'oooooooh look at you'

 

 

Edited by bangraman - 9/9/12 at 8:57am

Well put and luck you being just around the corner from them. One of the things I am looking forward to when I eventually return to the UK to live is having access to things like this.. Oh and a good pint of beer!