Stitched Footwear

Grant Stone Cap Toe in Forest Kudu: Casual Cap Toe

When it comes to the Grant Stone Cap Toe in Forest Kudu, you need to start with the leather. Perhaps most importantly, this is real kudu. Where some manufacturers use “kudu” to describe their oiled calf leather – a description I’ll never understand – Grant Stone uses it to describe leather that comes from, well, a kudu.

Viberg Engineer Boots: Out of My Comfort Zone?

Viberg as a brand has been covered here several times in the past. If you’d like to learn a little bit more about them, click here. However, while Viberg’s history is well known, their engineer boot history isn’t.  One of the first to produce this was a collab for Himel Bros., that is fairly well know. However, it might surprise you to hear that Viberg has had this pattern since 2014. That’s only three years after their famous service boot in the 2030 last was widely available.

Quoddy True Penny vs. Rancourt Beefroll: What’s the Difference?

There are few places as synonymous with a shoe style as Lewiston, Maine is to the beefroll penny. It’s like Detroit and the car, or Washington D.C. and politics – being born there seems to make you an inherent expert. However, like the GM vs. Ford battle in Detroit or the Democrat vs. Republican battle in D.C., battle lines exist in this small community. Turf wars break out between kids whose dad works at Rancourt vs. their classmates at Quoddy. Slings made of Horween’s Chromexcel can be seen in every grocery store.

Allen Edmonds Strandmok: Actually Worth Buying?

The past five years has not been kind to Allen Edmond’s reputation. Especially around QC. In fact, when a recent sale was posted to Reddit, they were described as “great, as long as you’re OK returning 2 or 3 pairs until you get one that is made correctly.”

However, something happened over the past year or so. With inflation going crazy and demand for high quality footwear soaring, Allen Edmonds did something you might not expect. As competitors raised their price, Allen Edmonds started to run more sales. The actual transaction price of their shoes dropped.

Paying $400 for a pair of Allen Edmonds in 2019 when Carmina was $350 is foolish. But paying $180 for a pair of Allen Edmonds in 2022 when Carmina is $500? Well, let’s find out if it makes sense.