THE SHELTON FROM ALLEN EDMONDS

I have always loved saddle shoes, and I’ve shared here before how much I love the many bright, fun colors that the Nordstom 1901’s used come in, and have several pairs in my collection.  While I love the fun colored saddle shoes, I also appreciate the more traditional colors as well.

Many years ago, when freshly out of college, I owned a pair of burgundy shoes with a black saddle.  I loved these shoes and wore them often.  Unfortunately as a new college graduate my budget was small and so the shoes weren’t of very high quality, and eventually wore out, and I was sad to lose this favorite pair of shoes.

A few years ago – many years after owning that original pair – I found myself longing for another pair of burgundy and black saddle shoes.  I began searching in stores and online, but that combination was nearly impossible to find.  I did find a reasonably priced pair online but they were always sold out in my size, and eventual became impossible to find in that color combination. 

Then one day I walked in to our local Allen Edmonds store, and there sitting on the shelf was their Shelton, in the perfect color combination that I had been looking for.  The problem was that the $365 price tag was just a little out of my price range, which made them impossible to get at that time.

Over the next year or so I would stop in to see if they might happen to be on sale, but they remained out of my price range.  Now these amazing shoes are being closed out and it is impossible to find my size again.  Given how hard these shoes were to find in the first place, this was especially disappointing, but then I got an idea.

Inspired by a blog I follow, I started looking on ebay for these shoes.  My intent was to find a pair in really good condition, at a great price, and then have them recrafted.  I searched for a few days before coming across what seemed to be the perfect pair of shoes.  I place the bid and won the auction.  When the shoes arrived, they were actually in excellent condition – even the soles were still in great shape and not in need of replacing - but I knew the big test would be in how they fit.  I cautiously put them, and found, to my amazement, that they fit perfectly!!!  I may eventually get them recrafted, but there is no rush at this time. 

While I’m sure that not all pre-owned shoes will be in as great of condition as these are, I will definitely purchase this way again.  My purchase proved better than I expected, and I am now really enjoying my new (to me) Allen Edmonds Shelton saddle shoes!

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