gimp
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by Random_dude on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
Dressed up dude trying to evolve my casual style
How do you feel about sport coats, odd trousers, shirts made from oxford cloth / flannel / linen, and bluchers/derbies, etc? A step down from that might be chinos and other-jackets (teba, field, chore, etc) along with more-casual shirts (plaid flannel for the winter for example) and shoes (loafers, espadrilles, and similar shoes for the summer)?
24 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
I am only assuming that this is relevant to work, if it is not then obviously not.
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Same strategy for shit weather, by the way. Come in wearing your best functioning rain coat, change into your nice office clothes, etc.
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
If you cycle to work, a lot of people would just keep nice shoes at work. Cycle in, change, work, change, cycle home.
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
I ski casually, not looking forward to spending $700-1000 for new boots, which I do kind of need.
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Problem is if everyone says to get viberg service boots for $800 or something :P
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
I wonder if there's some threads out there, intersection of biking x GYW boots. Certainly both are hobbies with seriously-into-it folk, there must be an intersection with good recommendations, better than what I know
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Some people will care the specific causes their CEO donates to and champions, which puts them off a lot of folk's list. That's your personal choice
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
In other words, they're not going to be the "most [anything]" other than "most well priced if you want decent make" (or close to it)
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Thursday is.... as I tend to put it, they sell a $200 GYW proper-leather boot at a fair price. $200 is a lot of money but when you look at GYW / higher end blake stitched / other well made, proper leather boots, $200 is pretty much entry level. Just an economics thing, if you look at the cost of proper leather, even if you assume all manufacturing done in places with the lowest labor costs, add up things like shipping (multiple times), design costs, various costs of doing business like inventory and returns and such, it's just really hard to get much under a $200 MSRP
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Oh, really? No lug soles etc? Hum
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
The most outright durable GYW boots within your budget might be red wings
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Yeah, the strategy is:
1. Go to stores
2. Try on stuff. Figure out what's comfortable to walk around the store in, and guess as to comfort for biking (you can't really go biking then return them, they're used shoes at that point)
3. Write down all the good fits, bad fits, etc. Note it all
4. If you see good deals in stores, buy retail. They did after all let you come in and try shit.
5. If you don't see good deals, buy online. Definitely look for secondhand-but-new, and depending on your level of willingness, look all the way down to well-worn-but-lots-of-life-left.
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
Yeah I guess also 1 to 3 miles isn't too far. Good point jp
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
The usual add-on info about pricing is this: There are a lot of second-hand shoes available, in various condition, including new-in-box, new-without-box, like-new, etc, that sell at a massive discount vs new MSRP. Whether you want to buy them is up to you. I tend to go for secondhand shoes to figure out what I like, then when I get the budget and desire for it I'll buy new, or worn-once-or-twice shoes, at a higher price. Good boots and shoes are expensive and I don't feel like paying $$$ for anything but my absolute favorite, nailed-the-fit pairs, if that makes sense. The other reason I bring that up is -- well, if you're gonna (as I suspect) abrade and scratch the shoes when biking, then I'd probably want to start with a pair of boots that already has a lot of depreciation built in, you know what I mean? I'd rather spend $150 on a pair of alden boots with a fair bit of wear to them, and then beat them up, than spend $400 on a brand new pair of AE boots and then beat them up. But I've never biked with good boots so I may be totally overthinking how much you're gonna scratch them. (And if I am overthinking it, suede and other flesh-side leathers will be way more comfortable to bend as you move your foot.)
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
For a taller boot, I would look at ... let's see, within that budget, Meermin, Allen Edmonds... maybe some of the newer companies that make more affordable stuff based in Asia (India, etc.) I don't think most others would fit within the budget at new-retail pricing
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
For desert boots and chukkas, to me the obvious choices would include Clark's on the lower end, and Allen Edmonds on the higher end (but don't pay full price for them, they're regularly on sale or offer factory seconds or whatever.) Obviously there's a lot of stuff at well over $400 but within the budget AE is fairly high end. Other options might include Meermin. Unsure if options like Tricker's, Carmina, Vass, TLB, etc fit into the budget, I haven't priced out desert boots or chukkas from those. (Which BTW are almost the same exact cut of boot, the main difference is largely the materials and the formality from them, and variations on shape, color, etc, not to mention sole attachment tends to be GYW from more expensive brands and Blake or cemented from lower end.)
77 replies
Mmalefashionadvice
•Created by someone on 1/4/2024 in #questions-and-advice
good year welted boots for cycling and city
I would probably suggest you sort of ... hmm. Pretend you're biking and sort of figure out where your foot bends and how, right? If the boots are tall enough, most "grain" leather will be stiff enough to make this somewhat of a problem. "Flesh" leather (suede, nubuck, chamois, roughout) will be softer, but easier to ruin from abrasion. The harder the leather, the more durable it should be against abrasion, but the worse it will be for your ankle to flex as you bike. Right?
That said, if I think about most of the standard leathers used... okay, so let's say no suede or similar. I might guess no calf, it will be flexible but probably too easy to damage. I might guess no shell cordovan, once you gouge it it'll never be the same again and it's also stiff as hell. Where does that leave us? Adult cattle of various sorts (eg, chromexcel, pull-up). Possibly other animal leather - I am not super familiar with horse (other than shell cordovan), kudu, pig, deer, goat, etc, but I assume people make shoes out of all of the above. I would however avoid exotic stuff like ostritch, lizard, etc, it probably won't do well.
I would probably narrow my choices down to various cattle and possibly horse. Given pricing requirements, I am not sure any horse is likely to get there (from a good quality, well known brand), due to the economics of how many horses are slaughtered vs cattle. So, cattle: chromexcel, pull-up, etc? Those should be flexible enough and durable enough.
I think you'll still end up getting some abrasion marks, but you can either sort of just appreciate the patina, or spend an hour every month (or whatever) cleaning + polishing to hide them as much as is feasible.
77 replies