Recrafted Dress Shoes. . .

A package was waiting by the door this afternoon! My maternal grandfather relied on split-toes and wingtips/brogues for his dress shoes all his adult life until his death ten years ago at 89. My grandmother followed a year later. It's funny, but there has not been a day since that I don't think about them.

A couple of years ago when Wisconsin-based shoemaker Allen Edmonds was purchased, there was some concern in the menswear community that it was the start of a long, slow, inevitable decline that would eventually end in cheap, plastic-like shoes being produced in sweatshops outside the U.S. with no customer service to speak of.

Thus far, that has not happened, and both the company's products and customer service remain second to none. Very helpful, polite, and professional people on the telephone when you call with a question by the way. The company pays the return postage too. Anyway. . .

Today, a pair of split-toe oxfords I purchased cheaply on Ebay a year ago returned home from AE where I sent them just five weeks ago for recrafting. Like new! I splurged and opted for the premium package which included new soles, heels, cork footbed, complete refinishing of the leather in its original color, along with AE shoe trees and flannel shoe bags. They look great, and I'll wear them on the first day o classes in three weeks when the autumn semester begins here at MSU. Hopefully, the pair of dark chocolate suede wingtips I also sent to AE for similar treatment will turn up in a day or two.

The point of all my shoe blather is this: Purchase quality items when you build your adult wardrobe gents, and not only will they last you a long time, but they can be refurbished, repaired, and will stay looking good for decades as part of your clothing, shoe, and accessory rotation. Just say "No!" to fast fashion.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

FYI. . .
There are plenty of more expensive men's dress shoes made around the world, but Allen Edmonds are about the friendliest to your wallet, and the company's customer service is, once more, stellar in my experience.

And two days later. . . these beauties awaited me at the front door following their complete recrafting by the good folks at the Allen Edmonds factory just outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There is nothing quite like the aroma of (almost) new, quality leather shoes. I wish I had taken a "before" photograph. It's hard to believe these are the same shoes sent off across Lake Michigan just five weeks ago. Dare I say it? I cannot wait for Fall. These will look super with a tweed sports jacket and a pair of corduroy pants.

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Up North Style. . .

Bad Dad makes a friend. YMP and Bad Dad on the shores of Lake Michigan. Or was that Crystal Lake? The Grand Duchess takes a selfie in her kayak. How NOT to impress the girls sunning themselves along the river. YMP and Bad Dad kayaking on the Platte River headed toward Loon Lake. J ust back from a week in Northern Michigan in a charming and spacious house on the banks of the Betsie River outside of Thompsonville. A largely pleasant seven days despite some challenging episodes with the Young Master, who has picked up some very questionable habits and language from his friends in the 8th Grade during the school year just ended. But otherwise, we enjoyed ourselves and contemplated remaining for a few days longer since the house was available. In the end, we decided to return home as planned originally since neither my wife, nor I wanted to spend the remaining days chained to our computers in Zoom meetings from our vacation destination. I actually managed to leave the laptop and ip

Mid-June Thursday Style. . .

A nother pretty typical variation on the theme for late spring, summer, and very early fall. I'm a huge fan of Madras and have several such shirts in the seasonal rotation. Lightweight, exceedingly comfortable, and even dressy when pressed and tucked in, which is the usual way of things here at Totleigh in the Wold. Now, if I had my druthers, I'd still rather be skiing the trails in the upper half of "The Mitten" (of Michigan), in the Upper Peninsula, or Ontario. But summers ain't so bad either, and I'd look pretty funny walking around in cross-country ski attire during June. -- Heinz-Ulrich

A Lazy Saturday at the End of June. . .

A sleepy first half of the weekend here at Totleigh. Warmer and quite humid ahead of an approaching cool front here in Mid-Michigan. Perfect for yet another pair of chino shorts an a seersucker shirt -- tucked in of course -- with the usual leather deck shoes and ribbon belt. Otherwise, not much accomplished beyond a page or so of writing and monkeying around with audio settings for an upcoming podcast episode. However, I was not completely useless yesterday! I made a huge fruit salad for dinner, which the Grand Duchess and I enjoyed a short while later at the table on the back porch. The Young Master, as is his wont on Saturday evenings, took his dinner on a tray in the TV room upstairs where he whiled away a couple of hours on Flight Simulator, flying some sort of commercial airliner to some destination across the Atlantic or Pacific. I would have loved that sort of technology at about nine or 10 way back during the late 1970s, aka The Stone Age. As it is, my sister and

Classic Style

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