TLC for Your Shoes. . .

Before and after photographs of my shoes, courtesy of the recrafting people at Allen Edmonds.

An email from the folks at Allen Edmonds was waiting in my inbox this morning. Although I had been told to expect delays given the installation of a new system at the company's Port Washington, Wisconsin facilities, lo and behold, it seems the shoes I sent them just before mid-June are now finished and on their way back to me via FedEx. How is that for service?

Besides the usual and routine moisturizing, polishing, and brushing down to keep your leather dress shoes looking their best, occasionally shoes need things like resoling, new heels, and a little general tender loving care. While some consider Allen Edmonds footwear somewhat frumpy and "entry level" when it comes to leather dress shoes, I disagree. In my experience, the styles, prices, quality, and service are first rate. Including this latest pair, I have sent half a dozen pairs to the recrafting department for complete rehabilitation in the last five years. To say that I have been extremely pleased is a terrific understatement.

If you have a pair of Allen Edmonds dress shoes that looks a bit long in the tooth, you could do worse than send them in for a similar overhaul. Have a look at the Allen Edmonds recrafting page where you'll find several reasonably priced packages depending on your needs. You can't go wrong.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

P.S.
The shoes arrived via FedEx late this afternoon, only a little more than two weeks after I sent them to AE, and they are even more nicely done in person than the photograph indicates. Toss in the cedar shoe trees, shoe bags, and a squeeze bottle of polish in 'Merlot' and it all makes for a good day. No reason to wear them until teaching and department commitments begin again in late August, but they're ready and waiting in the extra closet in the second-floor TV room that I use for wardrobe overflow.

Comments

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

The Power of Ideas. . .

T he end is nigh! The autumn semester/term approaches. And while we still have almost two months of summer left according to the calendar, "Summer is over and gone," as the crickets sang in Charlotte's Web . At least for those of us who head back to the classroom in less than a month. In advance of a meeting with my program director late Monday morning, I spent about 40 minutes total during the weekend to jot down several ideas about planned workshops and related activities for the coming 2024-2025 academic year. At an opportune moment, I mentioned "I have a few ideas," and opened my leather portfolio. My director was highly receptive to almost everything I suggested, and we had a very productive planning session for just over 90 minutes. Just about everything I sketched out on Sunday aligns with his own ideas. It's nice when meetings go that well, and two related things occur to me in hindsight. One, it pays to exercise...

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 19...

Classic Style

Search This Blog