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Help me pick some dress boots

I decided on buying the AE Long Branches in Nov and buying either the Iron Ranger or Iron Works Plain toe next month. The AE's for dates and dinners. The IR/IW for more bar crawls and get togethers.
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
When it comes to dress boots, nothing beats the selection of the English makers. Check out Herring Shoes, they have a wide variety of dress boots from all the famous makers (Church, Barker, Tricker, Loake, Cheaney, Sargent as well as their own brand):

http://www.herringshoes.co.uk/

I own a pair of Loake's Bedale boots in the grain leather, sweet boot.
 
I have two pairs of AE Bayfields (black calfskin /brown chromexcel), a pair of shell cordovan Fifth Street boots and a pair of AE Promontory Point boots in football leather.

The nice thing about the Bayfields is the speed laces; they make getting the boot on and off so much easier. The Fifth St and Promontory Point boots lack that feature (nor do they have the pull tab), so I undo the lacing quite a bit when they go back on the shoe trees.

The Fifth Avenue look to be the best of both worlds; the sleeker dress look of the Fifth St and the practicality of the Bayfield design. I'm biding my time on those and the Long Branch, as the lovely bride would express her displeasure if additional boots were to show up... I recently gave the "austerity" speech and there are bounds to my hypocrisy.
 
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I have two pairs of AE Bayfields (black calfskin /brown chromexcel), a pair of shell cordovan Fifth Street boots and a pair of AE Promontory Point boots in football leather.

The nice thing about the Bayfields is the speed laces; they make getting the boot on and off so much easier. The Fifth St and Promontory Point boots lack that feature (nor do they have the pull tab), so I undo the lacing quite a bit when they go back on the shoe trees.

The Fifth Avenue look to be the best of both worlds; the sleeker dress look of the Fifth St and the practicality of the Bayfield design. I'm biding my time on those and the Long Branch, as the lovely bride would express her displeasure if additional boots were to show up... I recently gave the "austerity" speech and there are bounds to my hypocrisy.

I'd love a pair of Bayfields. The mini lug gives it a sleek enough design to be able to be more dressed up, but also gives it more functionality in wet/slippery conditions.
 
I think you're on the right track with a more formal dressy boot and a more rugged all-purpose boot.

If you want a pair of dirt cheap boots, JC Penney has a Dalton knock off called the Deacon which is only $60, and then you can knock another $15 or so off with a coupon.

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There's another nice looking Dalton style boot from Johnston & Murphy called the Conard for $175.

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I've got a pair of Florsheims that are similar style to the Wolverine 1000 Mile and I wear them all the time, probably my favorite shoe. The leather isn't quite as nice and they have a rubber sole which is wearing pretty quickly, but the plain toe and medium brown color work great for jeans and chinos (wearing them now in fact).

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I've also got a pair of AE boots, the Bleeker Street, which are a cap toe boot with high quality leather and a combination sole. They look like a calfskin dress shoe so will work with wool suits as well as pressed cotton slacks, but they look strange with jeans or chinos because of the formal look.

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In the future, I would probably stick with the more rugged all-purpose boot but swap the formal dress boots for something a bit more versatile, like a dressy chukka or a wingtip like the Dalton.
 
I cannot believe those Stafford Deacon boots from JC Penny!

they are getting good reviews on Ask Andy from a guy who owns them and the Dalton boots.
 
I cannot believe those Stafford Deacon boots from JC Penny!

they are getting good reviews on Ask Andy from a guy who owns them and the Dalton boots.

If you're interested, they get rave reviews on Dappered.com. They have reviewed them over many years and practically are evangelists for them. I just wonder if they are really that great or "great for the money."
 
If you're interested, they get rave reviews on Dappered.com. They have reviewed them over many years and practically are evangelists for them. I just wonder if they are really that great or "great for the money."

Hard to tell. I guess if the leather uppers are decent, and they can be resoled it would be worth picking up a pair. Though I guess for $50 it could be a throw away boot too. Looking at some pictures, there are some definite things it lacks compared to the Dalton, but at that price its expected. They don't look to be lined, which is a nice luxury on a more expensive boot.
 
Hard to tell. I guess if the leather uppers are decent, and they can be resoled it would be worth picking up a pair. Though I guess for $50 it could be a throw away boot too. Looking at some pictures, there are some definite things it lacks compared to the Dalton, but at that price its expected. They don't look to be lined, which is a nice luxury on a more expensive boot.

Oh, I am sure that at the $50 price point it is a wear-out/throw-out boot. There are two younger guys at work that are picking up these brown ones and the captoe black boots Penny's has at the same price. It will step up these guy's game with a very modest investment.

As I put it to one of the guys - for the price of the Dalton on sale, you could buy 6 pairs of the Penny boots and have lunch money of the week, too.
 
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