Thursday, July 1, 2010

Beef Rollin'

Whenever anyone asks me for an affordable option when it comes to classic men's shoes I usually start with Florsheim.  Let's face it, not everyone has the kind of money for Alden or even Allen Edmonds for that matter.  As much as I love Bass it's nice to give face time to another stalwart making quality shoes in timeless silhouettes for the under $150 crowd.  The Florsheim Berkley, despite lacking the "Weejun" stamp of approval, is still one of my favorite beef-roll penny loafers on the market.  For $90 it's the picture of perfection - leather sole, handsewn moccasin construction and beef-roll.  It's a simple all season shoe that comes in two colors, but that's really all you need.  Whether black or burgundy they will look as good sockless with your white jeans as they will dressed up with some argyle socks and deeply cuffed wool pants come winter.  Florsheim, like Bass, has since taken production overseas (India specifically I believe), but I still think they are a great shoe for the price - it's all relative in my eyes.  And for everyone out there keeping tabs on non sartorial brand merits, in 2002 Florsheim was repurchased by members of the Florsheim family.

-L.A.S

8 comments:

  1. More than the welting or the place it's made or that kind of thing, it's the mega-shiny corrected grain leather that bothers me. It looks like vinyl. I really don't mind lower-end bucks, for example, but the plasticky stuff these are made out of really gets to me.

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  2. Jesse- Yeah, I getcha. Bass has the same kind of leather on their Weejuns. When the price dips below 2 bills you start seeing that sheeny leather. From my experience it's not bad in person and once you break em in it's not so bad.

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  3. "sheeny" -- a pejorative term for Jews.

    I'm guessing you meant "shiny?"

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  4. Anon @4:59 - I was just using the adjective form of "sheen".

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  5. Some article recommended wearing them in the shower to break them in. I wish I had bookmarked it.

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  6. The Enthusiast, is this the article you were referring to?

    I bet those Kiwi fumes gave him a good fix for the evening. Maybe he just woke up in the shower the next morning with his weejuns on after having passed out from the fumes.

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  7. What's the difference from a "beef roll" penny loafer and the regular (vegetarian?) penny loafer?

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  8. I like the valuable information you supply for your articles

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