Outstanding choices! This seems to be an illustration of something that transcends the fact that we are separated by an ocean, any some cultural differences.

and these:

http://www.alfredsargent.co.uk/product.asp?pid=89

Especially good with Dainite. You can wear that shoe anywhere, and with almost anything.

No doubt the quality is acceptable (no more though) but the styling on the longwing and plaintoe are anything but American. One thing British approximations of these styles lack is the dumpiness at the waist of the last.

There are dozens of pairs of old Kenmoors on the auction sites, some in deadstock condition. All would be a better buy than these.

I stand by my comments 100%. Fawning over these Sargents like they were some kind of Holy Grail is simply laughable. Department store quality and priced accordingly, so that's fair enough. One step up from something sold in the Mail on Sunday next to the Chums corduroys and Slankets.

Tony, would you really pay the money to get these commercially shipped over to you? If you did I am convinced you would be bitterly underwhelmed.

The American longwing is a different animal to its English cousin. I've never seen a convincing evocation of the US reading of the style by an English maker in an adult lifetime of buying footwear from both sides of the Atlantic. This example is particularly unconvincing from a stylistic perspective. It's not a bad shoe by any means and is o.k. on some levels looks-wise; it just doesn't look anything like that which Russell hopes and imagines it looks like: a cheap and convenient interchange with the arcane Americana which our Beloved Uncle loves so much.

To be honest I don't know why the English makers would want to try to copy the American model. They should  stick to what they do better. The profile and proportions of these things are always wrong.

I understand your reservations about the likes of Alden and AE being held up as a paragon on the forums and in some ways I probably agree with you, but to go in to bat for the Sargent Oakley is a mis-judgement.

Vintage Kenmoors in near-new condition would always be of interest to me in a wearing size, so please feel free to Message me if you have any genuine news on that front.

Christ on a crutch. Some of this thread ought to be IPODed for the America versus England crap.  None of that has anything to do with what Russell is trying to show us.  He's in the mood for brown pebble-grain shoes.  If there's any decent option for these from America, I don't know what it is.  As far as I can see, neither Alden nor Allen-Edmonds make a longwing in grain.  So, whether England gets the mystical, platonic form of longwing right is irrelevant.  England is the source for pebble-grain longwings and that's that.

Or is it?  Maybe we don't make them in America because pebble-grain just really ain't American and proper Ivy-like?  Seems like some of the argument that NSB might be putting forward.  Who the hell cares?  With any luck, there is no photograph in existence showing 1960s collegians looking wholesome and dressed in the things.  I will say that the English material on the American style is quintessential anglo-yank.  I should know.  Prof. Kelp made it up.

On this spat about quality, well, I have three pairs of AEs, three pairs of Aldens and one pair of Sargents.  On the basis of this whoppingly and statistically insignificant sample, I shall speak ex cathedra and draw sweeping generalizations in best forumite fashion.  They're all about the same.  They do things differently.  They're all fine by me.  But I'm not a real shoe whore, so what do I know?

So, Russell, I like the shoes.  The longwings, that is.  Can't stand the plaint toe bluchers.  Not just your pair, but all of their ilk.  With time and therapy, I may get over that.

Blimey!

These aren't Imperials or Kenmoors or Aldens - They're just a pair of Sargents I fancied.

I find the Danite useful in the wet too.

They're only shoos - wear 'em, bin 'em.

... Or give them to the Sally Army...


Best,


(And English shoes were always big in US Ivy - Peal for Brooks being the cliche.)