Allen Edmonds Dalton Wingtip Dress Boot

A while ago, I became quite taken with Solovair's Brogue boot. I LOVED the style. Sadly, they had too many strikes against them: I couldn't try them on before purchase and they weren't resoleable by a normal cobbler. Also, while Solovair's aren't that expensive by most standards, if I'm going to drop over 200$ on shoes, I'd rather spend more for the RIGHT shoe. I spent a long time on the lookout for the right boot at the right price, and in the process got my sizing on the 65 last at Allen Edmonds. Enter the Dalton, on clearance at Shoe Bank. A wingtip brogue boot with an open lacing system! Just what I wanted! Okay, so it's a different color and doesn't have a lug sole. But thanks to leather dye and the art of cobbling, I consider those non-issues, since they can be changed later IF I so desire. And now here I am.

I went to the Allen Edmonds store and the very kind salespeople helped me find my size by trying on several shoes, even though I wasn't ready to buy yet. I was actually a bit surprised: I'm a 7 in Iron Rangers, but a 6.5 on the 65 last. Would recommend Allen Edmonds' Michigan Ave Chicago location. Great experience.

I went to the Shoe Bank website to see if they had anything in my goofy 6.5 3E size. Lo and behold, they did. Had them in three days. It took me a few hours to notice, but I realized that the right boot and the left boot didn't match. One boot was (and is) rather crooked. I didn't mind receiving seconds, but I paid for firsts. So I got in touch with customer service and after submitting photos and making a phone call they gave me a $70 refund without much fuss. Thanks Allen Edmonds customer service, you're great!