What's your take on cordovan colored shoes.....

[swils8610]

Is cordovan, burgundy or oxblood colored shoes in style? With browns and tan shoes in style, does anyone wear cordovan colored shoes any more? I wear Allen Edmonds and have noticed not many shoes are offered in cordovan any more.

[SUBversive]

Classic style. Never goes out of style

[Kingair]

Originally Posted by subversive

classic style. Never goes out of style

x 2

[dddrees]

My take is that I like cordovan shoes and boots. I own a few from a number of different shoemakers. The reason a number of shoes aren't being offered in cordovan leather currently, is because there is a shortage of cordovan leather available at this point.

Here's an article from the Wall Street Journel on Cordovan and the recent shortage:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/cordo...get-1400881239


You can also check out this thread:


https://www.rolexforums.com/showthre...light=cordovan

[tfly212]

Absolutely. Keep them well polished and they look great with blue or gray suits....or dress them down with nice jeans.

[subtona]

Alden color 8 cordovan goes with everything and never out of style

And as stated above cordovan is not in such abundance, so the good stuff is usually claimed by only a couple of choice manufacturers

[FlatlineEF9]

I just turned 31 and I wear Alden Cordovan color 8s. I hope they stay in style...like the darker look.

[azguy]

Love em

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[pfg1]

I owned a pair of cordovan leather shoes from Allen Edmonds back in the early 90s. Very expensive at the time. Loved them when properly shined but found that the nature of cordovan leather required weekly polishing due to oils extruding from cordovan leather and forming a waxy, milky residue. My dilemma was solved one morning when I placed the pair of shoes on top of my car.....and departed for work.....and never found them again!

As for a pair of cordovan-colored leather shoes, I like the color.....just not a big fan of cordovan leather.

Good luck!

[locutus49]

I used to wear shell cordovan shoes many years ago. I always wore belts that matched the color, and some makers make shell cordovan belts. Always in style, just don't wear with black suits.

[locutus49]

I stopped wearing true shell cordovan because they don't "breathe" and my feet would itch, sweat, or get athlete's foot. But they look great.

Originally Posted by pfg1

I owned a pair of cordovan leather shoes from Allen Edmonds back in the early 90s. Very expensive at the time. Loved them when properly shined but found that the nature of cordovan leather required weekly polishing due to oils extruding from cordovan leather and forming a waxy, milky residue. My dilemma was solved one morning when I placed the pair of shoes on top of my car.....and departed for work.....and never found them again!

As for a pair of cordovan-colored leather shoes, I like the color.....just not a big fan of cordovan leather.

Good luck!

[Sperry]

I wear them with jeans and khakis all the time. Usually when grey slacks or the suit goes on I break out the black cordovan loafers. Aldens, and they've been rebuilt once.

Although this time of year, it's been the unlined suede loafers every day, sans socks.

[watchf]

What a coincidence I am wearing my Alden cordovan colour 8 today. Cordovan with its thick, sturdy and shine quality stands out from the common leather shoes. Always amazed by its prestige shine no matter how often I have worn it.




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[Quix]

Just a little bit of advice from my own experiences. Cordovan is actually a type of leather, and not a color in and of itself. Alden makes cordovan in black, their "color 8" and occasionally other colors, such as whiskey or cigar. Your belt should match your shoe color, as should your watch band, if it is leather.

A few folks mentioned how cordovan leather doesn't breath. I find that if I wear light wool socks or Allen Edmonds wool and acrylic socks, cordovan is amazingly comfortable. Cotton socks will trap moisture and stay that way all day.


Cordovan leather actually needs very, very little polish, and make sure you use polish or paste specified for cordovan leather and have a separate set of brushes that you only use on your cordovan shoes as you can contaminate the cordovan with non-cordovan paste and also mix the wax and oils from the non-cordovan leather with your cordovan leather, which can cause spotting. You should polish them when you first get them to protect them. That is true with any type of leather. You can obtain an amazing shine on cordovan leather just by using a brush on them. You do have to use paste or polish, but sparingly on this type of leather. You will notice some white, waxy buildup on your cordovan leather, this is just the natural oil in the leather working its way out to the surface. If you spend some time with a brush with no polish, you can actually brush out the buildup on the surface and the shoes will look polished.

Also, make sure that you invest in wood shoe trees for all of your shoes, not just cordovan. They help the leather recover and dry out from your foot moisture while retaining their shape. It's typically a good idea to not wear the same leather shoes two days in a row. Your shoes will last longer if you rotate two or three pairs.

Alden cordovan shoes are expensive, but, they are shoes that will last pretty much your entire career if you take care of them. You will need to resole them every now and then, but, Alden has a service that will refurnish your shoes to like new, so, they are not dissimilar to owning a Rolex.

If you compare corodvans made by Alden shoes and to a lesser extent Allen Edmonds to regular non-cordovan leather, you can feel the difference. Some shoes are trendy looking and disposable, if you are spending money on cordovan leather, you are expecting to keep them for a long time. Alden and Allen Edmonds tend to have traditional styled shoes, but, there are other companies that make more trendy looking cordovan shoes, which aren't for me but are of high quality.

[JohnBoy]

With brown, khaki, grey, or blue pants or suits.