Allen Edmonds Men's Soho Oxford

Customer Reviews

Stylish AE shoe!

The Soho is a quality, stylish shoe. Like most of Allen-Edmonds shoes, it is of superb quality and craftsmanship. This balmoral is made of selected calfskin, and has an all leather lining. It has a leather outsole and a rubber heel pad. I have a pair in Black, although I have other Allen Edmonds shoes in Cognac and can say that it is a nice color as well.

It's a cap-toe design shoe, much like the Park Avenue, which is one of the all-time best selling and popular styles for Allen-Edmonds. The Soho is just slightly more pointed, with a longer toe cap. This make it a little more fashion forward than the classic Park Avenue, but without being over the top.

All in all, a very good looking shoe that is both durable and comfortable.

Don't forget to take care of your shoes by cleaning and polishing them occasionally. Polishing doesn't just help your shoes look their best - it also covers and repairs the damage caused by normal wear and tear. It also moisturizes the leather, which keeps it flexible.

I strongly recommend using shoe trees when storing your shoes. Shoe trees fill out the shoe, and help maintain the shape of the leather. Make sure that your shoe trees are made of cedar. Cedar helps to absorb odors and moisture, which lengthens the life of your shoe.

And don't forget that when you buy Allen-Edmonds, recrafting is available to you through them. For a reasonable fee, they will recraft your shoes and make them look like new again. You can find information on the Allen-Edmonds recrafting process on their website. You just have to print and fill out a form that is available online, pack up your shoes, attach the free UPS mailing label they give you, and send it off to Allen-Edmonds.

Great shoe. Long toe cap a little iffy but gorgeous nonetheless

If you're reading this, you probably already know all you need to about Allen Edmonds: great shoes. They're well made, high end footwear that with any sort of care will last 20 years. While more initially more expensive, over the course of time they may end up cheaper as they can periodically be sent back to the factory to be recrafted for $95 - uppers redyed, polished, and sole replaced with your choice of anything from their available lineup, meaning you can swap leather for rubber or vice versa if you'd like - when they've worn down after a few years. AE periodically puts the recrafting process on sale too.

The biggest non-stylistic difference between AEs and other luxury models like Alden is that while both nominally run at very steep list prices, AEs can periodically be found at substantial discounts to them. As of this review, at least temporarily, the Soho appears to have hit that level. Props to Amazon for offering first quality shoes at closeout prices.

The Soho proper is a gorgeous shoe, and currently the only oxford cap toe in their line besides the best selling Park Avenue (PA). The Soho is slightly different from the PA in two respects. First, it's on the new 0 last (called the double-zero by AE salespeople) which is one of the larger, wider lasts AE currently offers. The old 5 last that the PA has been on for 70 years is the narrowest and longest of all AE shoes, and as a result some will find the PA just doesn't fit them in any size. For those, the Soho may prove a better alternative.

It's probably not a bad idea to get fitted not just in AEs but in the actual last of the shoe you're looking to buy if you can before ordering as it makes a big difference. In general, most will probably take a 1/2 to full size down from what they wear in sneakers on the Soho, but keep in mind one AE salesperson told me something like 70% of the grown men who walk in her store are wearing shoes that don't fit (let alone knowing what size they wear!), so if you've not bought a set recently, probably a good idea to get measured. AE is the best shoe manufacturer out there, bar none, in producing models that fit non standard sized (extra wide or extra narrow) feet, so there's probably a size and last that fits...but it may take some time to find it. It's hard to pass up prices during a sale like this, though. If you're not near an AE or Nordstrom store to try them on in person, worse case, just buy 2 in different sizes and spend $15 for return shipping to Amazon if neither fits.

Second, the only downside is that the cap toe is a little longer than on most shoes. As such, it comes across as slightly more stylish than traditional stodgy cap toes, but there's a catch - you have to be very, very careful breaking in the shoes to make sure you don't crease the cap toe proper, which ruins the look and is why this is only 4 stars instead of 5. AE should have reinforced the cap toe to limit creasing, but in this case style and probably weight won out. One suggestion is to use a bunch of AE Conditioner Cleaner, unfortunately not carried by Amazon but it's less than $10 from AE directly, before even trying the shoe on as it helps limit creasing somewhat overall. Conditioner is good in any case before wearing any shoe for the first time as dried out leather is bad in general - one example: if the leather is really dried out, shoe polish can literally create dark spots on the shoe!

Still, a very comfortable, very formal dress shoe that will last for years if you treat it right. Recommended, especially at this price.