Recommendations for men's dress shoes?

[Faux59]

Tricker's. They have 40 to 50% off sales often.

 

[Khilij]

In that price range, I think Carmina is a good bet.

 

[Olumin]

I'll concede that hand lasting doesn't effect the quality but it does effect the shapes you can use for the last, so if you want a more exaggerated shape to the shoe hand lasting is the way to go.
I think handwelting is really underappreciated, the chances that a handwelt will fail is almost zero in comparison to Goodyear welt with gemming that has a surprisingly high failure rate(according to a few cobblers I know) + handwelt doesn't produce the huge cavity that the gemming creates in Goodyear welt, which effect the long term comfort of the shoe (the loose cork used in Goodyear welted shoes almost always scatter in parts of the shoe)

(You can get these qualities from Italian/Indonesian/Chinese makers for carmina/alden pricing so I don't see a reason to not go for them unless you really really like a specific last/pattern from a Goodyear maker)

People say HW is so much more durable, but tell me, where are you going to find a cobbler to resole your HW shoe to original specifications? Are you going to send it back to the manufacturer each time and potentially wait months? Pay hundreds to have another cobbler do it? Or are you going to do what most people do and have it resoled by machine, at which point the HW construction becomes a mute point.

Cork can easily be replaced. A full resole should always come with fresh cork. How many more times can a HW shoe be resoled? Does it actually matter? The upper will wear out before you reach the end of life on most GYW shoes in practice. Theory is one thing, reality another. Its simply not practical for most people. If you pay a couple grand for a shoe maybe its worth the cost of a properly done HW resole, but not for a shoe costing a few hundred. Not for most people.

 

[Jasonissm]

https://chausser-shop.net/products/list?category_id=9&pageno=1

Wish this brand made larger sizes, I visited their Tokyo store but they had nothing past US 9 or 10 I think. I'm right at the cut off where smaller Japanese brands stop offering my size, same deal with Wheel Robe.

 

[Aloysius]

I hate that term, "dress shoes". It implies exactly what Ton mentioned, some kind of footwear that you wear only at a certain occasions. It is a maliciously misleading term that doesn't describe anything in particular & implies that looking like a slob is normal and acceptable.

I mean, George Costanza turned his Timberland boots into perfectly passable "dress shoes" by spray-paining them black.

Good lace-up shoe is a basic foundation of ones style and general self respect. It shows you care for yourself and what represents you enough to not wrap your feet in 18 layers of plastic polymer, rubber and PVC gunk.

I don't know when this happened in American English but anything a step up from jeans and sneakers got labeled "dress" shirts and "dress" shoes even if they're what a factory worker wears lol.

@Lorinz I know we've been throwing a lot of brands at you, but answer my question about the type of shoe first, and then we can get to that. As much as I like some of the overseas options that have been posted, I think the sweet spot will be US based since you can return and exchange more easily.

 

[Monte]

I was looking for a men's dress shoe, admittedly I'm not very knowledgeable about that kind of shoe. I already have boots, its shoes I'm looking for. As for lace or slip on, I wasn't sure, I'd assume lace. I'm generally thinking of "gentleman" style shoes, if that makes sense, but with a sharper toe as opposed to a round or blunt shaped one. Hopefully that helps.

Tlb mallorca (spanish) has some nice chisel on some of thir lasts.

 

[Monte]

I have this shoe and it has a rather chiseled last. I think I had to convert my USA 13 to whatever unit of measure they were using. No big deal. I've got three pair, and love them. They have a main collection, and these were Artista I think. Great value.

 

[Grayland]

I have at least 35 pairs of "dress shoes" and none are uncomfortable. If you're starting out (and willing to buy used), check out Allen Edmonds - made in the US in Wisconsin. Alden is made in Massachusetts and is certainly a step up, but AE is likely a step up from anything you currently have - and are dirt cheap on eBay.

Go for basic dark brown in a conservative model. AE Leeds is a basic blucher and looks great with everything from jeans to business casual.

Some have mentioned European shoes as more "streamlined or sleek" and they usually are. IMO - I don't like my shoes too sleek. I prefer American or traditional English shapes, and I find them more comfortable as well. I'm not saying that AE equals Lobb (or even Carmina), but they'll last you years/decades if you care for them and rotate your shoes. I'd prefer a darker brown, but here are a pair of AE Leeds (plain toe blucher).