Allen Edmonds Shoe Trees – $22.46 (reg. $29.95
)
So you’ve got a couple pairs of dress shoes. Black, brown, maybe some wingtips… but if you take them off and just throw them in your closet at the end of an evening, you might as well use them to play fetch with your dog.
Leather soaks up stuff. Like sweat from your feet. Leather also has a tendency to collapse under the weight of a mysterious force known as gravity.
Y’know, Gravity:
Cedar shoe trees prevent both of those nasty inconveniences of nature (foot sweat and gravity) from wreaking too much havoc on your lace ups.
The leather used to make your shoes wrinkles when you wear and walk in them. The wood molds help to prevent those wrinkles from setting in too deeply. Now, why cedar? Because cedar pulls that excess moisture out of the leather, which if let to sit can do serious damage to your footwear.
That and cedar just smells nice.
A pair of shoe trees for each pair of your dress shoes. No exceptions. Why Allen Edmonds? Because just like their shoes, their shoe trees are made in the United States. A reasonable investment at $20 – $30.
Not sure what size to get? Regular widths (D) sizes 10, 10.5, and 11 are all large. Here’s the rest:
Another tip related to Allen Edmonds: buy them used.
Yes, I’m wearing right now a nice pair of brown cap toe oxfords made by Allen Edmonds which sell for over $275 at Nordstrom. I got them on eBay for $50 including shipping. Give the leather a good cleaning and polish and they look great. Allen Edmonds will also replace the sole and bring the leather to like-new condition for $60-$90 for you.