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Affordable Men's Style

Best Affordable Style of 2012 – The Shoes

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JC Penney Stafford Camlin Wingtip Boots – $60.00

The end of the year means it’s time to hand out some awards.  No, there’s no little statues to pass along, but over the next few days we’ll still highlight some of the best in affordable men’s style from this past year.  And it was a good one. Feel free to send in additional nominations here.

The Camlin Wingtip Boot from above, post black shoe creme treatment.

Sixty bucks.  Unreal.  Comfortable, decent leather, and once you compensate for the outrageously wonky sizing (they run at least a size, maybe a size and a half too big) their trim profile and perfect toe look great on your feet.

They’re more than fine out of the box, but at just sixty dollars (if not less with sales) they’re a perfect pair of shoes to try experimenting with.  By applying  a little black shoe creme, the leather takes on a less uniform look.  That helps them look much more expensive than the double digits retail price.

So far their durability has been just fine.  With wear the leather starts to lighten back up a bit and take on new character.  From an aesthetics standpoint, JC Penney had a terrific year.  These boots are one of the big reasons why.

Also worth a mention from the past year: The new Mercanti Cap Toe, the C.H. Jayhawker which got as low as $84, the $70 DSW Double Monk, the J&M Letson, & the venerable A.E. Strand when it dipped under $200 on cyber Monday.

Comments

  6. Yep. Did this sort of series last year as well. These are more or less solo picks per category, highlighting the best of the best, awards show style.

  8. After the first article about these skips a few months back I stopped by the local JCP to check them out. They are not at all bad looking (fantastic, actually for the price). I need a slightly wider than average tow box to be comfortable in a shoe, and could not even get my foot in these boots. Found some Alden Indies for about $300 bucks instead and have been in love since.

  9. As far as I’m concerned, JC Penneys has been killing it, this year. These boots were great and so were the Stafford cap toes. I must have spent several hundred dollars on JCP shirts and the Stafford Essentials Corduroy Jacket was my coat of the fall.

    Lord knows, they aren’t perfect. The older stuff is embarrassingly bad (that Arizona line has gotta go), the sales experience is pretty crummy and even rejuvenated lines like Stafford are still half filled with junk but the combination of the amazing (and amazingly well priced) stuff they have put out this year and the very real possibility that they won’t be around next year or the year after that, makes Penneys the retailer of the year for me.

  11. You must be fucking joking. Look, I get that JCP is doing well at its price point, but until they can beat used-ebay shoes they aren’t worth shit.

  13. Just picked up a pair of these and am excited to try some black polish on them. Any tips on applying black polish to brown shoes? As stated above, these boots run at least a FULL size too big.

  16. Yeah, they’ve had a strong year. Not a fan of these boots, but they have some decent sweaters and a solid selection of pants. I heard they brought in the guy who turned Target’s clothing line around a couple years ago.

    On the other hand, I was surprised and dismayed to see their “everyday reasonable prices” scheme burn out after less than a year. I appreciated their switch towards less gimmicky pricing and marketing. Sad to see that rolled back.

  17. Lol. Nice. Seconded on eBay for shoes, btw. I was burned twice on used shoes and never went back.

    Fit is really important in a nice shoe, and I’ve had a really hard time nailing down fit between different companies and models. Allen Edmonds shoes alone are all over the damned place.

    If I’m buying online, I’d rather buy wholesale, seconds, or sale/clearance items backed up by a solid return policy than troll for one-offs on eBay. To me, the cost-to-benefit ratio of eBay just isn’t where it needs to be to make it worthwhile.

  18. Totally not online anymore. But I’m heading to the JCP store today to see if I can’t scope some out. I’ve been waiting to get some “dress boots” and these would fit the bill nicely.

  19. While I agree, I imagine it would be relatively easy to size yourself for some Park Aves, Strands, Fifth Aves, etc. From there, an ebay purchase should be relatively easy to make unless you’re in a very unusual size. Even if you are, you might find a deal because of less competition for that item.

    Anyway, I’m just thinking aloud, though I may try this in the near future.

  20. I just gave mine their first shine with some brown polish instead of black and they ended up looking similar to yours. It’s a little bit disappointing, actually. They still look nice but I preferred the original look (the leather really seemed to soak up the color; they are somewhere between brown and oxblood now). Looks like I’ll be trying a neutral wax for my next shine.

  22. I’m confused here. The color in the photos above is way different (more oxblood by a long way) to the before/after in the previous writeups. Are they that variable in different light, or do they come in different colors? They’ve been taken offline already so I can’t check JCP’s product photos.

    I’d be really inclined to pick them up if they’re on the burgundy side, but I’ve got regular brown boots coming out my ears already.

  25. Thanks for the lead; I bought 2 pairs of Stafford wingtips for my sons; I can’t comment on the boots per say, but they danced for 5+ hours New Years Eve, & both said the Stafford’s were the most comfortable dress shoe they had worn.