The Hunting Club

Elmo: Ok, let’s get this started. About a month ago, I ordered a tailor made suit in a dark brown colorway. This Monday I will be able to pick it up.
Now you might ask why is he writing this post. Doesn’t it say “shoes” in the header? That’s right. After choosing my desired suit color I started looking for the right pair of shoes to match my suit. The process about deciding what kind of shoe to get isn’t quite easy.
I just throw in a few question I asked myself on the course of making a decision.

1. Real dress shoes or a pair you might can throw on with jeans?
2. Round, squared toe or the golden middel?
3. Extraordinary stitching or no stitching?
4. Dark brown or light brown or something in the middle?
5. Soft leather or a harder kind?

And that’s just the beginning. It ain’t easy without having the suite with me or at least a piece of the fabric.
To make my decision easier I tried to narrow down my demands for a perfect pair.
That’s what I came up with:
1. Round toe or at least something in the middle. The classic Oxford or Derby look is what comes the closest I guess.
2. Lighter but not to light brown.
3. Shoes must be comfortable, leather should be rather soft than hard.
4. No extraordinary stitching.
5. Would be nice to if I could wear them to something else than just the suit but no must.

The next step for me was trying to choose a few brands which where meeting the “requirements” and my cash funds. $250 was/is the maximum.
After doing some research these are the brands I came up with:

1. Lloyd – A German shoe manufacture founded in 1888 known for producing a wide area of quality shoes.
2. Clarks – Well known British label. Famous now a days for their “Wallabees” and “Desert Boots” but the make some nice, and affordable dress shoes as well.
3. Johnston & Murphy – Shoes are looking nice too but are not available in Germany at all.
4. ? – I’m open for any suggestions.

After that I still found myself looking at a whole lot of different shoes to choose from. Most of them are even available two or three color tones. But as I do love surfing the net and running through stores this was the fun part.

I selected 5 different model’s and hopefully one will meet my expectations and most importantly will fit my suit.

1. Lloyd Hamlet (Calf Leather, 120,00 Euro)

2. Lloyd Gloster (Calf Leather, 130 Euro)

3. Lloyd Lome (Calf Leather, 130 Euro)

5. Clarks Finton Jump (Tan Leather, 64,99 British Pound)

5. Johnston & Murphy Gaffey (Calf Leather, $124)