Randolph Loafer (Men)

I bought my fiancé this shoe in both a size 15 and 14 D. He has two pairs of Allen Edmond Park Avenues in size 15 and LOVES them. He raves about how comfortable they are so I made sure I got him a pair of these from the anniversary sale. Originally I got the size 15, but they were flopping off. So, I ordered him the 14 and they ended up being way too small, so small he couldn’t put them on his foot. Unfortunately, I had to return both shoes. Such a disappointment because they are so nice in person. If you can get a pair that fits you well, definitely keep them.

I have been wearing AE shoes for over twenty five years. I got my first pair of AE wing tips with my first good paying job out of college. I still remember how much I paid for them, a lot of money, but after a while I had several pair, and then I became a dedicated fan. The cool thing about AE is that when the shoes get beat up, but you love them so much you can't stand to toss them away, you send them back to the factory in Wisconsin for re-furbishing. About a $100 later, you have an almost new pair of shoes back to wear for another year or two. I bought this style last year in black. They work well with pin stripes, dress slacks or jeans. If you have never owned a pair of AE shoes, and these are your first, I suggest you try them on at a store to get your size and best fit. Once you have that down, their shoes are a pretty consistent fit and you are good to go for life!

A lot of reviews on here saying these “run large” or that you should size down with these. That’s well intended but misleading and lacks nuance. Understand that your foot is a 3 dimensional shape. With any other pair of lace-up shoes the height of the instep isn’t that important. You just need to get your length and width matched up and you can adjust the instep fit using the laces. That won’t work with these because they’re loafers - they are no laces. I have several pairs of close laced dress shoes and the footbed is identical on these. So in terms of length and width, get the same size as your Park Avenues, Fifth Avenue, Strand, or McAllister. Depending on the height of your instep, they will feel different. These shoes have a higher instep so precisely the area that you lock down with laces will feel looser or roomier. That does NOT mean you should size down! Sizing down will just make your toes feel crammed. Instead what you should do is adjust the instep fit using tongue pads. It’s a simple non-invasive addition which you can do yourself. Or if you’re not up to it, any cobbler can do it in a matter of minutes. You can either layer multiple thin tongue pads or use a single one of the right thickness. I adjusted mine to fit perfectly using a tongue pad, a very thin additional 2mm leather insole, and a super thin Saphir suede heel/achilles pad. The suede material grips better than the smooth leather lining and reduces heel slip. The heel pad was more for when they were new and still stiff. But now after breaking them in, they really do fit like a glove. No heel slip. No pressure hot spots. Only way I could get a fit this good for my wide EEE feet is if I got custom made shoes for several the price.