My New Favorite Shoes

Since winter loosened its grip and I was able to stop wearing boots every day, I've spent the past couple of months wearing and reevaluating many of my shoes. I have some that I kind of like, or that are at least useful when dressing a certain way, but they aren't very comfortable. I have shoes that are pretty comfortable that I don't otherwise like all that much. Many of these will be culled and either sold or donated.

In the meantime I've been trying to restock the shoe larder, so to speak, with shoes that are practical, good-looking, comfortable, and well-made. This is not easy, particularly with my problematic feet. But I did get a new pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago that are filling all these criteria.

One style of shoe I've been looking for is a tan lace-up that I could wear in warmer weather with light-colored pants. I considered light tan suede bucks, but I already have a pair of bucks in a darker khaki and I decided that I wanted something in leather, not suede. I didn't set out specifically to buy another pair of shoes that's made in the USA, but it's pretty much always in my mind at this point.

I ran across a shoe I liked from a company I'd never heard of, Neil M. In fact, it was a couple of months ago, when I bought those Chelsea boots from Brooks Brothers that I ended up returning, that I first became aware of the company. I was briefly considering getting another pair of similarly styled boots from a different maker, saw the Neil M version of a Chelsea boot while browsing Endless, and noticed that it was made in USA.

Besides Alden and Allen Edmonds, who else is still making shoes in the USA? You have the heritage boot brands: Red Wing, Wolverine, Chippewa, and let's toss Frye in with that group (as I suggested recently). Dexter's still around (along with other brands like Walk-Over that belong to the same parent company), and New Balance is still making some sneakers up in Maine (you can get one style from J. Crew, or custom-order some direct from NB in your preferred color combination and receive them in just a week or two). There are companies like Bates that make uniform shoes. Not much else, though.

Neil M is based in Arkansas and seems to have a connection to the women's brand Munro. Not all of their shoes are made in the USA, and not all their styles are ones I'd consider attractive. but that could be said of almost any shoe brand. I went back to Endless one day to look at some of their other styles, and found the "Wynne" lace-up that's available in four colors: black, oxblood, cognac, and "honey." The honey was just what I'd been looking for. I put them into my "save for later" basket, thinking I'd wait for a discount offer from Endless.

Then, just a day or so later, I happened to be browsing the "Tent Sale" section on the Orvis site. I saw a shoe that looked exactly like the Wynne, in the honey color. Tent Sale stuff gets marked down more every few days, and if you're lucky, when an item hits its deepest discount they'll still have your size. The day the shoes got their final discount, the size 11 had already sold out, but they still had 10.5, so I decided to order them. I was also concerned about width, but this style is pretty roomy, plus the toe box is fairly high, which goes a long way toward making shoes more hospitable for my feet. I ended up with a pair of $200 American-made shoes for $102 including shipping.

Neil M uses bison leather for this style, which I've heard is less costly than calfskin. It has a somewhat more pronounced grain than cow leather, but it's also very soft and supple. The shoes come with removable insoles that have leather top surfaces, and they have full welt construction so they can be resoled if necessary. They also came with cloth storage bags.

I've worn these shoes to work twice since I got them, plus on Mother's Day. I've done an average day's standing and walking, maybe a bit more than average one of those days, and I can honestly say these are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn. I'm seriously considering getting them in another color. And even if I'd paid $200 for them, I'd be satisfied.