Customer Reviews Florsheim Kenmoor Wingtip Oxford

These are not bad shoes, but I have two complaints. First, the price of these pair of shoes should come with premium waxed shoe laces. The laces were barely long enough to tie and felt like bakery string. Second, the size was on the small size. I should have ordered them a half size larger...too late. I don't think I'll order them again.

I have two pairs of 1980s pebble grain Kenmoor longwings. They were the absolute top of the line from Florsheim, which at the time was making better shoes than Allen Edmonds, Alden or whomever you care to name. I have a custom shoe rebuilding who put the soles and heels on these, to the exact specs of the original factory job with an eye toward factory new appearance. I have to be careful when I wear them, because you can resole them but you can't take out scratches in the uppers. So far so good. I calculate with the amount of wear these get (maybe once every two weeks for each) they'll last me the rest of my life, especially if I keep the soles lubricated with Harness Honey. As for the shoes on display here, they are but a pale shadow of the original. I bought a pair in Cognac just to fill out the wardrobe, and they don't have the heft, flexibility, obvious leather quality or fit and comfort of the real Florsheims. Unfortunately you can't call the Florsheim factory in Chicago and have them make you a pair. The quality of leather that goes into all shoes is declining badly. You can still get Horween shell cordovan from Allen Edmonds and Alden if you're prepared to shell out three times what these shoes cost. But when the shoe business failed in the USA, the shoe leather business did as well. I have no doubt Florsheim makes these out of the best leather they can find for their price point. When E.T. Wright went out of business last year, I bought twelve pairs of their Arch Preserver shoes in various styles because of my experience with Florsheim. I knew that those shoes, the most comfortable dress shoes in the world, would no longer be available at any price, and Wrights were astoundingly inexpensive for the Vintage Florsheim-level of quality they produced. I'm glad I have enough good American made shoes in my possession to never again need to purchase dress shoes from India or China. These shoes are okay. But not so long ago you could have bought something truly special under this same name. It's almost a crime to poach the Kenmoor name and hang it on this.

Super traditional. Recognize these are pretty stiff soles with leather bottoms that are slippery if you dont put your rubber heal down first. They actually need a bit of breaking in to get more comfortable.

I have 2 pair - black and wine, and to me they are not as nice as the Allen Edmonds Weybridge, Park Avenue, or McClaine, which I also have. The Allen - Edmonds leather is nicer and they look much nicer with a suit. The upside for the Florsheim (this model) is that it has a double thick sole. Other than that, the leather, especially on the wine, looks like the color is sprayed on, not dyed into the leather. If you scratch it through to the leather, you can’t wax over it. They shine like glass if that's what you want, but the AE finishes to me are much nicer.