Whoever the person is who dreamed up the idea to attach Nike’s Lunar outsole to a Cole Haan shoe needs a promotion. First came the LunarGrand brogues and more recently the chukka varietal was released, which I think could be the perfect shoes for summer.
The LunarGrand chukkas are an ingenious hybrid between being dressed up and comfortable at the same time. To test this theory I wore them to a dinner I had at the 21 Club, one of the few places in the city that still has a dress code, and all went off without a hitch.
Have to give Cole Haan props for the innovation with Nike on the LunarGrand footwear. The bar has definitely been raised. I’m intrigued to see what else is to come.
Available for $298 at the Cole Haan SoHo shop – 128 Prince Street.
Very old school, old man, therefore quite new.
They look a bit like orthopedic shoes.
I could definitely see them with a natty madras jacket, dark jeans or maybe just a navy cotton sweaters and plain front khakis.
This is what happens when you cross-breed a Clark’s desert boot with a nurse’s shoe.
Nice entry in the athleisure* footwear category. (*name coined by Clae, http://www.clae.com, I believe).
21 hardly has a dress code anymore. first it was the tie, but then after that- who cares? they have loosened and lessened their standards in order to stay alive, which is understandable but very unfortunate. but, then again, most youngsters wouldn’t want to eat there anyway…
Seriously? Those are god awful…
this seems a bit gratuitous? are these made in the US?
isn’t nike supposed to receive a shout when they give you somethin’ for free? or cole haan, whatever.
These are ugly shoes plain and simple. Would rather wear flip-flops.
The #menswear world must be getting some serious kickbacks from these things because everyone is “co-signing” these abominations. The same folks who bemoan the “hybrid dress-athletic leather sneakers” are now promoting these things? Am I missing something here…other than my lunch.
Why can’t Cole Haan make classic brown leather shoes like they did 20 years ago?
Hideous. $300 for a pair of Cole Haans. Wow.
They look like Visvim knockoffs.
I do hope you received an honorarium from CH for this plug. Otherwise I am sensing a shoe intervention is in order. And I’m uncertain if wearing this sort of “footwear” to the 21 constitutes any sort of fashion faux-pas today- a lot of bling going on even for the sort of New Yorkers who go there. Now, Jamie Dimon might enjoy them since he stepped in it recently.
I have bought a total of two pairs from Cole Haan since the Nike purchase in 1988: a moccasin slip-on with woven leather vamp, and a brown suede loafer with a brushed aluminum snaffle and a Vibram sole. Both were made in Italy (shockingly), and I suspect were old-stock for several years before the excellent sales guy literally snuck them out of the stock room. Though I didn’t know at the time, I got them in the last days of CH’s stylish oak/brass/leather/sisal-trimmed store on Rodeo Drive. As if I needed a reminder why….
I don’t think the pix is doing them any justice. They look amazing on!
There’s an easy explanation here. First workwear went out of fashion so ACL had to jump on the Italian tailoring train. Now that that is starting to fade and streetwear is coming into focus ACL is attempting to stay relevant.
Meow!!! First they are not as bad as the critiques above. Thy sort of look like what Jil Sander did in the nineties. That being said. ACL, does not deserve the criticism. American workwear and italian tailoring share the same philosophy, good quality, handmade workmanship. Stop judging so much. Take what you like and leave out what you don’t. FYI Adult men, should not wear flip flops EVER!
In the spirit of “If you can’t say something nice. . .”, its nice that you get both a left- and right-specific shoe when you buy a pair of these.
Its hard to believe that these won you away from your stated intention to wear your custom Rancourt’s “all the time”!
These shoes are great. I have them in the gray/yellow short wings and they are by far the most comfortable pair of shoes I’ve ever owned. They look great too, I get tons of compliments on them.
“This is what happens when you cross-breed a Clark’s desert boot with a nurse’s shoe.”
@Ron so f’n true.
Those are fugly.
haha, i was totally expecting to be in the minority thinking those shoes are lame.
@ KRH. I offer you that many of us feel that Cole Haan has lost its classic American men’s shoe design. The company now makes styles for women (to the great delight of our other halves). If you need an example of what I see for men, please consider these samples from the online catalogue:
http://www.colehaan.com/colehaan/catalog/pwp.jsp?l=shop,pwp,c-100/f-10002+50146+70016+4294966085
There may be an American male customer today who finds lemon yellow, lavender, and turquoise brogues and brown/fuschia or baby blue spectators the height of “comme il faut” styling. While I mourn the passing of Miss Donna Summer too, I’m not adding to my stepping out wear platforms with real goldfish inside. Nike’s buy of CH (just like Sara Lee’s long-ago buy-out of Coach/Mark Cross) has been a 25-year downward disaster for a formerly made-in-America company with excellent design-to-price quality. ACH has featured many good U.S. shoe manufactures, whose offerings cost close to these POS. As Phil Locust pointed, relevancy is an ever-changing mood. My moods simply do not include the above made-in-Brazil colorways, or the posted lite-silver rap star boots.
Host: I like these shoes that I just bought.
Guest: Those shoes are ugly
Once again a shocking number of haters commenting here. Not one of you would have the gaul to say that out loud at a social or business function. Spend less on ulcer medication Mr Williams, and close the comments section to these anonymous clowns.
Chukkas – so handsome and breezy, if only my Mister would wear them.
To Daniel. Why worry? Why censor? Comment sections are more entertaining when people share their true thoughts. With too many blogs, the endless “Oh I love it so much” comments become rather a bore.