Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette
In today's video, we discuss the best men's dress shoes under 300 dollars. R: If you're a longtime follower of the Gentleman's
Gazette, you can see that this is a slightly different format. P: We wanted to try something that was a bit
more casual and more conversational, hence, the chairs. So if this is a format that you like and that
you'd like to see more of, let us know in the comments. R: Absolutely. So we went out, we looked at all the dress
shoe brands under $300 that we thought were worth
reviewing and we got a pair of each of the brands, they all send them to us so it's a
level playing field. No one paid us to say anything, there's no
other kind of relationship that we're hiding, we've got the pairs of shoes from all of
them. P: mm-hmm R: and we all try them, right? P: Right. I think basically, what we're trying to do
here is, even though these are ultimately opinions and they are subjective,
we were trying to be as objective in our analysis as possible. R: We didn't consider shoes from Cole Haan,
Johnson & Murphy, and Florsheim because they're just too low in quality from what
we've seen. We also reached out to
Thursday Boots, Charles Tyrwhitt, Royal Republic, Herring, Barker, Bexley, or Finsbury, we didn't
hear back from them at all. We reached out again and we just figured if
the communication was so difficult, we would not include them. We also knew that the video was already long
so we didn't bother. If this is a popular video, we may do those
in the future. With that being said, let's jump right in
and I think the first pair is Beckett Simonon. We both got a pair of shoes and they're listed
as a retail price of $300 on the website but most of the time it's crossed out and
it's $199... P: Right. R: which is kind of
interesting. It's a bit of like it wasn't catch-free in
my book but... P: That's one way to put it, yeah right. I think that's something that a lot of brands
are doing these days, they'll sort of have the original
list price and then the sale price to make you feel like you're getting
a better deal than you really are. R: yeah but the problem is, you know if it's
like $300, right, crossed out all year long, it's just that's not the price. The real price is $199 right, so in my book,
the real price of the shoes is $199. So the model I chose was a Durant which is
a Captoe Oxford with some broguing. P: and this one is the Dean, it's an Oxford
that does not have any broguing and this one is in a color they call Bordeaux. R: Back story on mine, I got a pair of shoes
from them years back in a size 10. It was also the model Durant. The last was quite elegant but they were a
little too small and I remember I wore them at the airport and got a lot of blisters so
I never wore them again. P: Right. R: Now when I got my Durant pair, it actually
looked a whole lot different so a lot of things changed, right, originally was made
in Portugal, now they're not made in Portugal anymore. The whole last look everything has changed,
virtually a new shoe even though that the style, it's kind of the same. P: Right, interesting. This is the first experience that I've had
with Beckett Simonon. Of course, it's a fairly popular shoe, it's
reviewed often in the menswear space. R: So what do you think when you get that
shoe right out of the box? P: Well, my first impressions here were that
I liked the shape of it. I liked the last. You know, fairly conservative shape, kind
of old-school, you know it's got... R: the ground toe, exactly. P: nothing extreme right, so that was nice
but I did notice that there was actually a good deal of color variance in between the
leather used for most of the body of the shoe and the leather used for the tongue. They were greatly different in color. R: Yeah, I think what happens is they finish
stuff right and then as they finish it maybe they finish the tongues at a different point
in time or a different person does it and I think on my shoes that was not so obvious
but what really stood out to me was that the left shoe was a lot lighter than the right
one... the left one almost looked like a cap toe had one color and the upper was lighter
it was almost like a two-tone spectator and the right one wasn't that way weird so quality
control was not good on that one. P: Right yeah, I would agree. I think those were my impressions of that
there as well. R: Yeah, when I noticed that I reached out
to them and said, “Hey what's going on?” and
they just said hey we don't have this pair again but we can send you another one. They did and that was Dean and in that case,
the left and the right shoe had a very similar color so that looked great but then the tongues
of those were a lot darker and then their Oxfords, you know. You have that V and if your foot is a little
thicker or let's say, it's hotter and your feet swell a little bit, you can see what's
behind the V, right, so now all of a sudden you have this dark tongue with a lighter kind
of upper lacing area. I think it looks weird. P: Right, and of course, you could, you know,
try to modify that yourself with polish or whatever it may be but that's gonna be kind
of difficult to do. You really just want leathers that are, if
they're supposed to match, you want them to match out of the box. R: I guess you can always polish a lighter
leather and make it darker, that's easier with a darker shoe polish right but the other
way around, you have to get out some alcohol that's
a little more tricky and I mean I'm buying a new shoe out of the box they should be disempowered. P: I would agree. R: Okay good, yeah leather what do you think? P: Well, generally, it seems like nice leather. I think it's full-grain calfskin… it's at
least what they advertised, so yeah. R: Argentinian, right, I think. P: mm-hmm R: I mean, frankly, that the terminology full-grain
I mean, I've seen the cheapest Chinese belts advertised this full-grain leather so it's
hard to kind of use that as a standard because it's not
protective but just for the feel of it I think it's somewhat soft leather. I mean I noticed the one on the Dean that
I got second is softer than on the first pair... P: Interesting. R: So obviously, there are some variances
there... P: and I think it might you know, scuff a
little bit easier than some other leathers would, too so.. R: Okay, alright. One other thing I noticed was that the original
pair that I got with those two different color tones, it had like imperfections like little
dots of color or stuff like that again -- something I would expect that quality controls should
catch but they didn't, which in this particular case can be a little troublesome because the
way Beckett Simonon works is not like a traditional shoe retailer, right? P: Right. They'll have sort of new designs that they'll
market to people but you have to kind of preorder or buy into the new design and then you'll
eventually get it and then that design goes away after a while. R: Yeah and I think it's a good system in
the sense that it means they don't have to stock inventory of shoes which brings the
cost down and they can pass it on to the consumer which is in itself a good idea but if I have
to wait three or four months before I get the shoe and then my shoe has imperfections,
I have to maybe send it back and wait for a new one but they're probably not gonna have
a new one because they only make them on order and stuff so right that can be the trouble
then. P: You would hope in that case that the quality
control would maybe be a little higher given that they're not going to have a lot of extra
stock of things and I mean at the same time, I mean, they knew we'd review those shoes,
right? They knew we told them what we're gonna do,
so I was just surprised that they would send something like that to us. P: Right, so as far as the workmanship is
concerned, I think things are generally pretty solid, you know I didn't see any flagrant
errors with the stitching or how the sole was attached to the rest of the shoe but again,
you know, I think just in the way that they selected the leather
and sewed it together, the general impression I got is that there wasn't the utmost degree
of care there, it seems like maybe if there are a few of these more standard models that
they do keep in stock of, that they just sort of, I hate to say this, but maybe put them
together with what they have, instead of really going to that nth degree to make sure that
every single pair is totally up to that perfect standard. R: Exactly attention to detail is not the
utmost thing in those shoes and I mean, it's an oblate construction. It’s like a 360 welt on the outside and
was good that we had shoes with broguing and without because I noticed if you look at the
broguing it was not very inconsistent and wasn't
like at a center so I thought it was a little kind of off and originally in the shoes that
were made in Portugal that were all really nice and neat, now they switched production
to Columbia and maybe they weren't able to kind of train the people exactly. I mean, obviously they didn't just move Portuguese
shoemakers to Columbia, they're just using local shoemakers and stuff but maybe something
was lost there in transition yeah because I can also see
from the old ones to new ones like the density of the broguing has decreased so there's more
space now. P: Oh, you're right. R: If you just look at those two, I mean it's
different spacing and here, it just like, it wobbled small right now it's almost the
one line and then it goes in the middle and just a little different so in terms of sizing
I got a ten and a half US this time which is on
the shorter side, usually I have like US eleven in most shoes. Last time I got the size 10, which was too
small, so I think this was the right size and the last I think, it's quite elegant -- not
as elegant as it used to be but again, then I got blisters, right now I have a lot of
room for my toes. The toe box, I noticed it's quite a bit higher
than before so for my foot, it's always a little too roomy, and the problem with it
being too roomy is that you'll likely get creases over time between your camp and your
lacing like right here because there's just air and so as you walk, it
just kind of bends it more. P: Right. That's something that I noticed, too. I thought overall, the fit was not bad but
as I stepped and put pressure on the front of the
shoe and stepped forward, there was almost immediately some creasing that I could see
happening so I would assume that would only continue to become more and more noticeable
over time. R: Okay, yeah so in terms of comfort, I think
the new last is a lot more comfortable than the old one just because of the extra room. The heel is a little wide for me so I have
to yeah have them tight and worn entirely. Overall, I think the leather is maybe, it's
softer than some other brands. Kind of in the middle, it's not really soft,
it's not really super hard, maybe like medium-stiff, I’ll describe it as. P: I'd say that's fair, yep and I think for
me generally, comfort, I would say, was fairly good as well. I guess I'm just probably in the habit of
always tying my shoes fairly tight to make sure that I really do get a snug fit so in
that case, I didn't really feel any slipping or sliding around. They felt like they were hugging my feet to
a good degree. R: Okay. I think I have slim heels so that sometimes
can just lead to noticing that extra room there in the heel. Yeah, I mean other than that, it's just a
unique business model that you don't really find very often. It's more like a Kickstarter model almost,
yeah just on an ongoing basis and because of that, you get it at a lower price $199. I think looking at all the shoes you can buy
at $199 it’s a pretty good price for the kind of leather and it's a classic-looking
shoe weighs a lot better than you know, Johnson & Murphy, Florsheim, and all these brands
right I mean it's anything that you would really get at the under $100 level, it's certainly
better than something in that range I think for right around $200 for what you're getting. I think it's a decent value
overall, yeah and I think I would have liked it a lot more, like my rating would probably
a more like you know, three and a half maybe even a little more out of five stars, maybe
even four. That would be perfect but with the lack of
attention to detail, the different colors, I'd really just think it's more like of two
for me because of those issues like I don't want to deal with different color shoes and
then they, of course, didn't have the replacement pair and stuff and that if I wait that long
already, I mean, maybe I need it for a wedding or something then I want the shoe now and
they just wait forever. P: mm-hmm yep as it stands, I gave these a
three out of five. Maybe that was a little generous but I think
anywhere from two and a half to three out of five is probably where these would even
sit collectively between the two of us. R: And obviously you know, we're different
people, so we value things differently so we just want to show you what our experience
was, we tested them independently and then compared our notes, just so we give you a
little more insight. P: So next up, we have selections from Taft. In my case, the one I got, it retails for
$250. This is a model they call the Beck and the
color which as you can see, it's kind of a tan color; they refer to it as burnt honey. R: Yeah I got this kind of modern one I think,
called the Russell in London also $235 (no longer stocked as of 2020) I would have gotten
a more classic dress shoe but it wasn't available. It seems like they're a lot out of stock,
they don't restock it a lot. Yeah first impressions for me, the shoe is
very bold. I'd probably never buy it myself simply because
the cost per wear is just so high. I mean in 99% of cases I can't wear this one,
I mean, you can wear this a lot more. It's just a regular Wingtip Oxford. P: Yeah, I think, and from everything I understand
of Taft and how they're trying to differentiate themselves in the space, they're doing a lot
more with these shoes in a fabric that has, you know, bolder patterns or colors or that
kind of a thing so if you're more in the market for that kind of fashion-forward look, that
may be an option for you but I think as it stands with both of our wardrobes skewing
more traditional there's probably not going to be as much of a place for a shoe like this. R: Yeah, because if you wear it with a pair
of denim, I mean, it's really bold right. I could see maybe a summery pair of pants
in a neutral shade that's solid because everything’s stripes like a seersucker right now it's just
too much pattern going on it's just not really useful but… yeah, leather? P: Right. This one, generally I think, what I wasn't
crazy about really is just the way that they've chosen to do the kind of the color variance
or the patina in the finishing. I'm not sure why it
doesn't really speak to me because it is definitely unique that there's lots of different subtle
shading around the shoe... R: And that's cool, but oftentimes in there
like they just went here in a cap sort of medallion and just the tap, usually you just
make it dark here and here and keep that lighter, like I think the Beckett Simonon did that
better, it just looked nicer than this one does. This is like Italian wool fabric, they weren't
very specific. This looks somewhat like calf leather. P: I believe they called it Boxcalf leather
on their website. R: Yeah, and that itself is good leather. It's a little stiffer, it's not so super soft
which is nice -- kind of holds its shape over time. On the inside, you also have leather but what
I noticed -- their shoe, unlike most of the others have this kind of foam inserts so you
can tell immediately that there's something going on. In terms of workmanship, it's like blake construction
stitching is neat, the tassels are nice, there's nothing to complain about. If you look at the sole, you know there's
not a fine edging like what you'll see maybe in a Meermin shoe but overall it's decent
workmanship, Made in Spain, I don't see anything to complain about. P: Yeah, I would echo that, no obvious problems
for me in either of these, stitching was nice and neat and even. I would say overall the workmanship strikes
me as solid but kind of unremarkable. R: Yeah, what I noticed was it had these interesting
like, knobs at the bottom, right? P: Almost reminiscent of something like a
Dainite rubber sole you would see with an Allen Edmonds shoe. R: True but whenever I see those kinds of
rubber-leather combination soles, it's usually a cheaper shoe. To me, it's kind of a hallmark of a cheaper
shoe. You, I don't, are they all leather? P: Mine had a rubber pad in the center of
the bottom of the sole. This section was rubber but I didn't find
that it would give me enough traction, a brief aside here is that most of the shoes we got
had, you know, standard smooth leather bottoms as many dress shoes do, because I have poor
balance because of a physical disability. One thing that I have to do with many of my
shoes and I have done it with all of them here today, is had rubber half soles or protectors
applied to the bottoms of the shoe to give me a bit more grip and traction as I wear
them around. I got a size 8 US which is size 41 in European
sizing. As far as the last is concerned, I wasn't
really thrilled with the shape of this shoe. From the back toward the heel, it seems kind
of round and bulbous to me, and then the toe, on the other hand, was longer than what you
would typically see, kind of pointy here so... R: More modern... P: So it kind of has this teardrop shape which
I'm just personally, not crazy about. R: Yeah, I mean I agree that the heel is just
a little wider and stuff, I like the front shape, especially for this kind of loafer,
it's like more elongated. I think it looks more elegant in there. Honestly, I'll wear them mostly at home because
it's kind of like a nice house shoe, the fabric pattern like the velvet slipper. They were comfortable. I didn't have any complaints, especially with
that foam insert. I mean, it makes them easy to wear, right? You can definitely feel it. The problem with the foam is usually over
time, they kind of wears out more quickly than leather, the shoe gets like, bigger so
then you have to take it out and find a similar insole again, it's just more work, that's
why most high-end shoes are like leather, there's not much cushiness in there, cause
you'll get the fit right and they'd still be comfortable but you don't have that extra. P: And some of that cushion especially on
some Goodyear welted shoes can come from cork as well so you don't need that foam insert. R: Yeah and the cork is better in the long-term
you know than the foam. P: As far as fit and comfort are concerned
for me because I am so thin, I have this tibia bone in my feet, it sticks out, it's a little
bit more pronounced than it is for some people so as a result of that, there are some shoes
that if they're cut a little bit higher here, can ride up and start rubbing
against the bottom of that bone there, which can be pretty uncomfortable. R: Absolutely. You got blisters, I had it before with some
shoes. I didn't notice it with this shoe. Did you? P: Yes. These are definitely giving me a little bit
of discomfort rubbing on that bone. R: Got it. So if you ever have that with a pair of shoes,
Taft may not be the brand for you. Honestly, I didn't know anything about the
brand, we just put it in the line up because viewers shared and asked us to review them. So with it, I think my verdict is more like
2 out of 5 again because in this case, I just can't
really use these shoes a lot and they didn't have a single classic option available in
my size so it's like, hmm I don't know. P: Yup. Overall I'd be in the same ballpark, 2.5 to
3 stars maybe is where I would land with these. I had seen them advertised on Facebook and
a couple of other places... R: Okay. P: I was at least, generally aware of the
brand, but probably not one at least with these initial impressions that I'd be running
out to get more of. R: Got it. P: Okay, so the next brand up is Loake. In my case, I got a penny loafer; this is
in suede and you can see it's olive green. A little bit of bolder color. R: A little more unusual. P: Right. The model name is Eton and this is £185 which
comes out to about $230 US R: yeah and I think that includes about like 20% VAT so in the
past you could just subtract that and they would ship it to the US but I noticed Loake
disallowed European stockists to ship them to Canada and the
The US so if you're in Europe it's very easy to find those shoes and Loake has always been
known as a value brand, kind of English styling but now in the US it's a lot harder to actually
get the shoes and I don't know why they did that, maybe they want to sell them directly
and have a markup in there but it's a little disappointing, I thought. P: Right. I think so, too. R: Yeah so I actually got a pair of boots
and from their 1880s series which we'll cover in another video of this style when it's all
about boots and best boots under a certain budget. And in the past, I've had other Loake shoes
yeah, they're a traditional brand or leather, it's calf leather, it's good quality, it's
not like the best leather in the world, it's not crappy leather, it's somewhere
in a medium segment… but how do you like the suede? P: Well, I think it's the fact that this is
a very sort of traditional English styling that helps to offset the fact that I did choose
to get a slightly bolder color. Part of the reason I went for something
that was different is because as you'll see, as we continue to go through our selections
here, I ended up getting quite a few different brown suede loafers; that's just what they
offered us in a lot of cases so to have something that was different and a little bit bolder,
I thought was advantageous and it's nice that again, it's offset by that more traditional
last shape. R: And I mean they have a lot of classic last
shapes, right? A lot of business shoes that you can wear:
brown, black shoes and even the boots. I think their suedes are very nice, have a
nice touch kind of a short nap, they're not too soft but they're not also not super stiff. I think their regular calf letters are maybe
a little stiffer. Workmanship, they're made in England. As such, they are Goodyear welted which is
like a standard over there like they don't do blake really, England so yeah, what do
you think about the finishing? P: I thought that the construction of these
was very high quality all around. The stitching was nice and even, I didn't
see any loose threads or anything, the way that the sole was attached to the upper, I
thought was good, no you know -- obvious defects there, very high-quality construction all
around, I thought. R: Good. P: As far as fit with these is concerned,
I was disappointed that they didn't fit me better out of the box for how nice I think
they look. In addition to being loose on my feet overall,
my heels do tend to slip out of them. I do also have the same problem where they're
hitting the underside of my tibias actually on both feet. R: Okay, interesting. Okay, so what would you say what size did
you get in these? P: this was size 8 UK and I did follow the
sizing guidelines on their website as to taking your typical size, which in my case is an
8.5 US, then you would convert that to the UK sizing which I think is one lower, so that
would be a 7.5 but they recommended that you size up a half size from what you would normally
get, ergo, I picked a size 8 UK but that all said, they again did not
fit me as well out of the boxes I hope they would. R: Do you think half size smaller would be
a better fit or would it be too short, or what do you think? P: You know, I think probably having that
half size smaller would help. What I'm noticing in getting a lot of these
shoes and a lot of loafers, in particular, is, loafers just by their nature because they
cover less of your foot, are harder to have an exact fit
right away. R: Well and the problem with the loafer is
you don't have the lacing system to keep stuff in place. If you're an Ox or a Derby, you can just tie
it down, with a loafer the fit is more important because if the tongue comes up further or
the vamp is cut lower, there's even more area exposed and if it doesn't have a tight heel
fit, you just slip in the back. So yeah loafers -- buying loafers unseen is
always harder and it's riskier. So always make sure that you can return them
if they don't fit and otherwise, it's a pain. P: Right, absolutely. and that's definitely
something that I went through the learning process with as we did this with these different
retailers. I think ultimately these will probably be
salvageable for me, I could, you know, make some modifications such as putting an adhesive
pad on the tongue here to move my foot back more to the heel of the shoe. Also, I will need to put into
all of these shoes, insoles. In my case, they're mainly for perspiration
and odor as we've talked about in previous videos, in particular, our video on How to
Deodorize Shoes. That's something I have to do with all of
my shoes is put those insoles in there so that should probably help to snug up that
fit a little bit as well. R: In an ideal world though, people should
always get the right size shoe. P: Absolutely. R: and sometimes, if you're unsure you can
just buy two sizes; I've done that before and then just send the one back that you don't
like. I mean, with that being said, disregarding
the fit because that's a little harder, what would be your rating? P: I gave these a three and a half, keeping
the fit in mind in my rating and also considering that comfort factor that the height of the
side of the shoe here was rubbing a little bit. If we were to discount those fit issues given
how nice the construction is, how nice I think the look is, these maybe could have gotten
up to a four out of five or maybe even higher. Next up, we've got another more unknown brand
called Moral Code. Again, viewers wanted us to review them. I've got that Brayson model which is a penny
loafer that costs $170. P: Okay, my model is called the Holden, it's
in a color they call Cognac which as you can see is sort of a tan color. It's a Derby shoe, it's wing-tipped, it's
got broguing and this one retails for $170. R: Okay, so what do you think, first impressions
when you've got the shoe? P: Right. Well, I thought generally, I wasn't super
enthused about these; If I'm to be honest. Yeah, some of the models on the Moral Code
website is a little bit more fashion-forward, they're kind of a more modern brand so I tried
to find something that was a bit more classically inspired, I settled on this wingtip Derby. I don't know, I'm not crazy about quite how
the broguing looks on these just whether it's the size of the holes themselves... R: yeah, they're quite big right like, huge
holes and there's no medallion. P: Right and I thought that was a little bit
odd. Definitely, it'll make the shoe unique but
I think the lack of the medallion there, it just does seem like something is missing. R: yeah no, I agree with you there. Also, the last is kind of funny. It's round, there's quite a bit in the toe
box. I thought that the Brayson I got was a much
more kind of classically-inspired loafer. The funny thing was it was advertised as not
your Grandpa's loafer but if I look at those I mean they have round lasts, you know. The leather looks very like, very shiny and
thicker like, I think a grandpa would wear this loafer, right? P: I think that is probably a very apt description. The finishes of both of these, yours especially,
with how shiny they are but I think with mine too the impression I got is that however they
finished the leather, it just ended up on first sight kind of looking a little bit cheap
to me, frankly. R: And I mean these shoes, it's Goodyear welted
but it's made in India, right? So I mean, they have lots of cows and stuff
there so but the tannery is maybe not up to snuff compared to like you know Italian, English
or German or French tanneries and frankly it's kind of made to look like almost like
a shell cordovan, right, also in terms of the color? But the leather is really stiff. It's supposed to be a calf leather but it's
just treated so heavily it looks coated, like you can't really see defined pores as you
can see on let's say, a Meermin, for example, which is also burgundy. It's a nice comparison so you had definitely
kind of a ding on the leather in my book. I mean, yours doesn't seem to be yes. P: No, it's not some finished in the same
way and I think it will as I least tested it preliminary, it did stand up to creasing
a bit more but it seems like you've already got a fair amount of creasing on the top of
yours here. R: Absolutely. That's the thing if you have very stiff leather,
it's much more like and if it's coated it's much more likely to get visible creases very
quickly. Like patent leather, so it's hard to not
get creases.It's just not possible. P: mm-hmm R: yeah, and you know on the website, they
call it like premium calfskin; Looking at this, I can definitely say it's not premium
calfskin, right? P: I think that's fair, yep. R: So what about workmanship, what do you
think? P: well I didn't really see any grievous errors
in terms of the stitching, at least. Everything seemed to be fairly consistent
there. R: Same with me. It's all good like here in the back, the stitching
-- it's all very neat. I mean, you're broguing there seems all very
kind of centered in a way it's not off or anything. P: All very uniform but at the same time you
know, some of the leather that was chosen for the different parts of the shoe there
is, you know, right out of the box here, there's already some scuffing that I'm seeing with
it and some areas of slight blemishing or color variants. So even right from out of the box there were
some of those things that I noticed as well. R: Got it. Maybe like a little quality control issue. P: mm-hmm R: Okay, so the sizing I got I mean a ten
and a half and that's plenty big. They're roomy, the heel almost too much in
the left one, but just looking at them, looking at leather out of the box I felt like this
is gonna be an uncomfortable shoe and it turned out to be more comfortable that I would have
thought it would be. We're gonna definitely feel that the leather
is stiffer but it's not an elongated last, it's round or there's some room in there,
it's not too roomy. P: mm-hmm R: So in that regard, it works. of course, we have that -- it's a loafer,
it's more difficult to fit especially for me with a slim heel. I mean generally, it's very hard for me to
find loafers that fit because of my slim heel and when I do, I usually get more of them. These ones are okay, not fantastic. P: Right. I would say that as far as fit is concerned
for me, I would have roughly the same comments. I got the size eight and a half and they seem
to fit fairly well but again, that's because you know, you have the added benefit of being
able to lace them down as tightly or as loosely as you want to. There was just the slightest amount of rubbing
on my bone with these but not to the extent of
some of the other offerings... R: got it, so it's lower. P: After a slight break-in period that would
probably go away, more and more. R: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, they're Goodyear welted. Goodyear welted are
generally a little stiffer, these are pretty soft for a Goodyear welted in the
sole so it's a little breaking period I'd say, the upper leather I think will never
get really soft, you'll just get creases and they'll be softer and it'll
work. R: Yeah so I mean, overall I think you know,
$170 for a Goodyear welted shoe all leather, leather lined is a pretty good price. It's a little stiff but in terms of comfort,
if it works for your foot. To me ,they're more like a three, three and
a quarter out of five stars. Maybe three and a half,
even on a good day. Maybe depending on the last. But you can see slight deficiencies and then
with a broguing size, styling, it's a little not super classic and you can see this on
the other end. I
mean, it's classic as it gets in terms of the look. You can see like the leather, you know, they
have a seam here and a seam here. That means their leather usage is better. They can get more pieces out of the hide. They're not something typically seen on high-end
shoes so yeah not a high-end shoe right but it is also just $170 for a Goodyear welt. P: and given that these were just $170. I think it was a fairly decent value for what
you're getting. You know it's a Goodyear welted shoe as you
said. These are unremarkable. You know, not the, maybe not the greatest
looking shoe in the world but I would say just slightly above average. I gave them a three out of five. R: good So next up, we have offerings from an Italian
brand Scarosso. Mine is a tobacco brown loafer. I believe the specific model name was Raimondo
Sigaro Scamosciato. R: Alright, alright yeah, it's funny you say
that because I think Scarosso is in fact a German brand but they're made in Italy and
I have that whole spiel about everything like Italian. R: So they embrace the Italian heritage, If
you want to call it that. R: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah mine is something called Andrea Moro
and it's likewise a loafer. I've had Scarosso shoes for years, I think
that the first impression of this was unusual in a sense
because it has woven leather. It's not that many brands that offer that P: mm-hmm R: That's a little more unusual. P: Right. Absolutely. My first impressions for this were that it
was a nice color. I did like the tobacco brown. I think it's a little bit different than what
you might see in the brown colors from some other loafers.The toe of these I did immediately
notice was a little bit more square than you'll see on a lot of other loafers have, so that's
another point that makes them a bit more unique but I did like it for that reason. R: Yeah I think mine is a little more rounded
right, so they have many different loafer lasts. Price-wise, this is like $325. Some weren't a higher narrow spectrum but
woven leather makes things more expensive because there are no machines that can do
that to my knowledge and then this is actually woven like an element in the shoe where it's
like embossed so it's different. So typically woven leather shoes, if they're
really woven are more expensive just by default. How much for yours? Mine were $255 R: Okay, so fifty bucks less basically because
you have a suede for system in terms of workmanship, I didn't have any complaints with these. Once again the stitching did seem to be fairly
even. R: Yeah, it's a blake construction, right? All of their shoes are that, not most Italians
don't do Goodyear just like the English do Goodyear, Italians do like Blake, Blake Rapid. That's just what they do. P: Right, One thing I did notice actually
is that there was on one of the soles here, there's a slight piece where there's a little
bit of a gap in between some of the pieces of leather in
the sole. R: Okay. Oh yeah, interesting yet it may just be glue,
doesn't hold. In the stitching on mine goes up until here. On yours I think it'd look ahh it's hard to
see because they already put the leather sole over it. P: Correct. R: I think sizing wise I got a 44 in this
one typically I've more like 45 or like US 11 but that really fits me really well especially
in a loafer. I still have some toe room. It's not off. P: mm-hmm R: Yeah, just a soft shoe compared to maybe
a Moral Code. Much softer, right or Beckett Simonon. At the same time I think it still keeps its
shape well. Yep and also for the old shoes that I've had
over the years. P: Good to know. I got this one in a size 4. I'm a little bit new to European sizing as
well more accustomed to US shoe sizes, so being able to know your size and convert,
you know, that's important too. R: Yeah the same time I find even sometimes
within brands it can change depending on the last, right? P: Right. R: Yeah so it's all relative. It really helps if you know your shoe size
and one thing, so if you have any of the shoes that we cover here you can choose the other
pairs based on that sizing right and that's what always helps to know
what size we get in each shoe and how they fit so we can kind of gauge what would work
for us and what wouldn't. P: Right. I think the fit for these for me was generally
pretty good. Again being a loafer they were a little bit
on the looser side but definitely not to as great a degree as some of the other loafers. R: Any chafing for you there? P: No, no chafing, no problems with rubbing
on the bone, there's a little bit of heel slippage
but again with a little bit of a modification, maybe putting a tongue pad in and I'm assuming
I could totally alleviate that and they would fit just fine. R: Yeah, I mean the cool thing I got here
but woven leather is that you know it's actually woven so it's like little holes, it should
be more breathable which is nice in the summer. P: Right R: But then they put a full leather lining
in it which counteracts and if they had kind of thought about it and perforated it, it
would have been even better, I think. P: mm-hmm. R: Otherwise, yeah it's a more low profile
on the side. It's kind of sleek, like I have these other
shoes from them. They're like olive green tassel loafers and
they're also very slim and sleek and overall have held up really well over the years despite
the soles being so thin and the leather being soft. They still kept the structure of the look
so frankly, if I look at their classic dress shoe range, I'm not impressed. So for those I'd probably give them like three
and a half out of five stars. P: mm-hmm R: Just because I don't like the look that
much but for the loafers, all of their loafers I had, I think it's like four or four and
a quarter stars. I think they just are nice and what I would
want in like a summer elegant loafer that is comfortable. P: mm-hmm yeah I think this was a great shoe
option, certainly. The fit was not a hundred percent as I said
and there were some slight construction issues with the sole coming apart so gave these ultimately
a four out of five and there are not many issues I probably would have gone even higher
with these. P: Alright so next up is Velasca, I believe. Are they actually a Genuine Italian brand? R: Yeah. P: Are they German too? R: Yes, they are. They're an Italian brand, I think, founded
in Milan. Okay but then the shoes are made in like,
middle Italy, I think town of Marquette. It's like a city that makes a lot of shoes
and so most of the Italian-made shoes we review here probably all come from the same town,
it's just how they work, right? Oftentimes, you have that concentration of
silk industry in Como, wool fabric industry in Biella. It's just very funny how there's a strong
concentration where 150 families all choose to do the same
thing. P: So what was interesting about contacting
them is that they ended up sending us multiple pairs. In my case, I got two fairly different styles. This one here is a black single monk strap
shoe, on the box that I was given they called the model the Verduratt but I believe it's
marketed under a different name on their website now. I believe it goes under the name Garzon. R: Alright. P: So whatever the case may be that's this
model it's the black single monk and the other one, this is called the OST and it is as you
can see, a brown loafer style. R: Okay, it looks very soft there. P: Very soft, yes, I'll get into that in a
moment. R: the model Cavadent, first impression out
of a box, it felt like, pretty nice shoe for under $200 um yeah, leather seems nice and
soft. I think Italians are really good at having
softer shoes; like the British shoes are in general, all a little stiffer, right? Italians are just softer. P: Right. Yeah, my first impressions for each of these:
the single monk I thought, it was a nice, sort of understated dependable shoe; not too
flashy. This is actually the first monk strap shoe
in my collection. Black is definitely more a conservative color,
you know it's a very kind of conservative cut as well, so venturing into that world
of monk straps but taking a very small step with a conservative style. R: Got it. What kind of surprised me was that their styling
was more English or conservative. The last ones weren't as kind of refined. They were almost a little kind of boxy and
clunky in the toe, very round, very traditional. P: Yeah R: I was surprised by that because typically
when you think of Italian, they're a little more fashion-forward and those lasts were
not all like that. P: Right. R: Now with their suede, what I really like
is they made it waterproof, so suede can be hard to clean and then sometimes you have
to spray stuff on but it wears off. Here I think they put it in the tanning process
and on their website they're very like, detailed. They say it's a calf suede and they explain
that you can have different ways to make a suede; you can just turn it inside out or
you can kind of sand it, they didn't actually share which version it is for this one, which
kind of surprised me, but I can say it's very soft, it's waterproof, put it under the sink
and it just peels right off. P: I haven't tried any waterproofing tests
with this one but it was probably out of all the
shoes we were sent, the one that I was, I had the most sort of curious reaction to right
out of the box because as you alluded to earlier, it's very soft. It's got a very kind of flexible construction,
there's no reinforcement to the heel here, I frankly was not accustomed to. Ultimately, it seems to me like this is really
more of a, it's almost like a slipper with a hard sole. So in terms of fit for each of these, I thought
out of the two of them, the single monk fit better. It was not a perfect fit there was some, I
wouldn't go so far as to say, pinching, but there was some tightness in a few areas around
the shoe. That may just be that my feet are not really
accustomed to wearing monk straps so I might have to play with using the little sizing
buckle here if I need to, just to figure out what the ideal fit is. R: I mean, they also have slightly different
last so that can be the difference too, right? P: With these loafers, it may have something
to do with the fact that the heel here is so flexible but out of all the models we tried,
these were the loosest out of the bunch for me. R: What size did you have? P: For both of these, I had a 41 and a half
European sizing so it's interesting that these fit me better. Again, you know that's because they're a higher
style so they cover more of your foot but with these, as I say, these were definitely
the loosest out of any model we tried. I might almost want to size down to a 41 or
maybe even a 40 and a half, that's how loose they were. My heels almost pop right out of these if
I try to walk in them. R: So what size did you have in this Carroso? P: In those, I had a 41. So maybe sizing down to a 41 in these as well
would be beneficial, I think, again, I just followed the instructions
or the sizing guide on their website to determine what I needed but you know, when you're new
to a brand, it's probably going to be at least for your first pair a little bit of trial
and error if you're not sure exactly how the last is going to correspond to your foot. R: And that's how I think we can help you
understand what's the right size for you based on other shoes you've already had in the past. The shoes are comfortable because the upper
is very soft, the soles need a little bit of break-in but nothing major really, it's
still overall a comfortable shoe. Just like I said it's too roomy which is fine
for comfort but it's just gonna crease more. P: Right.Yeah I would definitely echo those
sentiments, the single monk sole will need some break in but I didn't even you know flexing
as much as I could while stepping didn't see a lot of creasing in the leather that may
increase a little bit as the sole breaks in, but who knows, I thought good first impressions
there and again with these, they're certainly comfortable enough but they're just so big
on you. R: Just too big a sizing thing. I mean, overall, you know we have a leather
heel right built up, there's not too much like, edge dressing or detail work. I think that the Meermin had more in that
regard to offer but this is also with under $200 shoes, so overall I think it's a good
value shoe. Alright yeah, I mean Loake is more English
than Italian. I'd say, Scarosso is the softest and then
maybe though is because the soles a little stiffer and then maybe Ace Marks the other
Italian, maybe even a little stiffer overall they're all relatively soft compared to English
shoes but I would rank them like that. Yeah, size 44 I'd give it a 4 out of 5 because
it's 195 you know, it's a very traditional style you can wear them a lot all of their
shoes are like that. They're evergreen shoes so when you're starting
out and you don't want to spend much money and you want a conservative style, I think
they're good. If you want a little more Italian styling,
maybe that the Scarosso is better. P: yeah I would say the same. In my case, I gave these single monks here
a 3 and a half just for some of those fit concerns, really more than
anything, yeah if I were to dial that fit in more these would probably go up to a four,
maybe even higher and these loafers here, again, I was just so taken by how flexible
this heel was, yeah and the fact that fit was so lacking, I went down as low as a three
out of five with these, could maybe go lower, but then again if they fit better, could
maybe go higher, too. So I settled on a three, ultimately. R: I should have probably just sent them back
and got a different size. P: Probably. P: So next up, we have shoes from Undandy. They're another brand that is kind of in this
direct-to-consumer type space and they're trying to differentiate themselves by doing
really it's sort of a fully customizable model. You go on to their website and you can build
a shoe from scratch. In my case what I did was, I was watching
a Fred Astaire film from the 1950s called Silk Stockings and in the first few scenes
of that film Astaire is wearing these kind of chocolate brown suede oxford shoes with
a cat toe and I really like the look of them. So I thought, why not try to kind of construct
those for myself? R: Yeah. P: So using their online builder, that's the
kind of shoe that I built. R: Yeah. I mean that's pretty cool and unheard of in
its price range. Usually this kind of made to order program
is something you see with more expensive brands. These shoes are like $195, so that's under
$200, fully customized. I don't think they stock anything, you just
go with their builder and it's pretty remarkable from that first glance. I chose a shoe, I designed one that I was
inspired by, I think I saw the model on their website, have an extensive selection and I
like the suede with the calf kind of contrast spectator look but it wasn't like an extreme
color difference. So for me, there was work kind of summery
shoes and I went with a kind of unfinished, uncolored sole leather which is very different
from yours. P: Right. Yeah, absolutely. They have a couple of different last options,
a few different styles. So the one I chose, they call it - the 31
Last. It's sort of more of a, you know, conservative
style with a smaller more rounded toe. R: Yeah, the style is, I mean it doesn't look
like a typical shoe from low-grade Edward Green or Crockett & Jones and yeah I was pretty
disappointed by their last, they were all either modern. So this was this Undandy 15 last and it's
quite chiseled in a way it's extreme with a suede, it kind of toned it down. But I was just surprised that the choices
of lasts we're just not very refined, in my mind like if you look at high-end brands like
Alfred Sargent or Edward Green, Ralph Lauren - they all have very kind of nice lines. These are more, I don't know, it looks more
like a less expensive shoe which it's pretty easy to change I think because it doesn't
cost any more once you have your design finalized so I was surprised by that. P: Yeah, I would agree. I think what I would say ultimately is out
of the last options they did have, I chose the one that I thought was the most conservative. R: Yeah. P: The 31 last as I say, was the roundest. Their next option, the 48, is a little bit
longer, a little bit more angular and then this here as you've chosen, the 15 last, as
you say is it's very long, very pointy, as you said kind of chiseled almost. R: Yeah, this suede is extremely soft and
supple. I noticed they were like two blemishes in
the leather that they didn't catch which I'm surprised why because if they make this shoe
individually, like you know, it's not like a mass production thing, they should probably
pay a little more attention to it. P: Yeah, you would think that the attention
to detail would be a little bit higher if the shoes are made almost individually. I didn't really have any issues with mine,
fortunately. I thought the construction was good that the
spacing of the stitching was fairly even, the only thing that I really noticed about
these that I was less than thrilled by, is that I did, one of the customizable options
that they have is to just add rubber to the bottom of the sole themselves rather than
having a cobbler do it . R: Yeah. P: But in doing this, the outside of the sole
where the rubber was added, did tend to kind of shed
or flake off a little bit there were some extra little trimmings that might not have
gotten taken off completely and you can also see around the stitching on
the sole here there's still little pieces of rubber that have also kind of hung on to. R: Got it. So could have cleaned out a little more. Overall, It's pretty not that big of a deal P: No, definitely not. R: on longevity. It's more like just cleaning up the shoe. Yeah, I got the leather sole because I like
leather soles and I have to say it's all extremely soft, it's like blake construction and one
of the few shoes that doesn't have any welt stitch, which looks kind of odd. Some more kind of clean, streamlined, modern
design. I got size 44 in the last and as I say it's
kind of funny because it's a long last, it's modern but there's not too much room in a
toe box. Because it's so
soft, it works but the front heel is very soft, the back is a little stronger but overall
because the leather is so soft, you can already after a few times of wear see those caps which
just don't look super flattering, it just looks like a more heavily worn shoe. I think if there was anything a little stiffer,
it would look a little better and hold up a little more. I mean the soft sole is certainly comfortable,
there's no break-in period but the heel is a little wide for me so being it a loafer,
it kind of slips a little bit but I could not size down to 43 and a half in those because
it would be too tight in my toe box. So, just that the last design is maybe not
ideal but on this kind of last, I wouldn't have thought this kind of shoe would have
looked any good. P: Right, I would agree. I think the way that I tried to style it more
traditionally that's why I went for the rounder last shape as well. Fit wise, I thought these were actually pretty
good for me but again that's because I can lace them up so they hug the foot a little
bit tighter R: Yeah. P: I haven't had any issues, as you say, the sole
is fairly flexible on these as well R: and yours is extremely thin P: Yes, right. R: It's like, I mean almost thinner than this
Scarosso ones.So that's pretty thin P: Yeah, I think so. They are fairly comfortable to wear as well. I chose to add which another one of their
customizable options, is that you can have insoles sent along with these. I've put them in, they are just I think kind
of cheaper foam insoles so for the time being they're going to provide some additional comfort
but I would assume that eventually, I'll have to swap those out
for the insoles that I put into most of my other shoes anyway. R: Yeah, I hate insoles so I never wear them
and I wouldn't put them in there. I mean they
send them it's nice that you have that option, right? If you know, you want that you're like that
cool, I don't care for them. Yeah, I think overall for the price, you can
find other shoes like Velasca, where maybe a little better in terms of the workmanship
but this shoe is really great. If you want something very specific that you
can find from any other brand, right? I wouldn't get my black oxfords from Undandy. P: Right. R: But if I wanted something very specific
that I couldn't get otherwise and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on it, I think
that's your best option. I think if they had maybe, better lasts that
would be huge and maybe like options for welt difference, maybe even a Goodyear option
or maybe a blake-rapid but where you could see the welt, I think that would be nice. Maybe the option to get slightly stiffer leathers,
I mean, then it would be filler. P: Yeah, I was ultimately fairly pleased with
these, I like the look of them overall. They came out the way that I wanted them to
at least which was the main thing. I did actually swap out the laces in these
for some Fort Belvedere laces which of course you can find in our shop, to match the stitching
color even more closely than the laces they themselves provided. R: Yeah. P: I think it is interesting. R: Which is nice because having that contrast
stitching is, I think nice because it adds that little something to the shoe and having
it was matching shorts it just kind of rounds it out. P: Yup, so ultimately, I was fairly satisfied
with these. I ranked them as high as a 4out of 5. But I agree if you want something that is
maybe in a bit of a different last style, that's where they're kind of limited in their
selection right now, so if they were to versified that a bit more, that could
maybe bring some ratings up in the future. R: Totally. Yeah, I would say, in terms of the quality,
it's more like 3 1/4 or 3 1/2, having that customizing option gets them up there P: Right R: But ultimately, you know, a shoe wear I
don't like the last, right? And it doesn't fit me 100%, I'm not gonna
wear it. P: Yup R: and so even though I can customize it all
day long, I'm just not gonna wear it, and there's lots of other brands that offer all
kinds of different shoes and colors and different things. So yeah, it's cool that you can offer that
at that price point, I think that's really fantastic but they just have some more way
to go and any other workmanship attention to detail, I can see like here, there's a
little bit cutting that hangs over and it didn't cut it all the way, there's a little
bit there. But at the end of the day, that's not a huge
thing. You can just cut it off and stitch that but
it all adds up, right? And kind of, yeah, lots of little paper cuts
can also hurt you. P: Yeah, so I think in this way, maybe what
we'd say ultimately with these is, because there are so many different factors your mileage
may vary. P: Okay, so next up is Meermin. This is another brand that's fairly popular
across the menswear space, I think I hear a lot of talk about this one. R: Absolutely. I mean they're good value and it was actually
founded by third and fourth generation shoemakers, right it's that Albaladejo family from Mallorca. I've been to their Carmina plant and they
have a long history; they make really high-end shoes that are more expensive and so just
the younger people in the family got together and said well with the globalization
let's actually go to China where labor costs are low, let's train people up so they can
make good shoes -- we know what we have to do in terms of last design so it looks good,
and overall their shoes look much more expensive than they are. I think that's a big thing. I mean, this model here is from their higher-end
line called Linea Maestro and I think it starts like 290 and goes up to maybe 320 so slightly
above 300 but it's so close that we still included them. Your shoe, how much was that? P: These were considerably less than that
line, These were about 175 dollars. R: exactly. P: over here
R: So huge, huge difference but both still very inexpensive and I think yours is a Goodyear
welted shoe. P: Right. R: This is unusual, this is a hand welted
shoe which is something you would never find in this price category. With a Goodyear welted shoe, you have like
a gem band that is glued onto the soleso the weld can hold; here it's actually worked out
of the sole the leather part and then hand stitched it's just it's unheard
of in this price category. It's something you get with a bespoke shoe
not with a 300 shoe. P: Pretty impressive. R: So that's that's pretty unusual and even
their lower price shoes you know, the 175 even they are Goodyear welted and stuffed
with some attention details. So first impressions, very high. P: Yeah, I would say the same. I thought when I took these out of the box
I thought the color was great; you know, a very deep, rich dark brown color. I liked the look of the last overall and the
length of the shoe and I also noticed too that they had kind of a longer and more pronounced
tongue than some other loafers do but because they've got this long profile overall, I think
that helped to kind of balance the look and I liked how it turned out. R: Got it. Yeah. I mean, in terms of the leather, they used
high-quality french calfskin leather and they're very transparent about what leather they use. The sole is a Johan Rendenbach sole which
is also high-quality; it's German material, very renowned in the shoe world on that note
though I went to the Allen Edmonds factory once and they were selling it for their higher-end
shoe lines and they said when they did some testings and compare it with their like, other
Mexican tan leather, the Mexican actually outperformed the German one. P: Really? R: But there's this quality perception of
Rendenbach being the best they put it in their cordovan shoes for example and stuff so I
thought it was funny that being said I mean Rendenbach is good leather, I've had it on
shoes it lasts for a very long time. I thought generally the suede feels nice,
it's not you know terribly rough. I think pretty good softness here, overall
and as far as more generally the construction is concerned, I thought the stitching was
generally pretty good there were maybe i could see one or two little ends of a thread here
and there but not a major deal by any means. Yeah I think they make their stuff in China
but then finish it in Spain, probably with different lines to varying degrees. There's not a whole lot written about it but
overall I mean, yeah nice leather. I think compared to all the Italian ones,
they're not as soft, right, it's more like an English sew in its stiffness. It's fairly flexible for that but it just
needs a little bit of break-in. R: What about workmanship? P: Well, as I say I thought generally, the
stitching was pretty good. There were a few things that I did notice,
for example, on the saddle here. There were some places were kind of the multiple
strips of leather didn't totally line up a hundred percent in the saddle here, there
were elements on the sole here where there might be kind of a rough edge at points too,
it wasn't totally smooth around the finishing. So yeah, Some of the finer points or the smaller
details were maybe not a hundred percent on these, but not deal breakers by any means. R: Yeah I mean in my shoes I think the workmanship
was very spot-on-- they used kind of you know, the irons, they waxed everything, you can
see that the stitch density is different like a clear sign of a hand welt, it's not like
a machine and then they also have like the little line of brass nails in the front like
hand hammered, hand nailed in, supposed to prevent the wear on the tip of your shoe which
they usually wear out first. All leather heel you know, built up one
by one with nails like the rubber edge. Stitching is very neat, I mean, there was
no broguing but overall this Linea Maestro which translates to like Masters Line is pretty
impressive like if I would not have seen the brand and not known it I would have not guessed
this was a 310 dollar shoe. P: mm-hmm R: I think for 37.50 extra you can get matching
shoe trees, which is a pretty nice option. I'd probably definitely get those, they'll
just send them to us. P: Right R: but definitely something I'd save the money
for. Color-wise otherwise, leathers' very nice. The other thing in the workmanship that I
think is particularly good with those is that they're hand-lasted which means the upper
you know is sewn and then it's put onto the last and then it's like a fix to the bottom
with nails by hand and that allows you to actually get it exactly where you want it
to be sometimes with a factory made shoe alignments you know it's just slightly off
so you can look at the seam in the back and compare it with the shoe and one is a little
off for example, compared to the other. On those on both lines even the classic line
they do that by hand, it just shows like the medallion is always going to be centered and
it's just a little detail that not many other factory shoes have. P: Right. R: Yeah so my last is called the Dani last. It's kind of a sleek class, it's a new last,
I think, in their master line. They have a lot of different lasts but you
can contact them and see if you have a wider foot or a narrow foot and what they recommend. It's size 10 and a half, which fits me
pretty well. I have room, it's not too much room, it's
very kind of comfortable to wear. Again, slightly stiffer shoe but with a little
bit of break-in it's gonna be I think a great, great companion. It has this kind of unique style where there's
no cap toe really in the Oxford, kind of that slightly rounded last - timeless, yet elegant. P: mine were a size seven and a half, That's
in UK sizing. It said they were on the Ron or R.O.N last. R: Yeah otherwise I mean I've walked with
them, burgundy's super versatile color, I mean, they're more classic. They also have more hand patinas that I think
are a little more expensive overall. I'm really impressed by the shoes. I think maybe they're a little stiff. If it was slightly less stiff it would be
a solid five out of five for me, that way it's maybe like four and three quarters just
very impressed that a shoe in this price range can be that good. P: and obviously I ended up with quite a few
medium brown suede loafers from this exercise so I'm glad that these are quite a bit darker,
kind of different in style, so they'll give me another different option to wear and pair
with my outfits. I thought they were fairly comfortable but
again given that they are a loafer there was a little bit of sliding with my foot nothing
that i don't think could be accommodated by a tongue pad so I'll
probably do that with these as well; and as I said because this is just the standard line
and not the higher-end line. There were a few little construction things
that were less than perfect so I put these at about a four out of five ultimately, I
think. R: Alright, next shoes are from Strange Island,
and as the name implies they're actually quite strange. I think we're only having them because a viewer
asked for us to put them in here. I think I can quickly run through it. It's a shoe that is like $260, is that right? P: I think that's right. Out of all the ones we tried with the exception
of your higher-end Meermin models, I think these were if not the most, some of the most
expensive ones we've looked at. R: At the same time you know,the first impression
when I look at it, I mean the leather color is nice, it's quite stiff but then with the
fabric it's a very loud shoe. It has these soft foam soles and stuff. You can't see any welt really and the workmanship
is not ideal and super clean so it just felt like a very pricey shoe considering we had
seen all the other shoes in that price range. Like this would probably be the last shoe
that I'll buy. P: Well first of all, it may have something
to do with how they're doing their marketing. I think these are marketed almost exclusively,
if not, exclusively through Instagram. I think that's how I was even able to find
their website in the first place. R: Yeah, I googled it, and I couldn't. I googled Strange Island shoe and nothing
came up like, what is that? P: Right. So I had to do some digging but once I went
to their website, looked at their shop page, saw some of their other offerings, this was
even the one with the more conservative styles to put that in perspective R: exactly, and it's pretty loud I mean P: I would definitely put these almost more
in the realm of a fashion brand more than a style brand. R: Exactly. And this is not exactly a classic menswear
dress shoe.I mean, construction wise -- it's oblique,it's some leather, I don't know how
good it really is. They're made in Italy, right. The last is kind of elongated and kind of
weird, there's no welt, the uppers is very close to the edge of it. Because of these super red shoelaces you know,
super bright, makes you stand out like a colorful dog, I mean you put in some other ones. P: That's right. These are some grey laces again, from Fort
Belvedere. I picked these out because I thought they
would harmonize well with the kind of color pallet of these herringbone fabric, so now
that I've done that, I think that immediately takes the boldness of the shoe down a notch
to something that could at least be, theoretically wearable. With that red laces it's definitely bolder. R: Maybe with the grey suit in the fall, you
know, you can pull it off once but it's very hard to combine shoe unless you want to stand
out and it's $260 I mean, if I want something like that I'd probably go to Undandy and customize
something that bold, would run you probably less than those. So I won't get much wear out of those and
yeah, not a classic dress shoe. P:Right. R: So my rate honestly, is like 1 out of 5
because I just won't wear it. P: Right. I think I was just a bit more generous but
I didn't really rank these much higher than like, a 2 1/2 out of 5 which is still a C
grade ultimately. So take that for what it's worth. R: Okay last but not least, we have a brand
called Ace Marks. If you followed our channel, we've mentioned
them before. We've worked with them together on our videos
so I actually have like 10 pairs of those so and I've had them over a little while so
I've had a chance to test them out. I think they're adding some other stuff now,
this is kind of their classic line and its retail price is $299. They often the Kickstarters and that's how
they started and at that point they're like under 200. My slogan was always, "Are these the best
shoes in the world?" Absolutely not, but at under $200 they were
a good value. Very similar to the kind of Velasca or Scarosso
right, made in Italy, same kind of I mean you look inside the shoe it looks very similar;
it has that kind of suede part in the back that's supposed to keep the heel in. I think what they do well like first impression
is always that their patinas are nice. It's like they add some handwork to it and
just like Undandy who offered these really elaborate patinas, you can also get that from
Ace Marks. Leather's calf, I think the shoe that they
sent you was a little different, right? P: Yes. You'll notice that I don't actually have one
here today I do have one pair of Ace Marks shoes but the one that they had sent me when
we coordinated was it was a hand-painted model, it was a Wholecut Oxford, sort of one of their
higher-end ranges and I believe the price point for that was $425. R: Got it. P: So outside of the price range we're working
with here today which is why I don't have it with me but some of the
other similar wholecuts that are not hand-painted retail for closer to what's in this range,
I think about $325. R: Yeah and we'll cover that in another video
but overall, leather quality it's like it's box calf, it has a nice patina, I'm pretty
sure it's Italian leather because that's what they do, it has kind of a
shiny finish and because of that, sometimes it can seem like it crackles a little more
than other leathers do but I don't think it's because of an inferior leather quality it
has kind of a medium between softness and stiffness, stiffer than like the Velasca leather
and Scarosso, but definitely softer than like the Meermin or some English leathers like
Loake, I'd say. They have some colorful models that I don't
care for that much. They have some classic styles and if you compare
to the Scarosso or Velasca, it's a much more Italian style. I look at this shoe and I immediately think
that's an Italian style. It's slightly more elongated, it's still round,
the last fits me very well personally, so it's always a plus right, if it fits your
foot very well. There's not too much room but I have enough. This is Blake Rapid, they now also have more
expensive ones which Goodyear welted, workmanship is decent, the broguing is, you know, in the
middle, there's nothing off, the medallion is on there,
nothing to really complain about, I think. Yeah, I've warned them they're holding up
now it's just the pricing right, I mean if you get them at a kickstarter price you'll
have to wait for them. It's similar to like Beckett Simonon right,
where you you have that part in there where they don't
have to pre-finance it and stock itI think then they're really a good deal. That being said though looking at Velasca
for example, I think they're very comparable, very similar, but Velasca stocks them so you
don't have to wait. That is pretty neat, the styling is very different,
if you like traditional styling I think the Velasca is better, if you like a more Italian
style I think this is better. They're very similar to
Scarosso in a way and Scarosso is also priced like 250 to 300 and the patina overall isn't
as exciting but Ace Marks doesn't have the woven
leather for example, so it just depends on what you want. P: right R: and what you can find. P: yeah I will say that in my case the pair
of Ace Mark shoes that I do have, I really, I was very impressed with them. The comfort was great right out of the box,
they fit me perfectly, so I guess we're similarly lucky in that their lasts are good for our
feet, but I had no fit issues with the pair that I do have. They, as I said, their hand-painted, they
had a more extreme patina, it was really more than an oxblood, it was almost kind of a red
color that darkened toward the toe and when I first got them. My first impressions are that they were too
bold,and that I probably wouldn't wear them but since then, I've actually worn them four
or five times already with different outfits. They've paired very well with some red and
blue shadow striped socks from Fort Belvedere, for example, R: nice P: I've gotten several compliments actually,
on that pair of shoes, they've been very well received by people. R: I mean they stand out in a way and I think
something they really focus on is like that it's soft and it doesn't require any breaking
time. So like my father-in-law has arthritis and
he got a pair and he liked them because they were just out of the box wearable. Now, I mean we had the others here, right? Scarosso, also
I think they are pretty much comparable.Velasca, sole slightly thicker so I'd say at like full
price 299 I'd rate him more like a three and a half probably especially compared to the
Meermin I think at $300 there is nothing that beats the Meermin or comes even close. Ace Marks it doesn't also, if they're less
expensive you get them for 200. I think they're on par with the Velasca and
then I would say Velasca got four out of five then it just comes down to styling and personal
preference. P: Yeah. my pair again, not really in this price range
so it might not be a totally fair comparison but I like those enough that I would give
them a four out of five. If I were to get something more in this price
range who knows what my ranking would be but overall I was impressed with the pair of Ace
Marks that I got. I hope you found this video helpful. We certainly spent a lot of time, you know,
wearing the shoes, testing them, figuring out the differences, and the same things,
and overall I mean my winner of this whole test was Meermin. I definitely want to check out their classic
line now simply because I want to see how they stack up against these Linea Maestro,
but yeah super impressed and I would say like there's that
Meermin Linea Maestro, then there's nothing for a little while, and then come all the
others but it all depends on your budget, right? If you just have $200 and you maybe want three
pairs of shoes, that's $600 versus maybe $900. I understand that you go that way. If you have any time to save up a little bit,
maybe that's the right way and not really that the styling comes into like the colors,
if you want something more unusual, Meermin is probably not the right company for that. They're mostly like black, brown, maybe have
a little bit of green here and there, but they're more the kind of evergreen cellars,
classic lasts, and styles...so what about you? What was your favorite shoot? P: I was also very impressed by Meerman. I think the Scarosso models out of the ones
I have here today might have actually taken the cake for me. I think that might be my favorite but yeah
Meermin was very good. Again, I happened to maybe get lucky with
my Undandy models. I was impressed by them as well and as I said
I liked Ace Marks but the ones I got were a little bit outside of this price range so
might not be a totally fair comparison. R: yeah and it all depends on what you want
too, right? If you want cool loafers maybe Scarosso is
a good brand. If you want Oxfords or Derbys or something,
maybe you go with Meermin or you can check out Ace Marks or other shoes but I hope it
helped you. Give us a thumbs up and please share your
feedback in the comments on how we can improve, what we can do better. P: If you like the conversational format,
that's great. We'll try to do more of these and if you want
to see more distinctly brand centric content like we did here today, let us know about
that, too. R: absolutely P: we'll see what we can put in the pipeline R:Awesome. Cheers!
