Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Good: When you get a good pair these are the most comfortable (once broken in) dress shoes I have ever worn. They almost meet that mythical "as comfortable as your favorite tennis shoes" level. I wore my first pair every day to work for three months and they were fantastic. Insanely comfortable. Very supportive. Showed minimal wear and tear. They actually became my go-to shoes for everything since they were so comfortable. They work with jeans, khakis, dress pants, etc... They where fantastic until they literally failed catastrophically. First the rubber on the sole developed a gash right where the shoe flexes. This wasn't too bad and I continued to wear them until the arch itself gave way and I had gashes in the sides of the shoe as well. I'm accustom to shoes lasting years. Not months. I was admittedly hard on them (on my feet 8+ hours a day walking, standing, bending, pushing, pulling, climbing, kneeling, etc..) and I'm a big guy (250+) so I figured 3 months of bliss for $50 was well worth it. The Bad: So I ordered 2 new pairs. Another pair of the Black as well as the Cordovan color. Unfortunately the metal eyelet covers on the Black pair literally came off the shoes the very first time I went to lace them up. Thankfully I went to amazon and had no problems whatsoever returning and ultimately replacing the shoes. As for the Cordovan style shoes.... they are OK but they show wear and tear much worse than the Black versions. After only a couple days they looked like I had them for months. The Ugly: Having the caravan versions working well I really didn't have a "need" for the black pair. So when the replacement arrived I put the shoes to the side (figuring the defect on my last pair was a one time thing) and essentially forgot about them. Then I had a need for black dress shoes so I took them out and went to lace them up. Guess what? The same eyelet problem occurred and several came out on both shoes. Sadly I was 2 days past the allowed time for RETURNS when this happened. I take full responsibility for being lazy so I have been wearing them without the proper eyelet protection for the past week or so. So far the laces haven't sliced through the leather although I fear its only a matter of time before they do. This black pair is also showing MUCH more wear and tear than my original pair did. There's a distinct discoloration and slight imprint on the tips of the new pair. I gave these a 2 star rating. I would give them 5 stars if they were more reliable but there seems to be some serious quality control issues. I think I will buy them again but only from a retail store where I can literally lace them up and see if this defect is present.