Quality Leather Dress Shoes UNDER $100 [0:00:00]
[Sound effect] So, the question is, can a man get quality dress shoes for less than
a 100 bucks? Now, if you would have asked me this question
five years ago, I would have said, absolutely not. Fast forward to the present, gents, I
have to say there are some pretty good options out there now for less than a hundred bucks.
That being said, there’s still a lot of overpriced crap. So, how do you spot quality
in shoes under a 100 bucks? What are the specific things to look for and can I recommend any
brands? Well, gents, that’s the subject of today’s
video. [Music]
So, to get things started, let’s define quality. For this video, I’m going to define
quality shoes as shoes when you wear them, they make you feel like a million bucks. They’re
incredibly comfortable, they just feel good right out the box.
These are also shoes, when you wear them, you can wear the wide variety of your clothing
because they’re classically styled. The great thing about classic style is it isn’t
going anywhere. So, when you get a classic pair of dress shoes,
you know that they’re going to work with your suits, with your odd jackets, your sports
jackets, your blazers. You can even dress them down with a pair of jeans, but these
are not going to be shoes that are going to go out of style in ten years.
Now, specifically here, I’m going to pay attention to the uppers, to the leather being
used on the upper part of the shoe. I’m going to want to make sure this is something
that over time is going to look better as you shine it as you polish it. If you take
good care of these shoes, they should last you five years.
Now, notice what I didn’t say, shoes using a Goodyear welt or a Blake stitch. I know,
usually I say that as a great sign of quality, and it is. But, you have to expect to pay
at least $200 or more for a pair of shoes that use a Blake stitch, $300 or more for
Goodyear welt because it’s expensive to build the shoes. I’m talking about today
are going to use a cement, basically a gluing process.
There’s nothing wrong with getting good pair of shoes that have a well-developed upper
and are glued together and that’s going to save you a lot of money.
Now, speaking of saving your money, the shoes in today’s video, under a 100 bucks are
brought to you by Scarpazzo, the sponsor of today's video.
So, Scarpazzo, which is a combination of two words scarpa and pazzo, which means shoe crazy,
they approached me earlier this year and say, “Antonio, we've got some amazing shoes under
100 bucks.” I'm like, “Okay. Send them to me and I will test them.”
And that's exactly what they did. They sent me a pair. I've been wearing them and I have
to say I absolutely love them. So, my favorite part about these shoes, they're
comfortable right out the box. I put these things on, wore them didn't get any blisters
any hot spots. I absolutely love the fit. Now, the shoes are made in Italy and they're
using a full grain leather on the upper. And when i look at the upper, actually, I didn't
find any blemishes. So, they did a great job choosing the leather and overall, it's just
got a really nice supple feel. What I love about this is over time you polish
it you take care of these, these are going to look better as the years go on. Now, when
I look at the inside of the shoe, they did a good job with the construction here as well.
What I really like is they've got another layer of thin leather on the inside. This
is important because it's going to absorb sweat. I see a lot of cheaper shoes skip over
this and, again, just using a great material, the laces are nice and overall, the style
is solid. This is a classic style, a cap toe that's
going to work with all of you – basically, your nice clothing. You can dress this down.
And this color right here, this would be great for a pair of odd trousers great flannels
with a sports jacket. I could also wear jeans with this. If I were
to go with black, then that's going to be great for a suit. Maybe go for that darker
brown over there, that's going to be great. Maybe you want to wear some gray flannels
again or maybe even some jeans with a sports jacket.
Now, as I said, this pair right here, I have been wearing, it molded to my feet. What I
love about it, it was just comfortable. And that's not going to happen with all dress
shoes. To me, that's a testament they're using a good last.
And, I'll give you a little bit of insight about this company. So, they're just starting
up. They've only got three colors in one style. But, they can probably come out with more.
Point being is this is a classic style. This is a company that's making a high quality
shoe. Now, I could say that or I could actually really show you.
So, here's the deal. I've bought cheap shoes made a polyester, made of plastic on Amazon
before. They smell bad, they look bad. And, when you cut them open, on the inside it is
bad. Seriously, just look at this thing. So, Scarpazzo, I really wanted to see the
inside of these shoes. They're claiming they're high quality. Let me see it. So, I took one
for the team, ordered another pair on Amazon. I paid for these with my own money. Had these
delivered, and guess what? I cut them in half. [Sound effect]
Yes, you want to see it? Check this out. All right, gents, you ready? Oh, wait! Got to
take the laces out. FYI, anytime you're going to cut a pair of shoes in half with a band
saw, make sure you take those laces out. You don't want them to get caught up in the blade.
[Sound effect] There we go. All right, boys, let's do this.
[Sound effect] Ah! I wonder if I hit a piece of metal or
something. That is not cutting through, which is a good sign.
[0:05:00] Obviously, gents, we just need a little bit
more horsepower. [Sound effect] Just kidding, gents, I need my safety gear first.
So, what I'm going to do is start at the back of the shoe and hopefully I do not lose any
fingers. [Sound effect] All right. So, as you can see, I had to get
a bit creative with cutting up this shoe, but I can see what I want to see. The details
here I’m seeing in the heel, this is on shoes that, yeah, I've cut other high quality
shoes in half, and this is a sign of $300, $400, $500 shoes.
Now, how much of these cost them? I'm not sure exactly because when I go in there and
look at the details, they're using metal tacks. These guys are not making much money on the
shoes. I think their tactic is to break into the
market. Basically, put out a high quality item that other people can be like, “Wow!
This is like a no-brainer. This is easily a great starter shoe.”
Yes, you're not getting a Goodyear welt, you're not getting a Blake stitch, but you are getting
amazing quality upper and just an overall solid build. The rubber that they're using
right here in the sole, very different from cheaper rubber I've seen on other shoes. And,
again, I will tell you with 100% certainty, this is an amazing deal, so jump on it.
Gents, I'm linking the Scarpazzo down in the description of today's video with the best
deal you're going to find out there on the web.
And, really quick, gents, here in a month, I'm going to have to pull this part out of
the video because that discount code down there is not going to be around forever. Amazon
sets it up so it's only good for 30 days. So, use it or lose it, guys. I’m linking
to them over on Amazon. Again, they've got one style in three different
colors. And, again, guys, I'd go grab multiple ones. Find the size that you like. They follow
the Brannock system, so it's very easy to find your right size. You can get them through
Amazon, so you can return them if you get the wrong size.
But, guys, go take advantage. I haven't seen a company come out with something like this
for a long time, so I'm happy to bring it to you. And it's a great sponsor, great company,
so go check them out. Now, guys, if you're enjoying this video,
I would appreciate if you would smash that like button and feed the algorithm, that way
more men like you find these videos. And, if you're new to Real Men Real Style, well,
welcome. I'd love for you to subscribe and join our community.
Now, when you're looking to buy shoes under 100 bucks and, yes, these are cut in half.
You want to be careful of the warning signs. One of the first ones that I notice is look
at the styles. Now, I've got tons of infographics out there
that I talk about the different styles of dress shoes, but if it's not a classic style,
it seems like some designer wanted to take his own interpretation and he's putting that
out there for 75 bucks on Amazon, you can bet that he spent maybe $8 on the total build
of that shoe, And that in this case, he's using like a rubber
petroleum type of product. I mean, it's just really, yeah, the style right here these details,
this is I mean, it's cool I guess if you want to wear a costume. And if you're buying shoes
for costume purposes, fine. But, I still think you're going to be overpaying
because you can get such better quality. I mean, these are, yeah, worth less than 10
bucks. Wear them once for Halloween. That's really what these are for.
Patent leather. This is another thing a lot of people think, oh, I'm going to get patent
leather because I never have to polish it. Here's the thing. Patent leather, high quality?
Yes, you could go with that. And maybe in military circles, it's fine.
But I would say for the average guy, don't go with patent leather. It never looks good.
It never looks high quality. And you're going to be better served to get a black dress shoe
that you just spend a little bit of time shining and polishing.
Another warning sign is when a company doesn't use leather. And, I know I've seen many leather
alternatives. I get it if you're just anti-leather, but for the majority of people out there,
leather is still going to be the luxury standard. It is going to cost more and that's one of
the reasons that most manufacturers avoid leather. They simply want to go for something
that's going to bring down the cost. So, not only are they building something with shoddy
construction, but they're also using a material that's not going to breathe, that isn't going
to absorb any moisture. And when it doesn't absorb moisture, your
feet sweat throughout the day, all of a sudden it's going to start to smell. It's going to
start to break up the actual composition. They're also going to use on the inside very
cheap glues, cheap construction, cheap materials. I mean, if they're not using leather up here
on the upper, then you can bet that they're not using any good type of material throughout
the whole construction of the shoe. Now, this next point's a little bit harder
to show and illustrate, but you want to pay attention to the density of the rubber being
used in the sole. So, I'll tell you with Scarpazzo, one thing I loved about it is not only was
the thickness of the sole about double on the cheaper shoes, but I could tell they were
using a higher density material. So, low density materials, they're going to
be lighter, but the issue with them is that they're going to break down. They're going
to tear. Basically, you're going to cut through this sole a lot quicker. You could have nails
go this. They're just not going to be as durable, they're also a lot cheaper.
Higher density soles, not only are these going to be tougher, they're going to last longer
and they're going to protect your feet. Now, this next trick to spot quality, I don't
think anyone ever talks about, and that is look at the heel. Is the heel look like it's
one solid piece? If it is, that's not a good thing especially if that one solid piece is
made of rubber. As I've shown you when I've cut through this,
it's not solid rubber on the inside. They actually have these big open cavities that,
yeah, some designer somewhere thought that would be great. You know, oh, he's bringing
in the whole, you know, air cushion thing. No, it doesn't work that way especially on
dress shoes. [0:10:05]
Instead, what you want to look for in quality dress shoes is they've built the heel with
layers. So you want to go through and say, okay, how many can I count? One, two, three,
four. That is a great thing. And as I show you when I cut these shoes open,
what did I immediately notice? They were using layers, they were using different materials.
They were even using tacks on these shoes under 100 bucks, which I thought was pretty
awesome. Here's a closer view right here. Do you see
the nail? Another detail you want to pay attention to
is going to be the stitching. So, first up, you want to look is the stitching going to
be straight. Believe it or not, you see a lot of shoes that people are saying, oh, that's
great quality. Then, you look at the stitching, it's all over the place.
Oftentimes it's only got maybe like five to six stitches per inch, which is a bad thing.
You want to get more like 10 to 12 stitches per inch on your shoes. You also want to go
through, did they double stitch? That is oftentimes a good thing especially when it's really close.
And, just follow the lines. Look at all the small details. I love looking at those small
details seeing it how did they connect that upper to the -- the sole. I know that this
is going to be glued, but is there any glue that's outstanding that kind of came out?
When I look at the way that the cap is attached to the upper part of the shoe here in the
front, the stitching, again, is going to go straight across. Just the overall finishing
the -- everything looks good there. That's the type of detail that you want to pay attention
to. Now, for a lot of guys, the question is going
to be, “Antonio, I still want the option to resole. Can you actually resole glued shoes?”
And the answer is it depends. Now, opening this up and looking on the inside
here, the amount of the upper that goes underneath here, I would say I think that a good cobbler
could probably resole these a couple times. But, the thing with like Goodyear-welted shoes
and Blake-stitched is that you should be able to, you know, resole those dozens of times,
if that's your thing. I would say for this, yeah, this is a great bet. Again, look and
pay attention to the upper. That's going to be the most important thing that you've got
a good leather, that you like it's a style that you're going to be able to wear.
And, when it comes down to it, guys, you want to think, okay, how many hundreds of wears
am I going to be able to get out of this? It's going to end up being 50 cents, 25 cents
a single wear. And that's how I really value things. It's
not how much it costs, it's how many times you're going to wear it, how's it going to
make you feel. And, really, that's what you want to be paying attention to.
All right, gents, so I know you got an opinion. I want to hear from you down in the comments.
Agree? Disagree? Do you think you can get quality dress shoes for under 100 bucks? Did
I make a good case for it or do you feel, no, Antonio, I'm always going to get Goodyear-welted,
I’m always going to get Blake-stitched? Let me know down in the comments what you
think. So, what video to watch next? Well, let’s
talk about black dress shoes and jeans. Do you think this is a good combination? Yes?
No? Find out what my opinion is here in the video. I give a little bit of guidance. I
do well. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Go check out this video. I have fun with Venn
diagrams and let me know if you agree disagree, but go check out the video right here.
[0:12:51] End of audio