R: The first pair is Beckett Simonon. We both got a pair of shoes and they're
listed as a retail price of $199.
P: Right. R: It's kind of interesting. It's a bit of like
peasant 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. P: Right. R: So in my book, the real
price of those shoes is $199. So the model I chose was a Durant which is a cap toe
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: Backstory on mine: I've gotten a pair of shoes from them years
back in a size 10. It was also the model Durant and 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 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, the look, everything has changed to virtually new
shoe even though that the style is 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 did you think when
you got the shoe right out of the box? P: Right. Well, my first impressions here
were that I liked the shape of it. I liked the last that they had put on you
know fairly conservative shape -- kind of old-school, you know. It's got the R: round
toe exactly nothing extreme P: right, so that was nice
but I did notice that there was actually a good deal of color variants
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 and the right one, the left one
almost looks like a cap toe at one color and the upper was lighter, it was almost
like a two-tone spectator and the right one wasn't that way, P: weird. R: 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: Okay. 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 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 but you can see what's behind the V. P: Right. R: 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, but the other way around you have to get some alcohol. That's a
little more tricky and whenever buying a new shoe out of the box they should be
the same color. 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 a full-grain calfskin, is at
least what they advertised so yeah, R: Argentinian, P: right.
R: I mean frankly, the terminology full-grain I mean I've seen the cheapest
Chinese belts advertised this full grain calf leather right so it's hard to kind
of use that as a standard because it's not protected,
but just for the feel of it, I think it's a somewhat soft leather yeah right I
mean I noticed my, the one on the Dean that I got second is softer than on the
first pair, P: interesting. R: so obviously there's some variances there. P: Right.
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 catch but they didn't. P: right.
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 sit back and wait for a new one but they're
probably not gonna have a new one, because they only make him on order and
stuff so 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. R: True and I mean at the same time
They knew we would review those shoes, right? They knew, we told them what we're
gonna do so was just surprised that they would send something like that to us.
P: Right. So as far as 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 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 payer 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 you know Blake construction is 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, you know it was a very kind of inconsistent
and wasn't like in a center, so that I thought was a little kind of, off. P: Sure.
R: and originally, in the shoes that were made in Portugal that was 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, P: right. R: they're
just using local shoemakers and stuff but maybe something was lost there in
transition 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 right, I mean it's different spacing and
here just like it wobbled small right, you know, 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' toe box. I noticed it's quite a bit higher than before, so for my
foot it's always a little too roomy, P: I see. R: and the the problem with it
being too roomy is that you'll likely get creases over time between your cap
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 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. Heel's a little wide for me so I have to, yeah
have them tight worn entirely. Overall, I think the leather is maybe it's
softer than some other brands, kind of middle -- it's not really soft, it's not
really super hard, maybe like medium stiff I'd described is as that. 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've 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, P: Right, yeah. R: Just
on an ongoing basis.. P: Right. R:and because of that, you get it at a lower price $199. I
think looking at all the shoes you can buy at $199 is a pretty good
price for the kind of leather and it's a
classic looking shoe, it's a lot better than you know, Johnston Murphy, Cole Haan, Florsheim
and all these brands right I mean, it's better than that, P: yeah, anything
that you would really get at the under $100 level, it's certainly better
than something in that range I think for yeah right around $199for what you're
getting I think it's a decent value, overall. R: 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 four out of five stars, maybe even four.
If they would've been perfect but without a lack of attention to detail,
the different colors, I'd really just think it's more like of a 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, yeah I mean, maybe I need it for a wedding or something
then I want the shoe now and they just wait forever. P: 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: yeah and obviously
you know, we're different people so we value things differently so we just want
to show you like what our experience was. We tested them independently and then
compared our notes right just so we give you a little more insight.