Thunder: not sure if it's the lighting but the leather looks inferior to other shoes that you have. the last looks pretty sweet though.
with the pricing so similar to Carminas, would be good if you could compare both!
If you are referring to the Markowski - here is my opinion / review
First of all lets talk about the buying experience
I was on the hunt for a pair of plain toe, medium / lighter brown pair of derbies with not too many eyelets and a nice looking last, and I didnt really want to overspend on it. This pair had actually caught my eye after looking at their website and they did not seem crazy expensive.
I saw that this pair was categorised under "Prince Jorge" and initially I had assumed this was a higher end line of Markwoski given the pricing, and also the fact that the appear on the same damn website. But in fact, this is not the case. Prince Jorge is a standlone "sister brand" of Markowski I think. I refer to this pair as markowski for convenience sake.
I had to email markowski with my foot measurements and size recommendation. They replied only after 2 weeks with some descriptions of the last shape and a recommendation of sizing (my true size).
Quality of shoe
First of all, the box was not packed very nicely. No buffering of the dead space in the box, so the shoes were moving around quite a bit. Second of all, the shoes were not stuffed and there was no plastic strut inserted to keep the shoe's shape.
The leathers, as you rightly pointed out, is noticeably of poorer quality than Carmina calf. Finishing is decent and seams and insoles, welt areas are reasonably clean.
The soles use open channeled stitching, which to me, is absolutely ****ing unacceptable at this price point.
Next, the color is completely off compared to what was shown on the website. This is closer to cognac in real life.
The pros of this purchase is that I definitely like the last shape, and the overall design of the shoe is aesthetically pleasing. This last runs a little long, so it allows for a more aggressive taper at the toebox area.
Delivery was fairly prompt, and this purchase did not incur GST even though SGD it came to about $450.
Overall, I would say I would have rather not bought this pair of shoes, and I would rather have used the money to get another pair of carminas, even though i've bought 10 pairs of them within the past 2 months.
Well thats my 2 cents worth
