Gallery:
(Xpost Reddit Goodyearwelt)
Introduction: Evan at Paul Evans recently asked me, among others, to review a pair of their shoes. I've had my eye on their Newman Chukkas in oxblood for a while, so I picked those. I've also been meaning to review my Jose Real chukkas and since they're very similar hand-painted Italian Blake chukkas, I thought it would make sense to review them side by side.
Jose Real is an odd brand, with a more fashion forward sensibility. The company is Spanish, the shoes Italian. Their shoes retail for $385 and up, but can be found online on Bluefly, Touch of Modern and elsewhere for half that. They have a very limited collection on their e-commerce site at the moment and probably won't have boots until fall.
Paul Evans is a newer e-commerce only shoe company. They sell Blake shoes made in Italy in a wide variety of sizes and colors, all $399 except for one pair of Margom style sneakers. They claim their $399 shoes are comparable to $995+ retail shoes. For some reason, they insist on labeling all their shoes a size smaller than they actually are.
Now, on to the shoes:
Looks:
I have over 40 pairs of high quality new and vintage shoes, mostly Goodyear welt, but none of them ever got as many compliments as the Jose Real chukkas until I wore these Paul Evans chukkas today. Five co-workers and a homeless guy all commented on these things today. These are both fine looking shoes - the hand painted leather makes them look much more expensive than they are.
Fit:
I wear a size 11 in nearly all dress shoes, although my right foot is really a 10.5 with a high instep. Labeled size 10, the Paul Evans are a tight fit for width, but very long. They feel like a 12 C. So long, in fact, that the crease behind the toe puff hits me right in the toes in my shorter foot. I've had this problem with a handful of other shoes, but it's rare. It's not terrible and I hope it will go away. I had to put these on with a shoe horn, but once I wore them for a while they went from feeling narrow to simply snug and supportive. I don't think I could have sized down any more though as there are no wide widths available.
Labeled size 44, the Jose Real boots measure a little longer inside and out than the Paul Evans, but fit is similar. I don't have the issue with the toe puff crease, but the are definitely long.
Like most Italian shoes, both pairs have a nice snug heel and a roomier toe compared to English and American ones.
Winner - Tie, both are long and narrow. The Real 44 are bigger.
Construction:
Both of these shoes are Blake construction, although the Real ones have a faux Norvegese welt. I'm usually against faux welts, but these are quite fetching.
The Real shoes have tight semi-open channel stitching visible on the sole. The Evans ones show the exact same style of stitching online, but the shoes I got have a fully closed channel with no stitching visible.
The Real soles have the company's signature blue rubber insert. The Evans are all leather, but with brass nails at the toe and heel. I don't know if the toe nails will help with longevity (certainly not as well as metal taps would) but they're pretty. The all leather sole in the Evans has excellent traction for leather.
Inside, the Reals have a lightly padded half leather liner over the insole so you can see those Blake stitches in the toe and forefoot. The Evans have a full insole liner with a thin but resilient layer of foam (probably Poron or similar) so I guess you're taking their word that there's stitching under there.
Quality:
Both shoes are off similar quality. They both use a very fine hand-painted crust calf. The Evans I got have some loose grain on the inside ankle and a couple spots the painters either missed or went a bit heavy on. However, the quality of the sole and heel on the Evans win out.
Comfort:
If not for the (hopefully temporary) toe crease issue with the Evans, they would win on comfort hands down. The thin layer of foam on the insole is effective cushioning and the heels are incredibly shock-absorbing for stacked leather.
Verdict: Both shoes have strengths and weaknesses, but are remarkably similar overall. The ability to find the Reals on clearance makes it hard to recommend the Evans at full price, but then again if you just want to be able to order what you want when you want it, the extensive variety of more traditional styles and colors at Paul Evans is tough to beat. I love both of these shoes and they have really made me reconsider Blake construction.
(Xpost Reddit Goodyearwelt)
Introduction: Evan at Paul Evans recently asked me, among others, to review a pair of their shoes. I've had my eye on their Newman Chukkas in oxblood for a while, so I picked those. I've also been meaning to review my Jose Real chukkas and since they're very similar hand-painted Italian Blake chukkas, I thought it would make sense to review them side by side.
Jose Real is an odd brand, with a more fashion forward sensibility. The company is Spanish, the shoes Italian. Their shoes retail for $385 and up, but can be found online on Bluefly, Touch of Modern and elsewhere for half that. They have a very limited collection on their e-commerce site at the moment and probably won't have boots until fall.
Paul Evans is a newer e-commerce only shoe company. They sell Blake shoes made in Italy in a wide variety of sizes and colors, all $399 except for one pair of Margom style sneakers. They claim their $399 shoes are comparable to $995+ retail shoes. For some reason, they insist on labeling all their shoes a size smaller than they actually are.
Now, on to the shoes:
Looks:
I have over 40 pairs of high quality new and vintage shoes, mostly Goodyear welt, but none of them ever got as many compliments as the Jose Real chukkas until I wore these Paul Evans chukkas today. Five co-workers and a homeless guy all commented on these things today. These are both fine looking shoes - the hand painted leather makes them look much more expensive than they are.
Fit:
I wear a size 11 in nearly all dress shoes, although my right foot is really a 10.5 with a high instep. Labeled size 10, the Paul Evans are a tight fit for width, but very long. They feel like a 12 C. So long, in fact, that the crease behind the toe puff hits me right in the toes in my shorter foot. I've had this problem with a handful of other shoes, but it's rare. It's not terrible and I hope it will go away. I had to put these on with a shoe horn, but once I wore them for a while they went from feeling narrow to simply snug and supportive. I don't think I could have sized down any more though as there are no wide widths available.
Labeled size 44, the Jose Real boots measure a little longer inside and out than the Paul Evans, but fit is similar. I don't have the issue with the toe puff crease, but the are definitely long.
Like most Italian shoes, both pairs have a nice snug heel and a roomier toe compared to English and American ones.
Winner - Tie, both are long and narrow. The Real 44 are bigger.
Construction:
Both of these shoes are Blake construction, although the Real ones have a faux Norvegese welt. I'm usually against faux welts, but these are quite fetching.
The Real shoes have tight semi-open channel stitching visible on the sole. The Evans ones show the exact same style of stitching online, but the shoes I got have a fully closed channel with no stitching visible.
The Real soles have the company's signature blue rubber insert. The Evans are all leather, but with brass nails at the toe and heel. I don't know if the toe nails will help with longevity (certainly not as well as metal taps would) but they're pretty. The all leather sole in the Evans has excellent traction for leather.
Inside, the Reals have a lightly padded half leather liner over the insole so you can see those Blake stitches in the toe and forefoot. The Evans have a full insole liner with a thin but resilient layer of foam (probably Poron or similar) so I guess you're taking their word that there's stitching under there.
Quality:
Both shoes are off similar quality. They both use a very fine hand-painted crust calf. The Evans I got have some loose grain on the inside ankle and a couple spots the painters either missed or went a bit heavy on. However, the quality of the sole and heel on the Evans win out.
Comfort:
If not for the (hopefully temporary) toe crease issue with the Evans, they would win on comfort hands down. The thin layer of foam on the insole is effective cushioning and the heels are incredibly shock-absorbing for stacked leather.
Verdict: Both shoes have strengths and weaknesses, but are remarkably similar overall. The ability to find the Reals on clearance makes it hard to recommend the Evans at full price, but then again if you just want to be able to order what you want when you want it, the extensive variety of more traditional styles and colors at Paul Evans is tough to beat. I love both of these shoes and they have really made me reconsider Blake construction.
