Are STACY ADAMS shoes good or poor quality?

They seem to wear very easily.

Originally Posted by Cas Ruffin

Click to expand...

They seem to wear very easily.


What wears easily? Do you mean the Botany 500 spectators or do you mean the SA spectators? Do you mean they wear comfortably or do you mean they wear out easily?

So, I received the Stacy Adams black and white spectators today.

http://canada.zappos.com/n/p/dp/232223/c/61337.html


Here's the low-down:


Fit:

I ordered size 8M and the fit, in general, is about right. It's just a tad too narrow in width and a tad too long in length. If the width was only 1/2 inch wider and the length 1/2 inch shorter, then the fit would be perfect. Overall, the fit is about right.


Style/General Appearance:

Overall, the physical appearance is very spiffy and classy. That's about all I can really say. (What more is there to say, really?)


Quality/Workmanship/Materials:

According to the information stamped inside the shoe, the uppers are leather while the insole and outsole are all man-made materials. The country of manufacture is India (what else is new?) The heel lifts are a very heavy-duty rubber and they look like they can take a licking and still keep on ticking (sorry, Timex!). The outsole, at first glance, look like leather but upon closer inspection are definitely a synthetic heavy duty rubber (or something like that); overall, it looks like the outsole is quite durable. The laces were far too short for the shoe (as far as I'm concerned) so I will have to replace them with longer laces--no big deal. Overall, I know this is not the greatest quality shoe ever (what else did I expect for $81 USD?) but it looks like, overall, that it's a decent shoe for the price I paid. The final price, including shipping, import duties, taxes, and currency conversion, was approximately $132 CAD.

Other comments:

Overall, I think I'm going to keep these shoes. For the price I paid, I don't think I have much to lose. I won't be wearing these shoes any more than about 1 or 2 times a week and I intend to wear them mostly during the summer months, not fall/winter.

Congratulations on your spectators
It's all about having fun, so enjoy,
and if you find the soles are wearing too fast,
you can always have some TOPY's put on.
I'll be wearing my old ones too this summer for sure.

My gripe with Stacy Adams shoes, is their quality control. They let too many flawed shoes through their screening. Granted, they are not expensive, but if you are going to advertise them as looking a certain way, then they should look right when you get them. Personally, I think many of their discounters are selling seconds, that are known by the company to have flaws. I had to reorder a pair of the JAYMES style 4 times before I got one where the main design stitching on the toe wasn't all crooked. I just recently ordered a pair of ARMENTOs that arrived with lighter colored streaks in the dye on some parts of the left shoe. Its like "Is it really that hard to get all this right? Its just a shoe, not a computer!" They don't seem to get that they might profit more by enriching their reputation with higher standards.

So in other words DisgracyAdams, you didn't learn and repeated your mistake 5 times.
Welcome to Styleforum. Stick around. Lurk and Learn some skills here and you'll never go back to that brand again. You may want to heed the advice of the late Nexus6 who recommends exploring Allen Edmonds factory seconds as a step up. (link here http://www.styleforum.net/t/120104/are-stacy-adams-shoes-good-or-poor-quality#post_2088345)

Man Of Lint said:

So in other words DisgracyAdams, you didn't learn and repeated your mistake 5 times.
Welcome to Styleforum. Stick around. Lurk and Learn some skills here and you'll never go back to that brand again. You may want to heed the advice of the late Nexus6 who recommends exploring Allen Edmonds factory seconds as a step up. (link here http://www.styleforum.net/t/120104/are-stacy-adams-shoes-good-or-poor-quality#post_2088345)

Click to expand...

Is he really dead or are you making fun of his "BANNED" status?



VinnyMac said:

Is he really dead or are you making fun of his "BANNED" status?

Click to expand...

I was making light of his SF member status. I am sure he is alive and well somewhere.

I can't see Stacy Adams as shoes that "suck" as one ellaborative connesueir of habadashire proclaimed in a previous posting. The Vintage shoes they made and that you can still find online have the most flattering slim lines, are lightweight and offer nice polishable finishes. If you know how to shine a shoe, you will thoroughly appreciate the results you get. Their Grey Label Spectator series from the 1990s is my favorite offering of theirs. They make some Spectator Shoes with instead of leather soles-synthetic cupsole construction, if the finish on them is of their subtle pebbled textured grain I jump on them. Leather soles have the highest quality look and feel. You can remove the synthetic sole and put a nicer feeling better looking leather sole on.Rubber cupsoles are stiff, not only do they look cheap- they don't flex right when you walk so they crease your shoe, make you walk like you have a stick up your butt and make a slapping sound when you walk on a sidewalk or tiled floor etc. So: Gently peel the synthetic sole directly from the shoe and go directly to a shoe repair place, those heavy synthetic soles are only glued onto the base of the shoe.Don't sweat it, the interior of the bottom of the shoe won't come apart. Now,it costs a little over a hundred dollars for a heel,welt and new leather sole but ask for a 3/4 inch tall heel, the shoe repair shop will order what is called a welt which is the black zigzag rim that borders the shoe on top of the sole, ask to get a THIN not thick leather sole applied. Even todays most expensive Italian shoes don't capture those Vintage Stacy Adams shapes right. Today's Spectator shoe styles are either long and darted like cockroach killers or bulky with ugly wide square toeboxes. Just get yourself some Vintage Stacy Adams, either in new condition or slightly used because they are becoming harder to find. Again, I'm referring to 2 tone Stacy Adams spectator shoes. The model of the black and white shoe pictured on top of this thread is called the Stacy Adams 'Auburn. (Post #22) It does come with the leather sole, it has a dynamite shape too, the currently produced selling Stacy adams spectators have lost that classic Italian silhouette and either have fake reptile prints on them or are trying to look contempary with a silly shape. Stacy Adams biggest mistake was discontinuing their Stacy Adams Black and White Auburn shoe and their captoe Trofeo shoe. It was their staple, they have since forsaken their identity. Also nice is their Vintage '90s Spectator Captoe called Stacy Adams 'Trofeo, that one is a beautiful 2 tone brown and white or black and white captoe with the holes punched in the contrasting heels and toes to show the white leather with the playful insusiance you have been trying to capture in a lightweight spectator shoe with the classic silhouette and no fake animal print on it. Here's why the also gorgeous Brown and white or black and white Stacy Adams Trofeo Captoe shoe will be a little more expensive than the Black and White Stacy Adams Auburn shoe.. The captoe Trofeo comes with the synthetic sole that you should peel off directly from the shoe so you can get a thin leather sole applied to it instead from a repair place. Its worth it. Most brands of Spectator shoes won't have the right contrasting pop, interior feel or look to them. Ive tried Alfred Sargents and Loakes both made in England, they weighed a ton and were clunky to walk in. They also make your feet look big, Stacy Adams Vintage Spectator shoes are cut slim with nicer lines, up until the 1990s Stacy Adams used to understand something magical and slim about the way they made their shoes. Slick, italian, classic or any of the other masterful projections you get from the 1990s Stacy Adams that seem to still be floating around online. It isn't a comparison,were talking about cuts, sihouette, a leather that takes a unique shine. Lower heels, the larger heel like the ones ones on Allen Edmonds Broadstreets go to a cowboy boot and that's what most of the other spectator shoes will come with. Even if you try to get a shorter heel put on, you would miss out on everything else Vintage Stacy Adams did if you went with another brand. This forum is asking if Stacy Adams are they cheap shoes, I would say in recent times they have completely dropped the ball. The goal is to find some 1990s or earlier made spectator shoes from them like the one (Stacy Adams Auburn) pictured above. They are unbeatable. See Robert Sean Leonard's Stacy Adams in the movie Swing Kids, those are those 1990s Stacy Adams Trofeo captoes I've been talking about. See? Cheap? Wish we could zoom in on those, then again, do like I did, get them. Mine are getting leather soles put on them. Took me 21 years to find them. When I was 14 and I saw that movie I wanted those shoes since that day. Here's another 1990s Stacy Adams Shoe on sale for $14.95 on Terapeak.com,they have the cheap rubber cupsoles. Some Vintage Stacy Adams do have nice flat synthetic soles. Cupsole here. Like a tray/bowl with raised edges and the shoe glued down inside of it. To clean the white leather on these, lightly moisten a paper towel and put a dot of liquid dish soap on the moistened paper towel. Wipe the white leather and dry the residue with a cloth towel. Are you feeling this? Here is a Vintage Mezlan shoe called Mezlan Tulun, I'm posting Brown and white again because they are harder to find than Black and White shoes seem to be. They have those cheesy rubber cupsoles I mentioned that you can just peel off with your hands and replace with a leather sole Stacy Adams Auburn in Bone - also discontinued by them Here are the Vintage 1990s Stacy Adams Auburn Shoes on the left as seen in the #22 post in multiple photos but also a Vintage Stacy Adams Santos Loafer. Superior in materials and dimension to ANY modern spectator shoes. Though these are in good condition, I would buy em again in a heartbeat. Preferably the Santos loafer (Size 13) in that one. How funny is the title of this thread? "Are Stacy Adams cheap?" Ha Ha Ha! No way Any wool or silk suit or just wool slacks and a dress shirt you wear with Vintage Stacy Adams Spectator shoes is complimented by people who point and stare at them.As for saying you'll look like a Street Pimp, you'll look more like classic a jazz daddy with an aristocratic vibe if youre rockin' these. Street pimps of today wear MJ's. A "gangster" of today is a pants sagging, sideways baseball cap wearing fake limp strutting, unshaven self proclaimed hip hop celebrity. Stacy Adams haven't been seen in that light since before the Superfly daze of the 1970s. To the guy who returned the ones he ordered, if he didn't order Vintage Stacys, he's not gonna be missing out. These are from the mid to late 1990s, I don't know the model name. These were the first Stacy Adams Spectator Shoes I got, in 10th grade. A shoe from 1996 that has been resoled, I wouldn't deem as "cheap"- Can you shine a shoe? If so they'll last. These ones do have leather soles, they don't have any detailed holes punched into the leather upper. Saw the Joker wearing these in a 60s episode of Batman with Adam West. Holes punched in the toe would be called a medallion,the larger holes tooled along the edges on the uppers would be called brouguing.

Allen Edmonds Broad Street Spectators are heavy and oafy, not light like a Vintage Stacy. Allen Edmonds and Alfred Sargent and Loakes are NOT at all stylin'like the Vintage Stacys are. Look at the placement of the vamp (which is the point on the toe where the Allen Edmonds Broad Street shoe meets the white instep), Allen Edmonds Broadstreets look weak/preppy. The English made Spectator Shoes bulge on the widest part of the shoe at the sides of the instep, making your shoe look larger. Stacy Adams cut back and lay inward at that side part of the middle of the shoe making it look streamlined. Expounding physically on that widest part of a shoe to play it up as large like that up must be an English Flintstone foot fetish. You want your spectator shoes to have some flash. You want that Old Time swing vibe. Another company that makes good vintage Spectator Shoes and Captoe shoes is Mezlan. Their new stuff isn't classic, just like the current line of Stacy Adams they are currently producing and currently selling ugly Spectator shoes far from what you're looking for. Gotta find the Vintage ones. Ferragamo Vintage Spectator Shoes are nice too. Of course Stacy Adams are priced the best, and more iconic. People don't ask, are those shoes Mezlans? ` Theyll ask, "Are those Stacy Adams?"



GuidoWongolini said:

But can I wear them with a RLBL suit?

Click to expand...

Whenever I wear my Stacy Adams Spectator shoes, I get compliments from people of all ages. There is nothing finer in my opinion. Exotic skins I feel are somewhat vulgar looking. There really isn't a more neutral but eye catching accompaniment to what you'll wear. Wearing tan or grey wool with them looks very sophisticated in either the brown and white or black and white Spectator Shoe. Whether you wear them with a suit or slacks with a dress shirt and thin* 60s sharkskin tie, you'll feel very well composed.

SuitMyself said:

I have a pair of Stacey Adams Spectators in Black & White.
I think the original intention for the shoes I have, was for ballroom dancing,
but I could be wrong.
True, they are of a lightweight construction, I mean the leathers are thinner all around.
They probably would not last long at all for day-to-day pavement pounding, unless you have some TOPY's put on the soles.

I recently asked about what to wear with black & white spectators in another thread here:
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=116958
Member Mark From Plano gave an excellent link on that thread.


I encourage you to browse through the threads,
because the same questions get asked over & over again.
The overall consensus on SF will be to try to maximize your dollar to get the best quality shoes for the budget.

This might mean buying second-hand, or purchasing a higher quality brand (example Allen Edmonds, Alden, etc) in, what are called 'seconds',
or shoes that are new, but may have a blemish that explains lower pricing.

As for my own Stacey Adams Spectators,
I have had them for 7 months and only this summer season will I wear them occasionaly just for some fun, and only on weekends for me.
Because all the leathers are very thin, the shoes are ultra-light, and the soles are thin too.
Yes, they will be comfortable, and as long as they are not worn too often, they'll last awhile.

I will state for the record that my used pair were purchased at a thrift store for $15 (CDN)
I have never seen a pair like them before or since buying mine,
so I consider it a rare find where I live.

Can you give us a link to the exact pair you bought?
It would be interesting to see what you chose.

Hey, don't worry about your purchase,
enjoy! but as you go, you may be inclined to buy higher brands in the future as your knowledge of all this grows.
Best of luck


Here is the link to the pair I bought grind and seal dallas:




I was also thinking of buying this other pair from a different online store:

Click to expand...

I never set out to own a pair of Stacy Adams kicks, let alone two, but two pair is what I have, thanks to the local Value Village (a chain of mega thrift stores). The first is a pair of black patent leather formal shoes, bought for $6.99 going on a year ago now, and which I have worn only with my tuxedo. (At this rate of wear, they'll easily outlast me.) The other is a pair of gray cap toes I bought last week for $9.99. These are in never-worn condition. Brand spankin' new. I'm no shoe maven, but even I can sense that these shoes are second-rate at best. They look nice enough (from a few feet away), if a tad on the flashy side, although not nearly so flashy as some of the Stacy Adams offerings I've seen online. But I doubt they'd hold up to the rigors of regular use. This is not a dig at the brand. There's a place for what the company offers, just as there's a place for, say, Bailey hats. They ain't exactly the good stuff, but they ain't bad for what they cost. And I've seen some Stacy Adams styles (spectators in particular) would might well appeal to the guys who hang out in this joint.

For whatever it's worth, I have had 2 pairs of Stacy Adams for over a decade. They've held up fine. I have enough shoes that I don't wear the same pair every day. Adding a Vibram sole saver made a big difference. These need some care. I'm lazy. The fit is good. My feet are comfortable. The "kidskin" is not good leather. I paid $71, which was a lot of money over a decade ago. In today's dollars, I would not pay $150 full retail price for these shoes. Nor would I spend $100 to resole them. It would not be worth it.

And here is what The InterWeb says: