Crockett & Jones Audley: Is this a defect?

[sidneybeaumont]

I’ve bought a pair of new C&J Audley at a third party online store and noticed some rough scratches on the welt at the side as well as some imperfections on the welt at the toe cap. The support staff say it’s not a defect. However I haven’t seen this with the two other pairs I bought directly from C&J so I wonder if the store might be selling seconds at full price.

Would appreciate your opinion on whether this is a defect or not. Thanks!

 

[JFWR]

No. This is incredibly picky.

 

[Noblekostas]

It is not.

 

[te0o]

Not a defect but it's the level of (somewhat poor) finishing you can expect with C&J and others at that price point.

 

[othertravel]

Not a defect but it's the level of (somewhat poor) finishing you can expect with C&J and others at that price point.

For a handgrade model I’d expect much better finishing.

 

[JFWR]

Your complaint is a microscopic defect on the welt which does nothing to even affect aesthetics. Like, I cannot imagine someone seeing this and being in any sense upset.

You guys need to chill the f out. If you want perfection, go talk to Jesus Christ.

 

[othertravel]

Here we go again…

It’s a minor defect, and not the end of the world.

But one of the selling points for HG is top-shelf finishing. If he bought them at full price he may have a case to make.

 

[sidneybeaumont]

Thanks for your responses so far. I agree the irregularity at the toe cap is very minor. However the roughened up welt at the side is about 5cm (2 inches) and the leather is exfoliating. It does affect the aesthetics. The store has agreed to refund me so I will probably return them.

 

[sidneybeaumont]

But one of the selling points for HG is top-shelf finishing.

My thoughts exactly. I have two pairs from the main collection and they appear to have better finishing.

Since I haven’t got much experience with HG I was unsure whether my doubts are legitimate or I’m just nitpicking.

Good to see people here at least disagree about it so I don’t feel like a complete arse. Thanks again.

 

[E. coli]

FYI- the pictures on the website of the Audley and it's welt is not exactly an example of top shelf or better finishing. https://us.crockettandjones.com/products/audley-black-calf

 

[florent]

That's very common with some C&J models because they use a fudge wheel with a different SPI than the actual stitching, which creates kind of a mess with the welt.