ProfilaBinding
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2016
- Messages
- 7,476
- Reaction score
- 30,928
It’s not a bad looking shoe; it’s built on the 511, which is a nicely shaped last. I think what hurts the Wilbert is that padded rib around the collar: it makes them look kinda early 00’s “biz-casual-comfort”, which is kinda what they are. A lot of shoes had that padded collar thing going on and now it looks somewhat dated; aesthetically, it’s kind of a vestigial marker as to when they were designed. If they eliminated that element, it’d be a nice basic split-toe blucher.
I wonder, does that padded collar thing have any real comfort advantage?
That's exactly it. If they removed that padded rib thing the shoe becomes more like the Lasalle. My wife doesn't like the padding either. Does it really make a difference? I think it helps keep the heel locked in. The shoes are super comfortable, so that padding probably plays into it. The leather on the Wilbert in my experience can handle all kinds of abuse. I scratched them up with doing house repairs a while back and I thought I had ruined them. I was amazed at how well they bounced back after applying a little Bick 4 on them -- they were like brand new again.