Carmina Shoes - Definitive Thread (reviews, advice, sizing, etc...) - official thread.

[officine]

You mentioned that you have nothing else to do now I’m just suggesting you can make some post on reddit and Instagram to share that’s all. I never mentioned anything about stealing your photos etc jeez

You are getting me wrong. I'm not accusing you of anything. Just wanting to understand what you were suggesting.

I don't mind doing so on this site. Not an Instagram or Reddit user. Will try and do it in phases this week. Should have thought to do it as I was working on them. But as mentioned, I've got the time!

Cheers

 

[Betelgeuse]

So, some entries for the Shoe Shine Marathon.

 

[ashellfan]

You are getting me wrong. I'm not accusing you of anything. Just wanting to understand what you were suggesting.

I don't mind doing so on this site. Not an Instagram or Reddit user. Will try and do it in phases this week. Should have thought to do it as I was working on them. But as mentioned, I've got the time!

Cheers

Ok cool ! Looking forward to the epic posts ?

 

[DL120]

I received my last order few days ago :
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I definitely love their brown Karangrein !

However, I was confused about their heel finition :
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?

I already bought the exact same model (Oxford 80105) and the heel was not the same @Carmina :
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Left : 80105 Forest Brown Karangrein
Right : 80105 Robert Brown Vegano

Apologies this may be late to the conversation and a decision may have already been made. That said, that’s definitely a pattern issue as others have mentioned. The inner seam not so much as the placement of the heel counter stitch. It appears it was cut (clicked) properly, but when sewn to the upper it was placed too low.

doubt it has any impact functionally speaking, but it’s an aesthetic issue which will carry with the life of the shoe.

the seam, this appears to be an issue as well based on the pattern from the other pair you have in the same mod. Some makers intentionally overlap the heelto create a clean heel cut and Place the seam on the inner back quarter. But again, based on the photos of the same mod in another material, this doesn’t appear to be intentional, but a poor placement of the pattern when it was stitched and cut.

the only possibility I can think of to repeatedly cause this is if they use template pattern cuts for multiple sizes.Example, they use the same size pattern pieces for uk8-10, and then stitch them and last them to size. Causing excess leather to be wrapped around the heel on smaller sizes of that range. But I don’t recall hearing anything about carmina doing this.

best of luck!

 

[Rodolphe]

Purchased from the Madrid store in 2015. At the time I didn’t consider it to be odd. But now that I have many pairs it does seem weird.

In the store...damn it. However, it's not the classical design...
That does not weaken the assembly, but it is not very aesthetic...
I will send them an email to have some informations about it.

 

[Rodolphe]

Apologies this may be late to the conversation and a decision may have already been made. That said, that’s definitely a pattern issue as others have mentioned. The inner seam not so much as the placement of the heel counter stitch. It appears it was cut (clicked) properly, but when sewn to the upper it was placed too low.

doubt it has any impact functionally speaking, but it’s an aesthetic issue which will carry with the life of the shoe.

the seam, this appears to be an issue as well based on the pattern from the other pair you have in the same mod. Some makers intentionally overlap the heelto create a clean heel cut and Place the seam on the inner back quarter. But again, based on the photos of the same mod in another material, this doesn’t appear to be intentional, but a poor placement of the pattern when it was stitched and cut.

the only possibility I can think of to repeatedly cause this is if they use template pattern cuts for multiple sizes.Example, they use the same size pattern pieces for uk8-10, and then stitch them and last them to size. Causing excess leather to be wrapped around the heel on smaller sizes of that range. But I don’t recall hearing anything about carmina doing this.

best of luck!

Maybe it is the reason.
First, I thought that it was because of the last. They don't have model patterns for every lasts, so they have to adjust the patterns during assembly. I thought that the heel was higher on Forest last than Robert's one. But it's not the case :


Robert (that was perfectly assembled for my vegano 80105 11UK) is very close to Forest (the karangrein 80105 11UK), so it does not seem to be the reason...

 

[Proleet]

So, some entries for the Shoe Shine Marathon.

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what color are the top ones? Is that burgundy vegano?

 

[JoeRogan]

Hey all - lots of conversation in the last couple of days about various Carmina last fits. I have posted my thoughts on this before, but can't find a comprehensive post of my own experience. I think in pictures, so I made some below.

For reference, I'm an 11D US, with narrow heels, low volume overall, and need a decent amount of room in the toebox. I own a lot of Carmina shoes, covering at least 7 lasts; typically I'm 10UK in Carmina, but style and last make a big difference. The comparisons below all assume the same size for comparison.
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The last is my attempt to group lasts by "families" of size. I wouldn't be shocked if someone wore the same size in Simpson and Oscar, or Oscar and Soller, but Simpson to Soller is a pretty big leap. Yellow boxes represent near neighbors in size, while blue boxes represent the likely range for most (but not as close as the yellow boxes).
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Feel free to critique/correct. I limited the the lasts I thought I could talk to from experience. Of note, I don't own anything in Rain but have tried it on enough to know that it likely doesn't work for me, and why.

The chart is nice but according to Carmina Oscar is higher instep than Llubi, and so is Rain, although the toebox is lower on Rain. Soller is also significantly longer than Llubi, and Rain is slightly longer than Llubi as well. I would always refer to the Carmina last comparisons first to get an idea of the actual dimensions of one last vs another.

 

[JoeRogan]

Maybe it is the reason.
First, I thought that it was because of the last. They don't have model patterns for every lasts, so they have to adjust the patterns during assembly. I thought that the heel was higher on Forest last than Robert's one. But it's not the case :
View attachment 1363359

Robert (that was perfectly assembled for my vegano 80105 11UK) is very close to Forest (the karangrein 80105 11UK), so it does not seem to be the reason...

That's so sloppy, and can't be corrected. They need to take those back.

 

[Justsole]

So, some entries for the Shoe Shine Marathon.

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What model/last is that first pair? Very classy

 

[Betelgeuse]

what color are the top ones? Is that burgundy vegano?

What model/last is that first pair? Very classy

Thanks guys! If I'm not mistaken, it's the 80201 Rain last and the color is what Carmina calls "Burdeos", the cream from Saphir that goes perfect with it is the Mahagony.

 

[Rodolphe]

That's so sloppy, and can't be corrected. They need to take those back.

I will see it with them...

 

[Rodolphe]

Does someone already ordered Wholecut with Forest last ?
I am maybe interested to order one pair...

 

[Betelgeuse]

Full strap penny loafers today

 

[jet-stream]

The chart is nice but according to Carmina Oscar is higher instep than Llubi, and so is Rain, although the toebox is lower on Rain. Soller is also significantly longer than Llubi, and Rain is slightly longer than Llubi as well. I would always refer to the Carmina last comparisons first to get an idea of the actual dimensions of one last vs another.

Regarding length: I didn't address it in my charts; I don't think length is critically important for fit unless it's way off, or unless it is a last so long it causes toe drag. In my experience most Carmina lasts are true to length, but I do agree Soller is long.

Regarding referring to the Carmina last comparisons, you are referring to the 2-dimensional outlines posted here on SF, correct? I think they are a very valuable source of info, but 2-dimensional drawings don't always represent 3-dimensional fit well. I think the best example of this is to compare the last outlines for Simpson and Rain. They fit very differently, but if you only judged based on the outlines you would think they fit nearly identical to one another.

In my experience, Oscar is lower instep than Rain. Oscar is also lower-volume than Llubi, though that's based on trying Llubi on a couple times, but with similar models (open-laced boots). This doesn't necessarily have to contradict the line drawings: an instep that is physically lower can still have more room if the waist of the shoe has more volume. I suppose my verbiage could be more clear: "highest" really means "highest volume." I'll update the post accordingly.