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

[serbarristan]

I’m not certain it is actually Dainite. If it is, I would guess they worked with Dainite to stamp it as Carmina. That said, my jumpers with this sole don’t feel like other Dainite shoes I have had - the Carmina version is less stiff and a little bouncier. No idea who actually makes it, but I prefer it to the Dainite I’ve had on AEs.

FWIW, I went York on both of my recent Calways.

Yea I always figured it was a clone, just strange they called it by the true brand name. Guessing that's why they no longer can haha. I've been wanting to check out the Victoria recently.

 

[Paul902]

Fantastic reply, thank you. I've only tried Dainite and Silver before, so I'm curious about the York. I wanted to try it on some Norwegian stitch toe bluchers that can be used in all kinds of weather (except snow).

I have York sole on my Soller jumpers. Quite like it. I have worn them in the dry and in the rain, but not the salt/winter.

 

[flylikeneagle]

Does Carmina still have sponsor agreement with SF? Just they don’t seem to participate or reply to messages now...

Profile says affiliate vendor, but they haven't been on SF in months. Unless they're lurking? My understanding is SF affiliate membership fee is quite expensive, so it's surprising Carmina isn't maximizing its investment in the platform

 

[serbarristan]

Profile says affiliate vendor, but they haven't been on SF in months. Unless they're lurking? My understanding is SF affiliate membership fee is quite expensive, so it's surprising Carmina is not maximizing its investment in the platform




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I do get served a ton of banner ads for them on here.

 

[Patrick1053]

Profile says affiliate vendor, but they haven't been on SF in months. Unless they're lurking? My understanding is SF affiliate membership fee is quite expensive, so it's surprising Carmina is not maximizing its investment in the platform




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Maybe their way of dodging all the quality control issues posted here is to go full Ostrich.

 

[zaiten]

Hello gents,
I’ve been marking my eyes on balmoral cordovan for long time and I’m thinking of the ones on the current GMTO with bourbon color.
My question is regarding the sole. I wanted to change JR soles with another soles for maintenance issues due to the location I’m currently in which doesn’t have a decent cobbler for any future repairs. Which elegant type of soles do you suggest. I’m thinking of Tomir or York.
and if using rubber soles do I need to add a metal toe?
Thanks in advance

 

[Patrick1053]

Hello gents,
I’ve been marking my eyes on balmoral cordovan for long time and I’m thinking of the ones on the current GMTO with bourbon color.
My question is regarding the sole. I wanted to change JR soles with another soles for maintenance issues due to the location I’m currently in which doesn’t have a decent cobbler for any future repairs. Which elegant type of soles do you suggest. I’m thinking of Tomir or York.
and if using rubber soles do I need to add a metal toe?
Thanks in advance

Well, you probably won't be able to change soles via Carmina, unless you did an MTO instead of the GMTO. You could wait til there is an MTO event. If you really want to order now, then you could just add a rubber topy instead of getting a brand new pair resoled.

Also, If your only concern is durability, then the JR sole is good. Unless you plan to get it wet often, the JR sole with a toe plate lasts a long time.

In regard to the toe plate, some people add it to their rubber soles and some don't. It basically comes down to if you wear the toe down significantly faster than the fest of the sole or not. So that varies from person to person.

 

[stook1]

Hello gents,
I’ve been marking my eyes on balmoral cordovan for long time and I’m thinking of the ones on the current GMTO with bourbon color.
My question is regarding the sole. I wanted to change JR soles with another soles for maintenance issues due to the location I’m currently in which doesn’t have a decent cobbler for any future repairs. Which elegant type of soles do you suggest. I’m thinking of Tomir or York.
and if using rubber soles do I need to add a metal toe?
Thanks in advance

I don't have the tomir sole but it is probably a better fit aesthetically for a balmoral boot than york (although york isn't a bad option either). I think if you go with the tomir sole you might consider the toe plates since the rubber outsole is fairly thin. The york sole is very hard wearing and you probably would not require plates unless you tend to put a huge amount of wear on the toe.

 

[zaiten]

Well, you probably won't be able to change soles via Carmina, unless you did an MTO instead of the GMTO. You could wait til there is an MTO event. If you really want to order now, then you could just add a rubber topy instead of getting a brand new pair resoled.

Also, If your only concern is durability, then the JR sole is good. Unless you plan to get it wet often, the JR sole with a toe plate lasts a long time.

In regard to the toe plate, some people add it to their rubber soles and some don't. It basically comes down to if you wear the toe down significantly faster than the fest of the sole or not. So that varies from person to person.

I contacted carmina regarding changing soles and they responded that they can. Just need to add this remark in the special request box.
thanks for your advice.

 

[zaiten]

I don't have the tomir sole but it is probably a better fit aesthetically for a balmoral boot than york (although york isn't a bad option either). I think if you go with the tomir sole you might consider the toe plates since the rubber outsole is fairly thin. The york sole is very hard wearing and you probably would not require plates unless you tend to put a huge amount of wear on the toe.

You are right regarding toe plate with tomir and that’s why I asked about toe plate with rubber sole.
So I think I’ll need to add it to Tomir then.
thanks

 

[Blastwice]

Profile says affiliate vendor, but they haven't been on SF in months. Unless they're lurking? My understanding is SF affiliate membership fee is quite expensive, so it's surprising Carmina isn't maximizing its investment in the platform




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Well there's not really a lot to say when we're in the thread constantly ******** on their customer service, QA, and other things.

Back in Nov. there were some unique hides and MTO opportunities and Carmina was interacting with us then. Now there are not, so they don't have much to say. While they could certainly announce the current MTOs with burgundy hatchgrain here, I would also expect everyone watching and participating in this thread to already be aware of it anyway, so such an announcement here would likely just drive people out of the woodwork looking for resolutions to their specific complaints, especially with nothing else going on.

 

[Crafty Cumbrian]

You are right regarding toe plate with tomir and that’s why I asked about toe plate with rubber sole.
So I think I’ll need to add it to Tomir then.
thanks

Personally I’d not add it unless you’re insanely hard on toes. I add toe plates to leather soles but to anything rubber the rest of the sole will wear at a pretty much equivalent rate I’d think? Personal choice of course but aesthetically I’d think it’d look odd.

 

[zaiten]

Personally I’d not add it unless you’re insanely hard on toes. I add toe plates to leather soles but to anything rubber the rest of the sole will wear at a pretty much equivalent rate I’d think? Personal choice of course but aesthetically I’d think it’d look odd.

Makes sense ? specially I’m not that hard on toes and just want it as a precautionary measure against thinning the thickness of sole at front.
I believe I have to think more about it.

 

[flylikeneagle]

Well there's not really a lot to say when we're in the thread constantly ******** on their customer service, QA, and other things.

Back in Nov. there were some unique hides and MTO opportunities and Carmina was interacting with us then. Now there are not, so they don't have much to say. While they could certainly announce the current MTOs with burgundy hatchgrain here, I would also expect everyone watching and participating in this thread to already be aware of it anyway, so such an announcement here would likely just drive people out of the woodwork looking for resolutions to their specific complaints, especially with nothing else going on.

Can't disagree with anything you've stated. Hopefully active membership status means Carmina hasn't abandoned SF. Almost all of my Carminas are from SF GMTOs and I plan on participating in the future.

 

[stephenaf2003]

Well there's not really a lot to say when we're in the thread constantly ******** on their customer service, QA, and other things.

Back in Nov. there were some unique hides and MTO opportunities and Carmina was interacting with us then. Now there are not, so they don't have much to say. While they could certainly announce the current MTOs with burgundy hatchgrain here, I would also expect everyone watching and participating in this thread to already be aware of it anyway, so such an announcement here would likely just drive people out of the woodwork looking for resolutions to their specific complaints, especially with nothing else going on.

I’m sure they wouldn’t say it, but for a certain group of styfo members...