Current Cole Haan Shoe Construction

[Patek14]

Disclaimer: My intent of this thread isn't to start a cole haan bashing session or trigger a bunch of "buy english goodyear welted shoes" responses. I own a variety of shoes, some very poorly made and some reasonably well made (but not meeting SF elite shoe standards)

I own 2 cole haan leather soled dress shoes (fairly recently manufactured, owned for only 1.5 to 1 years, made in india with icky corrected grain leather). They both have leather soles with channels and exposed stitching.

I can't figure out if the soles are 100% adhered and the stitching is aesthetic or if they are held on both by stiching and glue. Thoughts? This is pure curiosity...

 

[Patek14]

Somebody lend thoughts? I,m sure at least some of us own these shoes!

 

[MyOtherLife]

I have 3 pair (pre SF). 1 suede wingtips, 1 split toe blucher and 1 chelsea boots. All are glued.

 

[Klobber]

As per Man of Lint, shoes are glued.

But I dont get the whole Cole Haan bashing thing - who cares about the glue. You can get their dress shoes under 100 bucks - what do people expect? 100bucks to get you full bespoke shoes, leather soles, all the trimmings, and finest quality stiching? $100 gets you a low quality pair of shoes, so why complain. Its not like Cole Haan are asking $1K for a bad pair of shoes.

 

[phxlawstudent]

+3, glued. Stitching is purely aesthetic.

Just wear them.

 

[Patek14]

I don't care if they are glued, I am merely curious. They were cheap and the stitching is heavily worn off in somesome places. Glue aside I see no risk of them splitting in half before the soles are ruined. I have six pairs of glued shoes to two pairs of GY welt sewn shoes so glue doesn't bother me on cheap shoes.

Seems like a waste to put open channeled stiched fake soles since nicer shoes close up stitching channels.

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Look at the stitching on the top and bottom of the shoe / welt and see how they line up. If the shoes are glued you can still wear them for mud volleyball, spring cleaning, things like that.

 

[Matt S]

I have two pairs of slip-ons that are blake stitched. But the quality overall is poor.

 

[Poindexter]

Cole Haan are like a little upscale Rockport to me. Both are like camo tennies. They use a lot of athletic shoe construction methods. My gyrl at Macy's tells me that guys who spend all day on their feet love them both. Light, comfortable, flexy.

Green's they're not, no.

 

[bmac11c]

I had a pair of the Cole Haan Chelsea boots and although I loved them at first, they started falling apart after about 3 months of solid wear. The elastic started to crack on the ankles and the insole started coming apart. I was very disappointed.

Bmac

 

[Nick V.]

Sounds like the ate McKay stitched.
Look inside the shoe. Chances are their is a 3/4 heel seat. Look past the heel seat towards the toe of the shoe. Do you see any stitching?