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- Jan 14, 2016
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I have noticed something that I find interesting, there is another shoe thread here on SF, where regularly people post things like :"Is this a first or should I return it to get seconds pricing?" and then include photos of some defect that got through QC and into the customer's hands as firsts. I haven't seen anything like that on the GS thread, ever. We should be happy and proud that we are the owners of such fine footwear, from a company that cares about it's customer base. Ok, off the soapbox, back to regularly scheduled programming......
We really do appreciate this and make an effort to catch QC issues before shipping. I can promise you we do have these issues but sometimes it's more of an inquiry whether it should be acceptable.
Loose grain is probably the most common of course because most want a CXL that looks like shell. Some pairs might have very tight grain throughout but for the others, we just do our best to explain it is part of the larger bovine articles.
There are plenty of other issues as well but sometimes I feel like internet purchasing has made a monster out of this. If someone saw a loose grain quarter in a retail store but the salesman explained what it was, it would be settled without any further concerns. When purchased online, a good percentage of customers return it automatically without asking because they wont want to go back and forth by email and feel like the brand is trying to pull one over. The ability to return the product with no questions asked also seems to play a role in this where driving it back to the store and dealing with customer service is something people might rather avoid.
So I decided to exchange my boots for a larger size. I think my toes will be thanking me for years to come.
I should have gone with the 10.5D in the longwings too, sadly they are out of stock now in both black calf and dune CXL.
Where did I mess up? Taking the online fit advisor’s advice without emailing Grant Stone first. There’s a moral here, guys. I don’t think it’s that the fit advisor is bad, but my feet are a little unusual.
In hindsight, I downsized too aggressively (a whole size down from brannock measurement) in an attempt to compensate for my narrow heel and low volume foot. The split reverse welt is pretty unforgiving in the way of accommodating extra toe splay.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it mentioned, but the Leo last to me feels like a low volume fit compared to other GYW shoes, especially over the forefoot. This is not a bad thing, but worth considering.
Is there anyone reading who would entertain trading a 10.5D GS shoe/boot for my 10D Dune Longwings?
Sorry about that. When in between sizes, we do always prefer to size up versus down. The customer might feel the shoe/boot is a bit full at first but we would completely agree with your decision that if it feels uncomfortably snug, don't try to break it in. It will just lead to a poor experience in most cases.