How to tell if a Brand New shoe is Shell Cordovan

[SirSuturesALot]

Originally Posted by grimslade

Those incline me more toward the shell camp.

Is there something particular about the way the tongue looks?

 

[Tarmac]

I'll compare tonight to my calf Florsheim Imperials, see if there is a difference.

I used to own your model but I don't anymore, here is the clearest pic I have of the tongue area. The pair I had were 100% most definitely shell.

 

[grimslade]

the thickness and the texture, but esp the thickness.

 

[JayJay]

I think they are shell. Time will definitely tell.

 

[The Deacon]

Originally Posted by JayJay

I think they are shell. Time will definitely tell.

+10

 

[Henry Boogers]

Okay, so I've probably bought and sold more shell shoes off of Ebay than anyone on here other than Ditinctive....

I'm 85% certain these are shell from the first glance of the first photo that I saw. I've sold at least 15 to 20 of this model and at least 5 brand new pairs of Florsheim shell shoes and these look correct. The shade variation and subtle pitting of the toe is a dead giveaway for me. The sole construction is also correct and I would not expect calf or Florsheim's CG to so closely resemble shell. Let me revise that to 90+% certain.

Look at the smooth pitting in the toe of this picture, this just screams shell:

Someone get Distinctive in here, if he concurs then anything other than shell is statistically impossible.

 

[dylan123]

Can any one tell me or confirm if this is a genuine shell cordovan Prada shoes. I bought a pair of Prada black dress shoe. The box label under Material says cordovan. But the leather from the shoe looks so different from my shell cordovan florsheim shoe.

 

[Orgetorix]

Originally Posted by dylan123

Can any one tell me or confirm if this is a genuine shell cordovan Prada shoes. I bought a pair of Prada black dress shoe. The box label under Material says cordovan. But the leather from the shoe looks so different from my shell cordovan florsheim shoe.

Nope, nuh-uh. Not a chance. The fine creasing in the toe is a giveaway for calf/corrected grain.

 

[dylan123]

Why would Prada list the material made Cordovan. Is it a mistake, here is a picture of the Prada authenticity tag.

 

[videocrew]

A great many shoes made in Italy that have hit the market lately are labeled "cordovan" when they aren't. See here: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/Mens...4635/14635.jsp and here: http://www.billyreid.com/roper-boot-...p-4030002.html. I own the Billy Reid ropers and the label is stunningly similar to that one. This leads me to believe that there is one Italian factory subcontracting all of these shoes and listing the material as "cordovan." Then whatever website clown that does these things reads the label and punches it in to the computer. The strange thing is, both J. Crew and Billy Reid have been alerted to these discrepancies by multiple members of various forums, but neither of them have seen fit to change their web sites, much less their labels. To my knowledge, the only shell cordovan coming out of Italy these days is from Martegani, and I think it's all Horween stuff there.

 

[dylan123]

WOW, Thanks for this info , It is terrible if it is true that big company like J-crew and Prada are miss leading consumer like that.

 

[NoVaguy]

Originally Posted by dylan123

Why would Prada list the material made Cordovan. Is it a mistake, here is a picture of the Prada authenticity tag.

Cordovan, without the indicator of "Shell", is ambiguous and can mean simply the color that people most associate with Shell Cordovan (Horween #8)

Meltonian, for example, sells a shoe cream in "Cordovan" shade, so the usage of the term as a color is not unusual.

 

[Kempt]

Originally Posted by NoVaguy

Cordovan, without the indicator of "Shell", is ambiguous and can mean simply the color that people most associate with Shell Cordovan (Horween #8)

Meltonian, for example, sells a shoe cream in "Cordovan" shade, so the usage of the term as a color is not unusual.

Labeling the material as "Cordovan" is a little bit more than just ambiguous and is borderline if not outright misleading.

 

[grimslade]

Originally Posted by NoVaguy

Cordovan, without the indicator of "Shell", is ambiguous and can mean simply the color that people most associate with Shell Cordovan (Horween #8)

Meltonian, for example, sells a shoe cream in "Cordovan" shade, so the usage of the term as a color is not unusual.

and in this case, the color is "black."

 

[videocrew]

Originally Posted by dylan123

WOW, Thanks for this info , It is terrible if it is true that big company like J-crew and Prada are miss leading consumer like that.
I don't think any of the companies involved are doing it intentionally, hell, the Italian maker that labels it in the first place might have lost something in a translation somewhere. That being said, I can't figure out for the life of me why none of these companies will change their web site now that people have pointed out the discrepancy.