Italian shoes with glued soles?

[heybear]

The other day I ordered a clearance pair of Doucal's double monks. I didn't know much about the brand, but I'd been wanting something rubber soled for rainy summer days outdoors. I had the impression Doucal's was somewhere mid-tier among Italian shoemakers and that I'd get something fairly decent. But when I got the shoes I was surprised to see no evidence anywhere of stitching on the soles (inside or out). Is there an explanation for this other than that the soles are glued?

Or is it possible the stitching is hidden somehow? Everything else I own is American or British and Goodyear welted, so I don't have much experience with Blake welting (if that's what this is) or Italian construction. Though my impression is that Blake usually leaves visible stitching too.

Any thoughts about what this is?

 

[zty_07]

I bought one pair from Yoox before. Glued,the leather was not impressive either.Returned immediately.

 

[heybear]

I guess it must be true then. Really hoped I was missing something. I wasn't expecting top-of-the-line, but it never occurred to me I'd get glue. The leather is soft, but so uniform in color I wondered if it's corrected.

 

[Astaroth]

I cannot comment on the brand at all as I've never heard of them but googling seems to show that they are on constant sale which suggests the "sale" price is their real price (or as its a point in time search I am "lucky" that everyone has a sale at the same time)

It is possible to construct a shoe such that stitching of the sole isnt visible but its generally at a much higher price point than both their RRP and certainly their average sale price.

Do you have a photo? The ones I saw online did have stitching on the leather parts of the sole but not those that were topped with rubber

 

[heybear]

I thought I'd seen some decent looking ones at Barneys, but it might be they have a separate line they sell straight into the clearance market. Though why they'd want to do that under the same name, I don't know. Can't do the brand much good. Then again, maybe this is the brand. Obviously "made in Italy" is more about branding than any guarantee of quality, but I hadn't expected anyone would go to the trouble of Italian manufacturing only to slap on glue. Especially since their website is all about advertising a commitment to British construction techniques.

I didn't take pix before I sent them back, but I couldn't see any way they could have been stitched. It was a fully rubber sole that certainly looked like one piece.