I was not thinking straight when I wrote this, third tier equals top tier. Sorry!
This is a review of the Stan Smith Recon Off White EF4001 that was on sale last week. This review should probably be on MFA but there were so many people asking about the differences in the comments so I might as well type this.
I originally had the a pair of Greats in their fall 2018 "Birch" colorway (essentially off white) in a size 7 but after trying to break in for a year, I could never get it to comfortably fit on long walks so I gave it to my friend. If only Greats had a 7.5 since a size 8 or 9 were huge on my foot. So when I saw this shoe on sale I had to get it since I have never owned a pair of Stan Smiths before and also I wanted a cheaper daily white or whitish shoe for this summer.
THE SHOE The shoe leather is definitely different from the Stan Smiths I have handled before because they were probably the tier 1s with a rather plastic shiny upper. Leather is soft and had a very faint leather smell instead of plastic. The inside was lined with leather which is great but I will still wear socks with them. They are thin and I bet will discolor after a few months anyway. Outsole is no different from any other Stans. Insole is very comfortable, more substantial compared to the other tiers but still rather thin as well so I plan to probably switch out to third party insoles. I live in NYC and when the COVID lockdown is eased, these will be my day to day walking shoes. This being a recon had the suede heel tab and that funny looking tag at the tongue. Oh yeah the tongue is so effing long, was not expecting that haha.
A minor defect would be that there is some glue residue near the toe and in my album you'll see probably someone in the factory accidentally almost stamped another vent hole. If i had paid full price for this I would have asked for an exchange but for 65 dollars.. its not a big deal. 14K steps a day in NYC really eats away any shoe and non of my mainstream sneakers like Vans lasts for more than 8 months.
FIT I won't talk much about fit since most people would probably have had a pair once in their lifetime. But I ordered a size 9 because oddly I fit in a 9 for all my athletic shoes, despite being a 8.5 on a Brannock device and 8 in most dress shoes. Fit was perfect in my opinion. For reference to other minimalist sneakers I wear an 8 for KOIOs and 41 when I sized for CPs (feel free to ask me why I bought one but not the other). I found measuring your foot midday with socks on gives me the best idea of which size I should get.
LOOKS I really enjoy the shape actually. It is slimmer than my Greats were but not as much as my KOIOs. It is definitely more casual looking but without the sort of "I am willing pay 300 dollars for a flannel GQ recommends" vibe CP and KOIOs can give off. It's just something I can throw on with anything. Tried it on with a pair of chinos and I can see this show going with me everywhere. People with a keen eye will recognize it and that is fine. I like to dress well but in a more lowkey manner.
Verdict If you can get them on sale for 60-80 dollars I would say they are worth it and only if you know they are the 3rd tier shoes. But at a retail price of 120, I would highly suggest going straight to Greats at 175 (often cheaper with sales) or even Beckett Simonons (perpetual 20% off code at around $110). Anything else is really a different price level that is up to personal discretion on the value proposition. They at least have a tougher rubber sole and more substantial leather uppers. From what I gathered, anything with product code that starts with an E is a higher tier 2 or 3 shoe. But as always comfort first, many minimalist sneakers try to copy the CP look and tbh they are really only for narrow or regular width feet, Stans would one of the few that work for a wider foot.
Submitted April 30, 2020 at 09:40PM by cjhkzz https://ift.tt/2WcAg6Q
