Rockport Men's Northfield Oxford

Comment

I have a pair of these same Rockports that I use for business casual at work. Super comfortable. The trim around the tongue and top of the old shoes wore through. I bought another pair in the same color and theyre O.K. but, even though they say theyre the same color, they are not. The Nubuck is a brownish green and much lighter than the rich brown the old ones were. Theyre super comfortable but, they look weird. I dont like them as much as I did the old pair and even though I wear them, I will never buy them again. I dont recommend them. Rockport isnt even trying anymore.

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Ive been buying basically the same model for the last 25-30 years. They work pretty well, are comfortable, reliable though the overall quality seems to have declined a bit over that time. The most likely failure points are: (1) treads on the soles wear down relatively rapidly, and the material becomes extremely slippery on wet surfaces once the tread is mostly gone (2) inner heel near the top wears through (3) the laces are nice, and thick, and once they break, are essentially irreplaceable with off-the-shelf equivalents (functional but thinner laces are available in the right length).

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These came a day earlier than promised along with a pair of New Balance athletic shoes. The Rockports are not as comfortable as I hoped theyd be. The left shoe gave me a blister on my heel the first time I wore the shoes. I walked farther than planned that day. Im hoping Ill break them in and theyll be as comfortable as my previous pairs of Timberlands were. The color is not quite what I expected either. Theyre closer in color to the overhead shot and not the main shot that comes up with the item listing--lighter and having a yellowish cast to the brown. Im sure theyll look better with age.

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Check out the reviews on this product and youll notice that while the average is high, the *recent* reviews are rather poor. Why? Rockport decided to increase their profit by drastically downgrading the quality of the shoe. The soles are no longer made of high quality materials, but are now made of cheap foam rubber designed to wear out in less than a year (and they do). Not only does this make them cheaper to manufacture, but it also means youll have to replace them more often. Good for you, Rockport. The timing of the shoe going down hill and the purchase of Rockport by Adidas seems to somewhat coincide. In the absence of ability to improve their product or manufacturing processes, I guess the only way the Adidas MBAs can keep paying themselves mid-six-figures a year for doing nothing is by selling an increasingly inferior product and screwing their customers. This kind of BS is what passes for business innovation these days, and why corporate profits stay healthy despite a moribund economy as we keep getting less and less for our money, a "hidden inflation" nobody wants to talk about. The only people benefiting are the management class who orchestrate this charade. Sorry for the rant in the middle of a shoe review, but the reason these shoes now suck and some of the problems with our economy are one in the same. These shoes seem cheap, but its a false economy we pay for on the second and third pair of shoes we need to buy to make these last as long as they used to. Rant aside, youll do yourself a favor if you vote with your dollar to buy a shoe made by a company that has some respect for its customers. UPDATE: Id hoped that maybe I could at least have the soles replaced, and "build" a decent shoe that way. Experiment failed. Everything on the shoe is made so cheaply that the whole thing is starting to wear out, even though the shoe is only a few months old! There is a tear in a seam in the upper, the laces are shot (ok, that could be fixed) and the treads are already almost entirely worn off. So, its now official: I will never buy another pair of Rockports again.

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For $70+, these shoes are a pathetic attempt at a rugged dress shoe (I immediately returned them). As other reviewers have pointed out, the quality is highlighted (lowlighted) by: -cheap, thin dollar-store leather, -the spongy light weight sole that probably lasts only a couple months (if it rains, they will feel like sponges wrapped around your foot) -the complete lack of support and rigidity in the footbed when walking in these (helloooo rolled-ankles) I am getting more and more annoyed by the influx of light weight dress shoes into the market and hubris of shoe developers who explain that we should be thankful for this "advanced technology". Sadly, since Rockport was bought by Adidas, all the dress shoes have gone from hard heavy rubber soles (which costs more to produce) to cheap lightweight "Adiprene" soles that last about 6 months before you can poke hole through them (Side note:what the h*ll happened to all the hardened rubber sole dress shoes? Timberland seems to be one of the few that still makes them, but they dont really make dress shoes, only a limited line of casual shoes.) Heres a tip, Rockport: Stop the marketing b.s. ("Kinetic Air Circulation technology", "Adiprene", "Hydroshield waterproof protection") and bring back the old quality Rockports which had THICK LEATHER AND HARD RUBBER SOLES. Until then, I will completely ignore Rockports products.

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