Mens Queensbery Francis Office Formal Work Wedding Smart Leather Shoes

I must say, this is a very good looking pair of shoes... However, for less than $10, you would expect that they would have to cut some corners to make you something that is presentable. I originally thought these were on clearance and didn't think much about buying them since they were from a US seller and the shoes were supposedly made in the UK. I could not be wrong more.One thing I found odd initially about these shoes were that they didn't come in 1/2 sizes like most shoes in the US do. In that sense, I bought 2 sizes altogether (1/2 size up, and 1/2 size down) so I can try them both and see which them fits best. Upon opening the package, I was greeted by a familiar, pungent smell. If you have purchased anything inexpensive from China previously, you would probably be familiar with that smell.That said, the smells emanating from these shoes were about 2-3x as strong and the experience was quite similar to taking a bottle of household ammonia and holding it up to your face for a minute or so. While I understand that shoes tend to have a bit of smell upon opening them, you shouldn't have to grasp for air simply for wanting to put your new shoes on. This finding was confirmed by placing my portable air quality monitor next to these shoes. The TVOC rating (the amount of volatile compounds in the air) spiked up to 30 ug/m^3 (up to 35 at one point) with minimal formaldehyde present, while the normal rating was <0.8 (baseline being around 0.1-0.3 in my room). I was only able to reproduce a rating this high by having an open bottle of ammonia next to the detector and by repeatedly squeezing the bottle to puff out any ammonia gas out of the bottle. This shows you how intense the smell was just getting the shoes out of the box.The smells aside, there were other attributes of the shoes I find interesting. They are listed below:1) Unlike most shoes that were made for international sale, the flap of these shoes only list one shoe size (43/44) and that it was made in China. It does not designate what international standard the number was associated with, and most likely indicates that the shoe was never designed to be sold outside of China. The only location where US sizes were listed were on the shoe boxes themselves.2) The insoles indicate "Queensberry - London" as a marking, whereas Amazon lists these as being Queensb"ury." The discrepancy leads me to think that these shoes were trying to impersonate something else that was based in London or to make someone think that this brand was somehow linked to or manufactured in London. This is similar to how certain Chinese products brand themselves as "LETGO" for "LEGO" products. Furthermore, the name itself only exists on the insole and on the product boxes. It is possible that the insole was replaced with this name while it was named something else entirely differently when sold in China.3) The shoes have a white leather liner inside that does not match up with the rest of the shoes. I find that somewhat interesting, although it's not too big of a deal.4) The sole appears to be one giant piece that was glued on and the rubber itself appears to be low quality. The tread also appears minimal that would be rubbed away quickly over time.5) The synthetic leather on these shoes creases very easily. Although an Oxford is more likely to crease in this way, I did not expect it to crease immediately simply by putting my foot inside the shoes (did not even walk with them).6) The boxes contain stickers that say "SUPER CLEAN - Do Not Eat". I have no idea what this is and why shoes require this level of "cleaning". I am assuming this contained some kind of fungicide that the shoes used to prevent mildew/mold growth while they were shipped from China. I had a suspicion that the smells emanating from the package have something to do with these stickers.Trying to get the smells out of these shoes, I put them outside in the sun for 2 days in 90 degrees weather. Upon returning, I see that it was only able to rid the smells from outside of the shoes. I could clearly still smell it if I press against the synthetic leather. Moreover, that smell even lingered in the empty Amazon box when I left that in my room while waiting for the shoes to "sun out" and that alone would serve as a reminder of how much chemicals were used in the manufacturing of these shoes.I eventually gave up in trying to make these shoes work. The thought of infusing my foot in this concoction of chemicals was enough to make me reconsider the decision to buy this in the first place. I have since returned both of these to Amazon. My recommendation is to stay away from these and wait for an actual sale for something that is higher quality and better made.

I bought these to give to my dad for Father’s Day. The first pair I bought were too big for him. I ordered the next size down (size 8) and they were still too big.They have a strong chemical smell. They do look nice, they just did not work for us.

Great Item and fast service and the value is easy to see when you get them.

Nice style. Great price. Horrible chemical smell. Might take a while to get rid of that smell

Better than expected

The product is awesome

Fit as expected, they look nice and have good quality. Totally recommended. Great price!

Awesome fit