Quick help needed deciding between what is more stylish

[mixedmajik]

Hi,

I was just wondering between these two Steve Madden shoes (I like the brand since my cousin introduced me), which ones are more stylish for a university student to be wearing on occasions? These fit my budget and I know it's a man made sole and probably not up to most of your standards...which is fine for me...I don't have the money and don't like to buy 2nd hand shoes. Anyways...I was a bit unsure about these because one is made in India (the first one shown), and the other is from China (second one shown)...neither of which are American (which i assume is the REAL steve madden or something) and neither of which I know about the country's reputation in shoe making. Can some of you help me out with what country has a better make? Also was a bit unsure if the fact that the bottom of the first shoe was so plain poses a problem...for traction and such...compare to the other which has an insignia and some treads...opinions needed, hoping to close a sale sooner than later so I can go back to studying for this semester Both have leather uppers and lining and manmade soles...and both are in my price range (which isn't the focus if one is to suggest what my price range is so they can offer me a different shoe completely...nice try ). Also open to opinions on the shades of brown in which they differ...considering I have dark skin (I'm african-canadian). Thank you in advance...if I get more experience I will try to help out more around here...for now I'll be doing more reading than typing haha.


First option













The other option












For any who take the time to answer, I'm sincerely grateful. Newbies probably are looked at as annoying takers with nothing to give back...which I'm aware of. I have tried my best not to come across as annoying and tried to cover all bases in a coherent message with adequate pictures for genuine help deciding between what the majority of you would deem more stylish for the buck (same price for both as I said). Cheers to all.

EDIT* I wear mostly dress shirts, khakis, jeans, sports jackets...stuff like this.

 

[caseyfud]

neither. do not get either. neither is stylish. please listen to me. If you absolutely have to get one of these, get the first one, but I'd suggest waiting until you have enough money to buy something good, or choosing something else. I'd assume these are between $80 and $120. In that price range I'd consider Clark's desert boots (ugh), the H&M x Margiela side-zip boots or the suede "Brockton" buck from Bass.

 

[mixedmajik]

They were in that price range but are both on sale in the 40's right now...hence why i was more keen on these....if i had the money for clarks and hush puppies etc i would do...but i dont. And also since i am fairly new, I'd rather dabble in this before jumping right in wallet first...which is why I'm looking for sales like these ones. For $40 still no? What do you not like? The style, country manufactured, or other...for under 50 bucks I don't see what much else is out there...if i like how these kinds of shoes are, I'll fork out more in summer after I get a job you know? Thanks.

 

[caseyfud]

Finding a decent shoe at $40 is basically an impossible task, especially when used shoes have been ruled out. For me, the ideal leather casual shoe is a brown, plain-toe blutcher. If you can find something like that, I'd get it. If you can save up another $25, the Stafford wingtip shoe from JC Penney is a decent-looking option, I guess.

 

[mixedmajik]

I've actually spent almost a whole day looking at just shoes (and really can't do this tomorrow since my studying will suffer) and I can tell you that I really can't afford Allen Edmonds, regardless of how good they are. As I said somewhere else, the reason 40-50 dollars is what I'm looking at is because...40-50 dollars shoes = 80ish dollar shoes when you add import duty charges...I don't live in America...If I did, I would have bought the JC Pennies or even Florsheim Chase shoes (which I really wanted since were on sale for 59.99...good introductory shoe for a few months)...

Problem was...import duties took JC penny shoe up to 98 bucks, Florsheim up to 99.83....I mean...I just can't do it...and after all my browsing on this site it is clear that it's been asked before and no success has been made in finding quality shoe stores online that ship to Canada without ridiculous 20-40 dollar fees. I saw some used Allen edmonds on ebay for 60 bucks...after import taxes and such....would be paying 122 or something daft...you see the problem here that has frustrated me.

These are the brands I ran through today: Clarks, Bostonian, Florsheim, Allen Edmonds (to look, not to buy), Cole Haan, J&M, Hush Puppies, JCpenney, Rockport, you name it, I looked...and all the shoes end up costing double the listed price if bought in the US or UK and places like amazon.ca and canadian online stores don't carry them...not to mention canadian allen edmonds are about 400-500 dollars....complete overpriced nonsense because they know a lot of us can't go to the states and get the normal priced ones (Which are still beyond my limit)

What's ridiculous is that the only shoes I can really look at are Aldo shoes since they ship in canada with no import charges...and they're also a complete garbage brand as I've read around here...
I saw these and figured maybe it's coming to the point of having to go for these if I want to avoid wearing sneakers and the loafers all the time:
http://www.aldoshoes.com/ca-eng/men/shoes/dress-lace-ups/92057345-aldesneiges/28 Rubber soles...thin looking shape -.-
http://www.aldoshoes.com/ca-eng/men/mr-bs/shoes/85334340-maslow/22 not even in my size but apparently this new Mr. B"ozo" line is Aldo's step up and apparently it has leather soles to them which seems like a plus...that is quickly negated by the fact that they're so ugly in that dark colour (would have bought them if they had the 1st shoe's color...Aldo just doesn't know what the heck appeals to anybody in terms of color and style)
http://www.aldoshoes.com/ca-eng/clearance/fantastic-finds-last-pairs/mens-shoes/88365089-cowen/22 cheap and absolutely horrendous but at least they aren't vans or loafers haha

Not to mention...this frightened me when it got to 29 seconds:

I also checked softmoc.ca but didn't have any luck...I'd rather not wait 2 or 3 years to go back to america with my family...and things just aren't working with import duty for american shoes, used ebay shoes, and these shoes canadians believe are quality like Al"dung"

This is probably the most unpatriotic post I have posted in quite some time on any website...this is what it feels like to be frustrated that you looked for something for so long and ended up with nothing...making you realize you fell behind in things you could have done instead today -_-...11 hours...gone...just like that. Not going for the Steve Maddens anymore...like I said...I did a whole lot of reading and less typing on this site today as I promised...but I'm definitely not happy right now XD

/rant