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Clarks Melanie Jane
by alyson29
I love boots and shoes, what woman doesn't and I owned a vast collection of footwear during my teens and twenties. However, my antics of squeezing my feet into ill fitting shoes that were far too pointed or high soon took its toil, which resulted in me undergoing several operations.
Following further surgery a few years ... ago, which has resulted in my right foot constantly being slightly swollen and painful, my choice of footwear is no longer solely based on style, as unfortunately, comfort now has to be my main consideration. As a result, I am very particular with my footwear and can only make purchases in store after trying them on. At the beginning of this year I discovered the perfect pair of ankle boots, which I purchased from Clarks, namely Melanie Jane Black Leather Boots with this review discussing my experience.
The ankle boots are cowboys inspired with the beauty of Clarks footwear being that they are available in half sizes, which seems to be a rarity these days with the majority of run-of-the-mill shoe shops. I fell in love with them the moment I spotted them on the shelf due to their sexy and very feminine appearance. The leather is soft to the touch, which is a real positive as far as I am concerned, as this gave me the distinct impression that they would not rub my skin and subsequently cause blisters.
My feet slip into the boots with great ease without me needing to bend down and battle to pull them on. They offer a small zip situated at the ankle area, which opens and closes smoothly and I do not need to tug it to reach the top, which is sometimes the case with some brands of boots. Unlike the case with a few pairs of boots that I own, the zip remains firmly closed as opposed to undoing slightly, so my feet are well supported until I am ready to remove the boots.
The appearance of the boots is quite plain with a simple section of neat stitching, which is located along the top of the foot area reaching to the sole of the boot. A point I favoured with the boots is that the chunky, yet sleek looking 2½ inch high heels are of a dark brown colour and display eye-catching narrow rows illustrated in a paler brown colour. As a result, this breaks up the overall dark appearance of the boots and adds an appealing feminine touch.
An issue I have experienced with some brands of boots is that the upper section can sometimes rub against my skin, which can cause slight irritation together with redness. However, despite me wearing socks, which are a little shorter in length than my boots, the soft leather is comfortable against my skin and does not cause me any problems. The lining of the boots has been manufactured from a combination of leather and textile; both of which provide extreme comfort and softness to the foot with the inner sole offering further comfort due to its softwear cushion support.
The soles offer a good firm support due to their approximate half an inch thickness, so when walking on uneven surfaces I am unable to feel any discomfort in my feet. As a result, I can almost liken these boots to my slippers and I am never in the situation where I cannot wait to get home to take them off. Whilst the soles do not offer any grips, I cannot speak of any issues where I have slipped when walking on wet surfaces. The boots are perfect for wearing in the rain as they are fully waterproof unless, of course, you get caught in a heavy shower where the rain water will find its way into the upper section.
The boots are extremely easy to clean with a damp cloth and despite owning them for almost four months I have only needed to apply black shoe polish on one occasion, as they do not seem to pick up the dirt. I must admit to being surprised that the boots do not show any signs of wear and tear, such as scratches or scuffs, particularly around the toe area, as on a number of occasions I have tripped over uneven paving stones. The only issue I have is that within only two days of wearing them, the back of the heel on the right boot became slightly scuffed after driving, which I suppose is the case with the majority of footwear, which sports any type of heel.
The boots are very stylish as well as being practical and can be dressed up or down whilst wearing trousers or a long skirt and as I find them so comfortable I actually purchased a second pair. Despite my slight niggle in relation to the heel, I can give nothing less than five stars together with a high recommendation. Whilst I made my purchase in a Clarks high street store for £60 where there was also a tan colour, the boots are not listed on their website. However, I can confirm that they are still available in Clarks high street stores or you can make a purchase of a black pair from Amazon although the price is a little higher at £65.44 inclusive of postage and packing. Whilst Clarks offer a good range of sizes from 4 - 8, Amazon currently only have sizes 4 and 6 in stock.
I hope you found my review useful and thanks for reading.
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Clarks Desert Boot
by chris018
I recently purchased a pair of desert boots as I was tired of trying to find smart shoes to wear out clubbing that weren't just simple black slipons. The boots go well with a number of different outfits, I personally wear them with blue skinny jeans but they will go with a number of different colours and styles. The shoe is very good in ... the sense that it can be worn as a casual look but is also smart enough to be worn to smarter occasions. The shoe itself is well made and has withstood a few months of wear and tear without any problems. The stitching is well done and fixed well into the sole of the shoe, and the overlayer to the blue front of the shoe is attached well and there is no chance of it coming away. The shoe feels light when worn and fits well around the heel and toes, although I did find that the fit was a little loose on the width of my foot, but this may just be a personal issue.
The sole of the shoe is also very hardwearing, the heel hasn't been worn down at all in a few months of wearing and provides a decent amount of grip considering it is made of entirely rubber, with no wooden insert in the heel unlike a lot of smart shoes. One criticism of the shoe would be however they are quite hard to keep clean, the sole of the shoe is prone to picking up black marks, and smudges. All of these are easily removable with a tissue and some water but it does become a bit inconvenient if you are in a hurry and you realise you need to clean your shoes.
I would definitely recommend these desert boots, as they are reasonably priced and don't break down straight away unlike a lot of competitors out there. They are a perfect addition to a smart casual outfit and well worth the money.
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Clarks Shoes & Sandals
by springtide
Sitting on my chair at the side of my desk are a pair of Clarks men's shoes all wrapped up and ready to go to The Clarks complaints department in Street in Somerset. I shall explain why.
Living on a boat for many years and generally in warm climates you do not have much call for many pairs of shoes, particularly ... mens' shoes. A good pair of boat wellies a pair of posh dockside shoes and some sandals make up Captain Springtide's shoe wardrobe so we were in a bit of a dilemma when we were asked to a posh wedding in the South of England a couple of years ago. He had no shoes that were suitable. Off to the shops.
We visited the biggest shopping centre nears to us which is called El Corte Ingles and is at Puerto Banus in the South of Spain. I dragged him around and as is ever he picked the most expensive shoes there, which I put back and directed him to the Clarks selection. " These will be good value" we both exclaimed having been brought up wearing, oh so sensible Clarks shoes in draughty Lancashire. They were black and plain and slip on and actually pretty boring but they would do just fine. They cost 69 euros. I know this because the label is still on the inside!
We survived the wedding, I can't really describe it any better than that but most people will have been to a wedding where a few guests walked out and family feuds surfaced. Thank goodness we were just there as friends, but, the shoes looked fine. The shoes and us returned to Spain and they were carefully stored until our next outing which was this February.
Well when it rains in Spain is just buckets down. It doesn't do light showers or mist, it does biblical deluge. My cousin was down from Scotland and I hadn't seen her for about 20 years so we poshed our selves up a bit and out came the sensible black shoes "These will keep me nice and dry, just as good as when they were bought," said Captain Springtide with satisfaction. The only other alternative were wellies so on went the shoes and off into the rain. We drove up the coast in the pouring rain confident of warm, dry toes and a good impression for we were going to take Anne to visit a Captain friend on a boat in Puerto Banus.
We met Anne and her friend at their apartment hotel and went to the nearest cafe in a close bye shopping centre and spent a little while catching up on the many in between years. It was then time to get back in the car to do the small drive back to Puerto Banus. I was aware of a certain flip flap noise on the short walk to the car but as son as we got into the car my husband started to laugh and showed us his soaking wet feet and the toes poking through both his shoes. The stitching which had attached the soles to the body of the shoes had just disappeared!. Now Anne is a hospital Chaplain in Glasgow and has come across many, many weird situations and we all had a good laugh about it and we three girls headed back to the shopping centre where we bought a pair of 15euro white trainers which luckily fitted well and have now become the rain shoes
Once back home I decided to email Clarks and explain the situation explaining that we were lucky enough to have had shops close at hand, but, what if we had been somewhere remote or at another wedding or a hundred times worse at a funeral, they were that type of shoes! They have asked me to send them the shoes so that they can examine them so now they are off on a trip to Somerset. The scary thing is that I went on the Internet and found many more cases of Clarks shoes that had parted company with their soles so perhaps Clarks are not quite all that they are cracked up to be?
I shall let you know how we get on but I shall think twice before I by a pair of Clarks shoes again!
1 out of 5 stars!
Thanks for reading my review.
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