When the shoe fits........

I thought I'd had most of my summer sandals sorted out, was just searching for a great pair of black heels for the season but one pair of the neutral colored shoes that I purchased has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.  Totally a shame because I absolutely love the color and styling of these Max Studio heels but the quality just isn't there especially for the price........

Quick specs--4 1/4" heel, 3/4" platform. Nappa leather upper and leather sole. Comes in black or the taupe that I purchased. MSRP $149 but can be found on sale for much less than that if you shop around.  I personally paid $75 for mine.

The good--great heel height,  platform that blends well with the shoe, buttery soft leather, and that great olive-brown-gray color that goes with so much.  They also run completely true to size which is a definite plus when it comes to ordering online.

Loved the strappiness of these (ignore the closet mess please)

The bad--these killed the ball of my foot within an hour of having them on and I rarely have that problem, Also the "woodgrain" of the stacked heel and near the toe area started fading and showing uneven color wear on the first ever wearing.  That's not very visible on the photos but definitely is there when viewing them in person.

The next problem was with the strap itself, the leather around the holes on the ankle strap fastening started to tear almost immediately and that is not with wearing the straps tight, there also didn't seem to be excessive pulling on the strap when walking about.  It's probably because of the softness of the leather but I'm thinking there should have been some reinforcement if that's the case.

Also the small metal ball that is part of the fastening fell off one of the shoes already, thankfully it came apart while the shoe was in the box and is a simple screw on but for sure that's a quality control issue.  The leather sole is also beginning to come up from the footbed where it was glued rather than sewn on.