broken in - dieppa restrepo cali oxfords

I've documented what I buy on the blog but l rarely follow up on how they’ve weathered the days since. Last month, when I was about to send my Dieppa Restrepos to the cobbler to replace the rubber heel cap, I thought I might as well capture how they’ve fared over 11 months of wear.

Until I bought a second pair in October, I was wearing these at least 3 times a week, often more, because they really do go with just about everything. Also, around the same time, I had given up on several pairs of old shoes so these came in for extra rotation. I didn’t get any sole protectors for these, and neither did I spray the leather to water-proof them. I was lazy.

As you can, they are fairly scuffed, more so on one foot (the side pictured). I always wear out the same corners of the heel, and I always get the toe of the left shoe extra scuffed because for some reason this is the foot that gets always caught on things like stairs and scraped by escalators. I’ve stepped in many puddles and gotten caught in the rain a few times, and so far there is one clear water-mark. Rainwater always stains alarmingly but most of the marks vanish after.

I don't use a pedometer so I have no idea exactly much walking I've done in these, but I commute to work by bus or subway and I walk in between to run errands, go on work assignments, etc. Generally, I’m happy with how the shoes have fared. These aren’t true Oxfords with heavy duty construction, so given the thickness of the leather soles to begin with, I find their current state pretty acceptable and the rest of the shoe continues to feel nice and sturdy. I wonder if attaching a thin Vibram sole when they were relatively new would have helped. In any case, I did get Vibram soles for my second pair, so we'll see.