Customer Reviews Cole Haan Caldwell

These shoes are okay. I liked the look more online than I did in person. They are a little shiny for my taste. I will keep these for more formal events.

Will definitely need to be broken in but very comfortable insoles, very nice leather, great for the price. As far as critical reviews, they are leather soled dress shoes. Not exactly designed for hiking or prolonged walks and once they are scuffed properly they will be fine for normal use. If you are worried about weather or tread it's not difficult to have a cobbler put some rubber in the front or the heal to give you some added traction, but these are really office shoes. Only problem I have with them is that they are a little blunt-nosed.

Shoes are stylish and I have never had a quality issue with Cole Haan's. However, I returned these shoes because of the finish. Very shiny, much like tuxedo shoes. Too shiny for office wear.

The quality of this shoe has went significantly down hill over the years. This used to be my go to shoe for business wear. I was disappointed to see that the leather looks almost like plastic, and is way shinier than they used to be. My last pair only lasted a year before developing a deep crack near the toe that couldn't be repaired. I was going to give them another shot because of the price. But I have decided to make the investment and switch to Allen Edmonds.

If you need a pair of shoes for a one-time deal or wear dress shoes so infrequently that you do not want to spend a lot of money, then these can be fine. Contrary to what others have said, I do not find the soles stiff at all. In fact, after wearing a pair of these in semi-regular rotation for about two years, the soles are almost worn through at the ball of my foot - not very thick. If you are going to be wearing them infrequently, you will want to invest in shoe trees to help keep the toe creases down (to be addressed below). The finish on them is very smooth, shiny, and easily takes a polish; just a little work with some shoe polish and a buffing rag/brush and that high-gloss shine is back. But the bad: - Shoes develop wear folds where your foot bends just behind the toes. This happens and is unavoidable with any shoes made of leather. These, however, develop a sharp crease in addition to the regular folds/bends/lines that normally appear. The finish (as an earlier commenter has said) is cheap and contributes to this creasing. - I think that the above bad thing is made worse by the quality of "leather" used. I put that in quotation marks, because I am not certain that this is not in fact a vinyl. If it is leather, it is the equivalent of leather veneer. The interior of the shoe is lined with what appears to be some sort of foam. I do believe that this is fused to the leather facing. The ease with which the leather creases and flexes now that my pair are very broken in, leads me to believe that this cannot be top grain, corrected, or any other solid leather. If it is leather, it is a thin sheet of it bonded to some non-leather substrate. Leather just does not feel like these do when you push on them. - The sole is fine. It is not super thick and will wear through, but it is not the worst. Treat it right (i.e., steer clear of the winter salt and water puddles) and it'll be alright -- not great, but alright). - The toe box on mine (in front of the cap toe line) have not buckled, dented, or creased (unlike nearly every pair of Johnson & Murphys that I have had). They will not take a stomping or having your whole closet piled on top of them, but they are not looking for an excuse to deform or anything. I generally take pretty good care of shoes (overshoes in winter, waxing relatively regularly, using cedar shoe trees to dry/wick moisture/hold shape). If you are going to kick these off when you walk in the door and let them lie wherever until you need "nice" shoes again, these will show evidence of the mistreatment. Overall for what these cost at the moment, you can do a lot better. If you are just looking for fine-looking conservative dress shoes and do not care about quality, then these are actually not that bad. But, seriously, get the shoe trees.

I really liked these shoes. However, they are made out of cheap material since after 3 months of wearing them I had holes under both shoes. They were extremely comfortable but alas my search for the perfect shoe continues.

These shoes were great but they only lasted about four months until the left shoe developed a squeek when I walk. I have no idea what is causing it but I would not buy another pair if they only last four months!

I did not try the shoes on. I found the color a bit unpleasant - it looks as though they were going for a worn look, but it just seems like sprayover between black and brown. I ended up with the Air Madison from Cole Haan instead, and am very pleased, though the price was significantly greater.

Shoes began creasing and cracking immediately. Even once broken in, toebox is narrow and shoes are rather painful. Would not recommend.

Similar to experience of others, shoes have started to crack where toes bend. I would not recommend buying this shoe. Shoes are about 14 months old.

Used to be a beautiful shoe but lately I've been very disappointed. I've been wearing Cole Haan Caldwells for several years. They've always worn well and long. However, the past two pair - black and mahogany - quickly split and peeled along the toe creases. The top layer - looks like patent leather - peels off, exposing some underlying material that isn't leather. No amount of polish helps. I bought one more pair just to see if they've remedied the poor materials. Really sad development.

The Caldwell shoes I ordered are a patent leather. No where does it indicate they are patent leather. Not what I think I was getting.

So first I have to say that I do not write reviews often, but felt this was necessary. I have had these shoes for about 6 months, wearing them 2-3 days a week at most. When I first received them I was very pleased. They are beautiful shoes and seemed well made. They were not too tough to break in, although the leather sole was quite slippery at first but that is to be expected with this kind of sole. However, I recently noticed that the finish has started to peel on the shoe at the vamp, where the shoe creases at the toes. I understand that this can happen if you do not take care of your shoes, but I regularly clean them and get them polished. With shoes of this "quality" it should not be happening after 6 months of half time wear. Also, the outsole on the same shoe that is peeling has pulled away from the welt. That should DEFINITELY not be happening. Overall, I am very disappointed with these shoes. I expected better from Cole Haan and from Zappos. The service on this site is amazing and I have never experienced quality issues with shoes on here before, but this has caused some concern for me. I would definitely not recommend this shoe to anyone.

I originally bought a pair in black and loved them so much I bough a pair in burgundy. The black ones are great, but I am about to exchange my second pair of burgundy because the leather cracks where the shoe bends at the toe knuckles. The replacement pair I am currently about to exchange cracked within one week! This is unacceptable and hopefully not a sign of future quality problems with Cole Haan. On the up side, Zappos has been great to work with and will continue to get my footwear business.

I was really expecting high quality shoes when I bought these, but what I got were overpriced throwaways. Made in India, not Italy, these shoes developed deep creases on just the first or second wear, and the lacquer finish on the corrected leather has peeled away substantially. Worse, since maybe I could paper over that with a heavy dose of polish, the heel is already pulling away from the sole. I'm a student, and have only been wearing these regularly for 9 weeks. They look like I've been running races in them for two years.

I typically don't write review's, but I feel that I should let people know that these shoes are poorly made. I purchased these shoes on Dec 8, 2012 and it's 5/20/13 and the sole of the shoe has separated from the rest of the shoe. Additionally the uppers started falling apart at the seams. Overall the shoe is a joke and for the price they should last more than 6 months. Actually come to think of it I probably stopped wearing these shoes mid February so they really only lasted around 3 months.

I really have nothing positive to say about this shoe. It scuffs incredibly easily and it feels like you are walking with cardboard shoes. Stay away.

These shoes were a huge disappointment for two reasons. First, quality. They look great out of the box, and appear to be well constructed. However, after only a few times wearing them (but after the opportunity to return them had passed), the color started wearing off where the shoe bends when walking. It's basically as if the "paint" were falling off, and is very visible. So after a couple of weeks of wearing them, these fancy new shoes look like some cheap knockoff crap. Second, fit: The other problem I have with them is that the leather on the side of the heel keeps digging into my heel and causing me very painful blisters. I thought it would be a matter of breaking them in, but the leather there is stiffer and more resilient than my skin. Despite trying, they remained very stiff and uncomfortable. Because of these two problems I've stopped wearing them. If I could return them now, I would with no hesitation. As it is, they just sit in my closet and collect dust.

I concur with a few of the other reviews, this shoe was a complete waste of money. I bought them in black almost one year ago and have worn them infrequently to my office job. Despite this limited wear, the leather has developed cracks where the creases are and even started to flake off. This shoe was completely different from Cole Haans I've had in the past. I would recommend you look elsewhere for a dress oxford.

Purchased a pair of "burgundy" shoes and any attempt to call them burgundy would be a stretch. The shoes that arrived in the box were nearly black. Oddly enough I already own a burgundy pair of these shoes that I bought at a brick and mortar retailer several years ago, and their color is true. Not sure if the pair I received suffered from a manufacturing error, but they are clearly not burgundy and do not match the picture on Zappos. As always, Zappos customer service was a breeze organize the return.