If you’re into classic men’s clothing and footwear, chances are you’ve heard of the brand Carmina. They’re from Mallorca, Spain and they produce quality men’s dress shoes or, at least, that’s the gospel you can read on the internet. So, today, we’ll take a look at the Spanish shoemaker and tell you if their men’s dress shoes are worth your money or not.
A little over a year ago, we thought it’s about time to do an in-depth review of Carmina shoes. So, we got a bunch of shoes on our team, we wore them frequently so we could actually test them, we cut a pair of shoes apart so we can actually see what’s inside to give you a proper evaluation of the value you get for your money.
The History of Carmina
Of course, part of looking at the shoe is looking at the company itself. The company had only been Carmina since 1997. However, there was a guy who founded the company in 1866 by the name of Matthias Pujadas. It started as a small workshop in Inca, Mallorca, which still, today, is kind of the center of shoemaking there.
I went to the Carmina factory once in 2012, visited the local shoe museum, and found other brands out there like TLB Mallorca or Meermin, all with roots in Mallorca. If you don’t know how Meermin is actually related to Carmina, you can check out our post about the best dress shoes under $300.
Matthias Pujadas was basically a shoemaker and had a workshop there, but his son Matteo started one of the first shoe-making factories in Spain in 1905. In particular, they focused on Goodyear welted shoes.
A few decades later, in 1961, the great-grandson of the founder, Jose Albaladejo Pujadas, expanded the company into one of the largest shoe factories in Spain. This was following a period of training with shoemakers in Florence, Italy. And by 1962, they launched a popular model, their “round toe loafer.”
The first one was a penny loafer and the style was named “1330.” And while it’s maybe not the most elegant shoe by today’s standards, you can clearly see the evolution in their other models.
So, in 1997, Jose, together with a few of his sons and his wife, started Carmina with the goal of producing high-quality shoes at an affordable price. So, in ’98, they opened a store in Spain’s capital, Madrid.
Then, a year later, they introduced a line of women’s shoes and, I think, to this day, it’s much harder for women to find Goodyear welted shoes. I think Crockett & Jones offers them, but Carmina is definitely one of the top contenders in that space.
Later, they had stores in Paris, Barcelona, and, in 2017, they opened a store in New York.
Carmina Today
In 2022, most people would associate Carmina with something like the Crockett & Jones in England or Allen Edmonds in the US. That is to say, all three of them are large volume manufacturers of classic Goodyear welted men’s shoes with a large range of lasts and styles.
What Makes Carmina Unique?
Lasts
Price-wise, they’re all somewhere in the middle. They’re not the least expensive Goodyear welted shoes, and they’re not the most expensive ones either. More specifically, Carmina offers 27 different lasts. Some of them also come in different width settings, which is quite impressive and it allows you as a wearer to find a last that works best with your foot.
Some people like a longer last, others like a shorter; maybe you have a really wide foot, maybe you have a slim foot. Of course, it won’t ever be perfect because your feet aren’t 100% symmetrical. But, you can get rather close to a bespoke fit.
When choosing a last, you can consider Carmina’s signature style called “Rain.” On their website, they claim that, if it’s your first pair of Carmina shoes, this is the last you should get. Well, I guess if some other last fits you better, I’d rather have you wear something that fits better.
Overall, I think it’s a nice last. It’s not overly stylized. It has kind of a soft, roundish toe, maybe a hint of a chisel, nice elongated form, doesn’t look bulky, and is pleasing to the eye. If you compare Carmina’s base last to others, you can definitely see the difference.
On the one end, you have Allen Edmond’s Park Avenue. In my mind, the shoes are very chunky, they’re not really super-refined, and even though they’re round, they have a very short toe cap, and maybe that’s the look you like and that’s okay.
Then, in the middle, you have the English style like Crockett & Jones, and it’s similar to Allen Edmonds, but a little more classic. Personally, I prefer that style more.
And then you have Carmina, which is more elongated. The lines are a little more aggressive, and it’s a little more stylized maybe, not quite fashion-forward. Still timeless, but maybe more for the modern man who doesn’t want a pair of shoes that his father wears.
Keep in mind, though, that these are all just personal preferences. Whether you like Allen Edmonds Crockett & Jones or Carmina is up to you. There is no ultimate right or wrong.
Carmina also has different lasts like the “Detroit,” which they call “American inspired.” It has a slightly square toe, but still round and a roomier instep. The “Oscar” is sturdy and classic – nice and round in the front with a wider width. So, if you’re a bigger foot, this may be a better fit for you.
So, in summary, if you look at the price, most of Carmina’s shoes cost £329 or €395 or $475, and for that amount of money, the range of last you get is quite good. Most brands in that price segment have fewer offers for you in terms of lasts. Personally, I like their lasts quite a bit. I think the shapes are very elegant and flattering without being over-the-top.
Leathers
Carmina offers 30 different types of leathers. If you go to their website, they sometimes even mention the tannery where the leather was sourced, and you can see they have box calf shoes, suede, cordovan, but also exotic skins, such as lizard, crocodile, alligator, and even peccary.
We use peccary for our Fort Belvedere leather gloves because it’s such a durable and soft leather. Carmina used it for dress shoes and I don’t know how to make it stiffer. Personally, I don’t think it’s the best look for dress shoes, but then again, each to his own.
I’d much rather have a pair of Museum calf shoes from them, for example, or some of their woven leather shoes or boots than something in peccary. Maybe a pair of house shoes that’s supposed to be really soft and comfy would be great in peccary. Good idea!
The nice thing is Carmina doesn’t just have one type of color per leather but, oftentimes, you can choose between different colors. Of course, there are more color variations in the popular leathers than in the not-so-popular ones.
Carmina also has a made-to-order program where you can choose the type of leather and the style to your exact specifications, which gives you a really broad range of options. Of course, that comes at an increased price and it all depends on what you choose. There’s not many other companies that offer alligator and crocodile and lizard as a ready-to-wear shoe.
They also have Museum calf or the regular box calf, suedes, Horween, cordovan. So, you’re covered in the classic fronts there too. Overall, I’d say a good leather selection that is above average for that price range.
Of course, looking at shoes from the outside and feeling the leather, touching it, seeing how it breaks in is one thing. We went a step further and cut a pair of Carmina shoes apart.
This particular shoe had a nice, thick leather lining in purple. It had an upper and a beautiful kind of brown. It was not aniline-dyed, the lining was, but not every leather must be aniline dyed in order to be high quality.
The uppers were still a high-quality box calf leather with a nice stiffness that I think is comparable to a pair of Crockett & Jones from their main line or maybe a little above the Allen Edmonds’ main line.
Again, different manufacturers use different leathers from different vendors, but they most often go for a particular stiffness so the feel of the shoe and how you break it in is typically rather similar.
Construction
Heel
When we cut open the shoe, we also saw that the heel was an all-leather heel. It wasn’t any kind of pressed leather. The sole, the outsole was all leather. The insole was all leather. The only thing where there wasn’t leather really was around the metal shank.
There we saw some kind of leather fiber around it, and it was a very interesting construction because the shank was embedded in kind of a brown, what looked like composite leather and then, like leather fiber on top of it.
Otherwise, in terms of construction, what I noticed was the shoe was very hard to take apart, probably the hardest one so far. So, everything seemed very solidly made. I also noticed that the cork filling they had was quite a bit thicker than from other brands we’ve cut apart so far.
Again, it wasn’t all raw cork. It was this typical cork-glue mixture that you find in most factory shoes at this price range. Actually, even higher price shoes typically use this and not the real cork. That’s something you definitely see in a bespoke shoe, though.
Uppers
From the outside, the uppers were all stitched very neatly. The stitching was close to the edge, even in double rows, and you can see that they have skilled workers among their staff.
Otherwise, we saw the typical metal tags that keep the leather on the last when the shoe is made, that are just left in. You could even see a bit of plastic in there, which is a clear plastic layer and it tells me, when they make their shoes, they cover the upper leather in plastic so it doesn’t get damaged by accident.
The shoe we cut apart was Goodyear welted in the typical fashion with a glued-on gem band. It’s not something you would see in a bespoke shoe. But, in this price range and even higher-end Goodyear-welt price ranges, this is the type of construction that you will see.
Overall, I would say the design is thought through in the Carmina shoe. For example, at their double monk strap, the front buckle is attached by leather, so it’s not flexible. The back one has kind of a flexible band, so it adjusts depending on how you wear it.
Wearing the shoes, I think they’re quite comfortable and fit true to size for me. I got the 10-and-a-half UK, which I would wear usually and that’s pretty much standard also in their last. Kyle, for example, got a size 11 and he felt it was too small for his foot. Nathan tried it on. He also felt it was too small. So, it was a great candidate to be cut apart.
Welt Stitching
The welt stitching on Carmina shoes is very neat. The waist is rounded, not too extreme. It’s not a fiddleback waist and not super slim, but you can see that it is all neatly finished. I also like how close the heel is to the upper leather and you can see there’s a concave shape of the heel, so it sits very close to the leather.
All little details where you can see they pay attention to such little things, and they think they’re important enough to incorporate into the shoe because the look, after all, matters.
When you cut apart the shoe, you could really see that the upper leather was backed throughout with a fabric layer, probably to give it stability and that stiffer feel that’s consistent across the range I mentioned before.
The toe cap is a thermoplastic that gives it some whatever stability. The heel cap was kind of a leather composite product, it seemed like, and that was also very stiff. What they also do is taped every area that had seams just to make sure everything stays in place, which I think is a very neat way to do. We’ve seen it in other shoes as well.
But, overall, I would say Carmina is one of the more extensively taped and backed brands that we’ve seen. One thing I noticed was their leather lining was very thick, which I thought was good because it’s less likely to wear through quickly.
So, in terms of construction, for this price level, I think they’re above average and it’s really well-made quality Goodyear-welted shoes.
Sole Options
Carmina has quite a few sole options. You can find heavier commando soles, you can find rubber soles, you can find regular leather soles, and also Rendenbach leather soles. They also have a combination of rubber and leather soles, so you’ll find something that works for you. Overall, I was surprised to see commando soles on an otherwise rather elegant boot. But, hey, if it gives you the grip you need, go for it.
Combination soles are more for the practical kind, who wants the grip of rubber, but the slim sleek look. Personally, I’m a big fan of leather soles because I don’t have any balance issues for example. Preston, on the other hand, always prefers rubber soles, so it’s a personal preference thing and you can choose whatever you like. I like the sound of walking with leather soles and I find it much more pleasing than rubber soles.
If you’re a classic men’s shoe enthusiast, you’ve heard of Johann Rendenbach leather soles. Now, they are a great product. I think they’ve done even greater marketing. So, now, you ask people about the Rendenbach, they say, “Yes! It’s the best of the best.”
In my experience, there are many other companies who make oak bark-tanned leather soles that are of comparable, maybe sometimes, even higher quality than the Rendenbach, which cost less and don’t have the same brand recognition.
In fact, when I visited the Allen Edmonds factory, the people there told me that, in their internal testings, their Mexican sole leather outlasted Rendenbach, but they would still put the Rendenbach on their more expensive cordovan shoes because that’s what people associate with high quality and, sometimes, you have to go with what the market demands.
That being said, if you get a Rendenbach sole from Carmina, it comes with a slightly elevated cost.
The vast majority of Carmina shoes are all Goodyear welted. I think they have a few loafer models that are Blake stitched and they cost less, so you can easily spot them that way. If you look at the soles, you can’t see any stitching. For example, compared to an Allen Edmonds or Crockett & Jones’ main line, these Carminas look more like the Crockett & Jones hand-grade line instead.
In my opinion, it creates a neat look and it’s typically something found at Goodyear welted shoes at a higher price point. The sole is definitely hard and needs to be broken in, but they are not super-thick double soles, so it is doable. Overall, I had softer shoes and had stiffer shoes, but, still, they’re somewhat on the firm side.
Custom Shoes
If you buy from their website, they also give you the option to have a metal toe cap added for a small upcharge. If you do that, you can’t return the shoes. So, only do that if you know it’s going to fit you.
Personally, I don’t find them too appealing. I have nice wood floors at home, so I don’t want to damage my wood floors with metal. That being said, I also have a large number of shoes and, therefore, wear is not an issue for me.
If you just have two, three, or four pairs of shoes, having a little toe cap on the sole, it’s really helpful because it will mean the shoe will wear less quickly. So, overall, you get a lot of sole for your money with Carmina.
If you can’t find a sole option with a shoe you want, again, they have a custom shoe program. It even has a 3D creator, so you can see what the final product will look like. Again, because it’s not the actual leather and just a computer program, it may not look 100% like it, but it’s pretty neat.
Carmina Shoes in Review
So, how do these shoes feel, how do they break in when you walk with them, and what’s our verdict after having them for over a year?
First of all, let me say Carmina sent us a bunch of different shoes, and then, we had shoes that we purchased ourselves and walked around with, so we have no different perceptions of the shoes that we bought versus the ones we got from them.
As you know, the Gentleman’s Gazette, we say exactly what we want, we say it like it is, and neither Carmina nor any other company has any say about what we bring up here in this review.
One pair of shoes they sent to us was a suede, unlined chukka boot that is supposed to be a little softer. I had no experience with that, but our cameraman Chris had a pair of them and he could notice the difference between the regular Oxford and their unlined chukka boot.
As you might know, I have an ever-growing shoe collection and I wanted to get a pair of shoes that I didn’t quite have already. So, I went with a chocolate brown, braided-leather Chelsea boot and I think it’s on the Rain last.
Frankly, Chelsea boots are hard for me because I have a very slim heel and with a Chelsea boot, you just have the elastics on the side. So, typically, a Chelsea boot for me is rather tight in the front part of the foot and not tight enough in the back part of the foot.
These, I have to say, fit me quite well. It’s not a bespoke fit. The heel is too wide, but so are most shoes. But, still, it’s much better for me than other shoes I’ve found.
In the front, I have a little more room, which makes them comfortable and it probably will lead to a few creases down the line. But, overall, a pretty good fit for me. Trust me, there are lots of brands who send us shoes where I just can’t wear them because the heel is too wide and I just slip out.
Jack, our scriptwriter, has had a pair of aniline Oxfords on their Buger last, which is a little more chiseled than their Rain last. He also experienced a slight breaking period, but, otherwise, it’s a comfortable shoe for him. Jack also has other shoes from Edward Green and Crockett & Jones hand-grade, so he has a good understanding of how they fit into the Goodyear-welted shoe scene overall.
Preston got a black pair of Carmina Oxfords in UK size 7-and-a-half. He says they fit a little more snugly and, once the shoe is on, it is a good fit. But, getting them on and off, he says, can be a bit of a challenge. But, it’s something he sometimes faces as well. He said, overall, in his opinion, the shoes and the leathers are on the stiffer side and they need a longer break-in period than other shoes.
Our videographer Chris had size 12 in Carmina UK, and he typically wears 12-and-a-half in Allen Edmonds, and he said it fit him well. So, in combination with the experience we had from Kyle where the shoe didn’t quite fit, when in doubt, size up because, technically, US 12 is UK 11. But, he went with 12. His unlined chukka boots were a bit narrower than the Oxfords in the same size that were lined. Obviously, they’re made on different lasts.
So, as you can see, being able to actually go to a Carmina store and try on different sizes and different lasts is probably the best bet to get the fit right. If that’s not an option for you, you have to go online and do that, and it’s possible because they do sell online.
Our Verdict: Are Carmina Shoes Worth It?
In order to do that, we first have to look at all of their pricing. The lowest range shoe starts at £229 or €275 or $300. For that, you get Blake-stitched loafers or some Goodyear-welted loafers. Oxford and derby shoes start at £287 or €345 or $405. But, let’s say, the vast majority of all Carmina shoes are sold at £329, €395, or $475. Their boots start at £350, €420, or $525.
Prices continue to go up depending on the model and leather you choose. For example, cordovan shoes start at £500, €690, or $790. These leather shoes start a bit lower than that. Crocodile, on the other hand, is more expensive at £824 or €990 or $1,155.
The most expensive shoes are their alligator ones. They cost £3,246, €3,900, or $4,090. Frankly, if you go with alligator shoes and you spend that much money, you probably want to get it done bespoke unless you know this last fits you really, really well.
If we take everything into consideration – options of lasts, last styles, quality of craftsmanship, quality of the leathers – overall in the package, I would say Carmina is definitely worth it at their main price point. Again, that’s £329, or €395, or $475. They do run sales from time to time, so you will get an even better deal then.
As things often go, there is a caveat. In the case of Carmina, it is customer service. For example, Nathan on our team bought a pair of unlined suede loafers from Carmina. A few days after he got them, the price was advertised and lowered by $85.
So, because he was still within the return period, he asked if he could get that discount and they said no. So, first, he tried by email, then he tried over the phone. He also said, “Well, how about you give him some store credit to buy another pair of shoes?” They were like, “Nope.”
Then, he was faced with the option to return them at a cost of $35, and he just figured it wasn’t worth the hassle and he didn’t want to spend more money with a company that had that kind of customer service. So, he just took his business elsewhere.
When you order a shoe online, keep in mind that there are no free returns and that customer service is not necessarily at a customer service level that you would expect from an American company.
That being said, most European companies have a customer service level that is below that of an American company. Why? Well, in different cultures, people just do things differently.
Conclusion
In summary, Carmina shoes are a good value addition to your shoe collection if you can put up with their stubborn customer service.
Another question is: how do they compare to Crockett & Jones or Allen Edmonds? In our book, they’re definitely a step above Allen Edmonds in terms of quality and fit. They may be a little stiffer, but, overall, I choose a Carmina shoe any day over an Allen Edmonds.
I would also choose a Carmina shoe over a Crockett & Jones main line. In my mind, they’re much closer to the hand-grade line. Some people may argue that maybe the hand-grade line has softer leathers, which is true, but the sole channel stitching, for example, is on par with what we see from Crockett & Jones and the workmanship is very similar.
Outfit Rundown
Today, I’m wearing a more country-inspired combination, which is made from a windowpane tweed jacket in a green with a rich color tone of undertones of orange and yellow. I’m combining it with a matching vest and a pair of lighter-colored corduroys. The jacket and vest were made for someone else. I got it off of eBay and I just like the pattern of it.
The pants are from Polo Ralph Lauren. My shirt is from Hundred Hands. It’s kind of an off-white or ivory color. It has cufflinks, but, unfortunately, the buttonholes are so small that it only works with a very select few cufflinks. So, I’m wearing a pair of malachite cufflinks with it.
I’m also wearing a matching malachite ring and a pair of Fort Belvedere socks in dark brown and beige. They’re shadow-striped. They tie together the chocolate brown boots from Carmina with my corduroys. I have a silk tie in a madder silk with blue, green, orange, and red that picks up the color of my jacket and my vest, and I’m pairing it with a pale green, whitish boutonniere. It’s the white Christmas rose boutonniere from Fort Belvedere, and you can find it in our shop just like the tie and the socks.