Carmina is a shoe brand that makes Goodyear-welted shoes in the small town of Inca on the Island of Mallorca, Spain. Among shoe enthusiasts, they are renowned for their quality and design for a fair price. They offer ready-to-wear shoes, made-to-order groups as well as a custom order program. These are my very first Carminas and this is my review of the custom program.
Configuration
I decided to order these shoes in the Custom program because I have very wide feet (I have 6-width Tricker’s — which is very wide) and preferred to spend a little more to have a shoe that really fits. I also wanted some shoes that are elegant, but not too showy. I live in a notoriously casual city, so Tassel loafers or full-strap loafers were out of the question. Instead, I opted for this model that some refer to as a tassel-less loafer (because they are basically the tassel-loafer without the tassel on top, if you hadn’t guessed already). The material is brown suede and is a little darker as it looks in most pictures. These shoes normally do not come on this last in the custom program (normally Rain M, Simpson and Uetam are the only options) and they are normally unlined. These are built on the Forest EEE last and are half-lined, both of which were custom requests which Carmina accommodated without comment. For extra durability, I configured them with Oak-bark tanned J.R. Rendenbach soles, which cost extra but will, apparently, last a lot longer until they need replacing.
Process
I ordered these shoes at the end of March in the normal custom order program. Unfortunately, I didn’t wait until they had their spring custom-ordering event where the custom-fee is waived, because I didn’t know it was coming up. Carmina had recently revamped their website and not everything was completely functional at this point, so I had to put many of my requests into the comments, including the lack of tassels and half-lining. The process took a little longer than the 60 days promised in the beginning, which considering Corona, I didn’t blame them for. What was however disappointing was that the shoes ordered in the custom event (which was around 2 weeks after I ordered) were delivered 3 weeks before mine, which I think is rather bad customer experience.
Result
I am very happy with the final result of the order. The shoe is supremely comfortable and the half-lined construction gives it the lightness you want on warm summer days as well as a solid construction. The colour is beautifully rich and the overall appearance is almost as casual as I wanted. If there would be something I change then it might be the last, as I hadn’t noticed quite how pointy the toe on the Rain last of Carmina is. The price was 550 EUR including shipping inside Europe.
