Marlowe Men's Renaissance Shoes (Oxblood)

It's hard to find shoes in my size (US 13.5/14), even less so period shoes. These are fantastic! I wore them three weekends in a row at a Renaissance faire in a dusty field with minor amounts of rocks. They held up beautifully, and didn't give out at all. They came out a little dusty, but otherwise in great shape! My only request is that future versions of these shoes come with the rubber heel like the 17th century shoes do. Otherwise, these are a great purchase! One I'd definitely make again!

I got these from the pre-order, and was nail-biting when the shipment was delayed, because our Ren Faire starts in February. Once the email came that the shipment had arrived at the home office, it was only a day or two before my shoes were in my mailbox!

These are excellent quality leather, smooth finish, the stitching and heel look perfect...and I got the wrong size (doh!). American Duchess has the best return program I have ever dealt with, and it was only a few days before my new, correct-sized shoes were in my hands. Very comfortable, roomy toes (I thought I needed to order up the half-size for my wider toes, hence the oops, but these fit well in my normal size). Actually, my heels are kind of narrow, so the heel slips a little for me; I'll try again with thicker socks before adding any inserts.

The one thing I will definitely add is non-skid sole protectors: these are extremely slick out of the box, and too sweet to go completely Historically Accurate and just wear the bare leather in the dirt. If I lived somewhere with real grass, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but even my running shoes get "grass" poking through the soles. Maybe once the first set of non-skids wear out/fall off, I'll be brave enough to go native.