I would like to start by explaining how much I love Rockport shoes. It all began in the 1980's when I was going to do the annual 25 mile March of Dimes walk-a-thon through Baltimore. Those who did it before told me that 25 miles on hard pavement causes your feet to sting like hornets are attacking. And it all begins at only the 16-mile point. So, I went to the mall to a shoe store and asked for a recommendation -- he told me Rockports would do the job. He was right. It was a breeze. I had leg cramps, but my feet were fine. Ever since then I have been a true-blue fan of Rockport. The shoes are generally not that attractive and a bit clunky looking, but they always feel great. Fast forward to my most recent purchase of Rockports. The official name is 'Rockport Men's Get Your Kicks Blucher Fashion Sneaker'. Not bad looking (for Rockport), and a really cheap price, so I bought them. I waited a while after receiving them before wearing them, so when the trouble began (a few weeks after wearing them) it was too late to return them. If you will look at the attached photo, you will see that the toe area of both shoes has peeled back to the underlying fabric. The Amazon write-up clearly says '100% Leather' and also 'GENUINE LEATHER' (in all caps), which this is clearly not. I noticed that other reviews commented on 'leather' as being a positive feature of the shoe. Well, they are NOT leather. I will say that the shoes are comfortable, however. As a result of all this, I decided that these must be cheap Chinese knockoffs, and somehow they snuck them into Amazon for the poor American consumer. I figured that I got one of those cheap imitations. And, I figured that with the first pair, I had kneeled in rough ground and thus scuffed the toe tips of each shoe, starting up a deterioration at the seam. Now, I have been a committed fan of Rockport since the '80's, so I decided to give them another chance. The pair I bought on Amazon cost me $59.09, a really cheap price for Rockport shoes. So, I went to the Rockport website, found the exact same shoe for $110.00 plus tax and ordered them. (I TOLD you I love Rockport!) They arrived, and everything is EXACTLY the same. The same box, the same shoe, the same size, the same color, the same barcode value -- everything is exactly the same, except that the shoes in the first box had 'J21' in one corner of their internal label and the shoes in the other had a 'K21' on their other label. That may be the separate lot that each came from. And neither pair of them are 'genuine leather', as advertised (although the Rockport website did not claim that they were leather). So, I am posting this today (09/18/2021) and I am going to wear the new shoes and see if the same problem occurs. Watch this review for my update in a couple months. I expect that I am going to have the same problem, but maybe not. UPDATE (02/13/2022) -- I am still wearing the second pair, and they are still quite comfortable. The second pair is also not leather, because I can see deterioration at the toe seam at the same spot as in the first pair. The deterioration has not spread as in the first pair, since I have been cautious not to kneel in rough ground, to prevent the seams getting scuffed. And that has probably made the difference. I think the overall conclusion to be drawn is that 1). the shoes are not leather, regardless of Amazon's opinion; 2). $59.09 is a very good price for these shoes; 3). if cautiously worn, these shoes can give very good value. ...
