Nine2Five V2 de Hombre

It is the first time I have Lems shoes. The y are very well done, excellent materials, comfortable.

The only caveat is that the number 11 is 5mm shorter than other shoes I have with the same number, and I feel that 11.5 would be better for me. Unfortunately I was travelling to my Country when the shoes arrived, so I could not return them for a change.

I've been wearing Lem's Nine2Five way back since they were for sale only in EU sizes. I've owned both mocha and black. The V2 black is my fifth pair. The V2 is still a good shoe, but it entirely misses the point of the original shoe.

V2 Pros:

Fit and finish. The laces also seem to be better quality than the V1. The V1 laces disintegrated rapidly, and I always ended up changing them out with better quality ones. The cork sole is a change that I think reduces some of the minimalist feel of this shoe, but upon wearing these for several weeks, probably makes it a little easier to be on your feet all day. They do squeak, as other reviewers said, but I'm guessing that'll diminish with time.

V2 Cons:

1. The new leather, while probably higher quality (it's claimed to be), is not particularly polishable. Yes, I can use some Saphir on them and get them sort of shiny, but they've got a pretty wide pebbled texture with a dull finish that exudes "I bought 'dress shoes' at Payless." The old Nine2five had a proper shine to them (just look at photos on Google Images), and I've never had problems applying leather conditioner and polish to them to make them look like new. These new ones simply do not have, nor pick up, the same level of shine.

2. Relatedly, the removal of the captoe does not, in fact, make this shoe look dressier. Quite the opposite. Just search Google Images for "Allen Edmonds" and count the ratio of captoe to no captoe. One could argue that captoes make a shoe look…