Disclaimer: 3DM provided these shoes to The Peak Lapel for free for the purposes of this review. Read until the end to find out how you can win a pair for yourself!
Like Adro (which we reviewed a short while ago), 3DM is another company we had never heard of before. When they reached out to us to ask if we were interested in taking a look at their shoes we were definitely interested in taking a closer look. The shoes are all made in India, and word on the street is that 3DM actually is the company providing the shoes for many new micro-brands or random companies you might find at the higher end sections of a store like DSW. Their offerings cover the gamut of dress shoes, from oxfords and derbies, to loafers and dress boots as well. As far as more casual shoes go, though, 3DM doesn’t have much. 3DM was super nice, and actually sent over three separate pairs, in a few sizes for our various reviewers to try, for this article. We’re going to review them as a unit, then, and share pictures of all three models throughout. Just about everything that could be said about one pair applies equally to all the others, we found. So, without further ado…
Packaging & Experience
The website is quite clean and easy to navigate. Shipping is pretty quick and free. And, of course, the pricing is unbeatable at about $150 per pair of shoes. Really nothing to complain about here. A
Style & Design
We were surprised with how these shoes actually looked in person. In a good way. Online, not every angle in the photos is super flattering, and there is no birds-eye-view shot, one of, in out opinion, the most important when looking at a shoe online. In person, though, these shoes are quite sleek, and have well proportioned and shaped toe-boxes. While we were nervous the shoes would either be too round and bulbous, or else way too pointy, they ended up being absolutely perfect. Are they as sleek and sexy as a shoe from Santoni? No, of course not. But for the price? These are, in all honesty, some really nice looking shoes.
3DM offers a whole range of styles, some classic, and others unique — even too unique for some of their designs. They also have some really cool offerings, like the blue suede tassel loafers we checked out in person. And, again, all of them, in our experience, are equally well-designed and shaped. Again, for the price, and given our expectations, these shoes all look super nice. A-
Quality, Construction, and Fit
3DM shoes all feature a Blake Stitched construction, which means they can easily be resoled, and are thus able to last a lot longer. The leather quality is… fine? It’s nothing to write home about, and quite stiff out of the box. Expect a break-in period with these guys. Creasing is also noticeable, especially on the non-suede loafers. Is it anything terrible? No. It’s the sort of quality you would expect, say, from one of DSW house brands (as mentioned at the start of this article). Comfort is okay, but, again, needs that break-in period. While the design of the shoes perhaps exceeded our expectations, the quality and feel of these shoes fell right within them. Meaning, they’re fine, but nothing amazing. Which is to be expected at this price. They are very reminiscent of Banana Republic shoes, if we are being perfectly honest.
As to the fit, we don’t much love the fact that they do not offer true half-sizes, instead offering only size ranges. In other words, if you are an 11.5, like I am, you won’t fit into these shoes. The 11-11.5 size they have is much too tight, while the next size up is too loose. For a company that only makes shoes — and we’ve called out Jack Erwin for this also — you really need to offer half sizes. There are no excuses. B
Value & Conclusion
3DM Dress Shoes — ~$150: The price is hard to beat, the style and designs are more than solid, and the quality is acceptable. If they fit you, and that is a bit of an “if,” they’re certainly worth checking out. Especially on sale, when they can be had even for under $100. We know they are not a common or well-known brand, but we were somewhat surprised with how these turned out, and we think you might be too. Final Grade: A-
Giveaway
To enter to win a pair of blue suede Adro loafers (pictured above) in a size US 11-11.5, simply subscribe to our weekly newsletter! Giveaway winner will be drawn on December 12, 2018, so make sure to subscribe before then in order to be entered to win. US only.