Carlos Santos Double Monks 7 Year Review: Was $450 Well Spent?

A Re-Review With 7 Years Of Experience

One of the hardest parts about a shoe review, is guessing how the shoe will hold up and age over time and wear.

Coming right of my recent article about Cost Per Wear, it got me looking at my wardrobe and the vast amounts of dress shoes I collected over the past 7 years.

Welcome to my first post of a multi-part upcoming series, where I re-review my older acquisitions now that they have some mileage behind them. Now, I won’t be going in extreme depths unless necessary — as I already did that during the original reviews — but I will focus on the important things.

If you followed the blog before, you know that I have no filter. For better or worse, I have been called controversial and that I write sensational content. One thing’s for sure, you cannot argue with my honesty and bluntness. Whether it is fighting with the owner of Saint Crispin’s in YouTube comments or Allen Edmonds Enthusiast Facebook Groups, we don’t hold back here.

Grab a coffee and let’s begin.

The Challenges Of New Shoe Reviews

Since this is the first post of the series, I would like to briefly touch upon this topic.

Whenever you get a new pair of shoes and you do a quick review, there are a few niggling issues with them.

You just cannot know how the leather will perform after 6 months, a year or more. It could look phenomenal sitting there when it’s new, but the quality will eventually show. A big example for me was the review from Yearn Shoemaker which seemingly fit well and had good leather, but after 3 wears they suddenly became unbearable to wear and the leather seemed like loose grain. So I sold them immediately.

A Re-review like this allows me to see what I said, reflect and maybe learn what to do (and not to do) in the future. It also allows you to see the true nature and potential of a dress shoe from various brands.

Let’s move on to the Carlos Santos Double Monks Review.

THE CARLOS SANTOS 9975: MY MOST-WORN Double MONK STRAP

I will be starting this series with one of my first shoe purchases, the Carlos Santos 9975 Handgrade Double Monk Straps in Light Norte Patina.

This was a $450 purchase I made around 7 years ago, back when I was still starting The Noble Shoe. I was looking for new models and colors and found this one in the archives. It should be telling that I still offer the same model in black 7 years later in my store.

Light Norte (Blue) is also a beautiful color, easy to match and making a subtle contrast with grey, beige or olive.

Looking at my records, I’ve worn these shoes approximately 400 times during this time. It’s honestly my go to right after my own bespoke shoes and Yeossal.

Looking at how much mileage I’ve squeezed out of them, without any resole and basic maintenance, might also help you qualm any fears of handpainted patina leather or single leather soles.

Shop The 9975

THE PATINA

A good leather with a good patina will age nicely, just like these did.

I sent some shoes (for free mind you) to a strange person on YouTube and he chopped them in half and there was this entire discourse that the leather is too thin.

It is so negligible it’s not even worth discussing, but it was very funny to me.

Here however you can see how my Carlos Santos Double Monks really look like after 7 years of wear.

Through mud, rain, snow and salt in Sweden to scorching heat in the cobble stones of Florence, it survived it all.

The dark spots and burnishing remains as it always were, while the main bulk of the patina brightened slightly letting nature takes its course.

Most importantly, the maintenance is so low and up to the time and effort you want to put into it.

For example, I am not a guy that mirror shines his shoes I just don’t have the patience or the skill for it. You never use conditioners such as renovateur (I do consider them scams anyway) since it will strip away patina colors. All you need is a good brush and when required, some neutral polish and wax. More advanced users might want to blend some colors to cover some nicks and possible cuts but I never had to.

Personally, I think the light Norte patina looks fabulous now.

The Leather

I already touched upon this above, but the result speaks of itself.

Does this look like a 7 year old shoe? It has creases, it has wear, but with good care, smart rotation of footwear and shoe trees, this can be the result.

Not all leathers or shoes will crease the same, this depends on the leather, your foot and how the last fits you.

For me, last 401 fits perfect and I think it shows on the leather itself.

Never have I feared the leather will rip, tear or be ruined just because it’s patina leather. Let’s dispel this myth just like the myth that suede is not good with water.

Very rarely have I had customers at The Noble Shoe encounter issues with patina leather and whenever that happened, I took care of it.

You will live a long, happy life together with your Carlos Santos.

Stitching & Soles

I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a pair of good dress shoes that had issues with stitching.

Occasionally, you will find some stitch uneven here and there, or on a Chelsea it might fray after a long time.

Here everything is in order, pretty much just like when they were new so I have nothing to report.

One small spot in the backseam had a small stitch that was a bit loose, but that’s expected by now.

The soles however are an even more important aspect since they are the ones taking all the punishment from the very first step you take.

These Carlos Santos shoes are from the Premium Handgrade Line, so they have a closed channel handpainted leather sole.

This means that the stitching is not visible and is hidden under a channel they make to give it a very nice, clean look.

Even in bespoke, this is how you do it and then glue the cut part back on, to give it this seamless look. So if with wear it frays or lifts or tears a little bit, it is ok.

In fact, even if the stitching is exposed (like in regular Goodyear Welted Shoes) or a stitch breaks, the structural integrity of the shoe will be fine. Do not worry.

As you can see mine have held up pretty well and I don’t need to resole them yet, even though I probably could.

Just remember that I wear these about once a week. If you wear them 5 times a week or non-stop, your mileage will be less before the need to resole.

Fit & Comfort

The beautiful thing about Goodyear Welted Shoes is that once you find a good fit, it only becomes better with time.

The 401 is one of the best selling Carlos Santos lasts in my store and one of my best fitting Ready To Wear (RTW) lasts.

Getting older I appreciate a comfortable fit more than a snug fit, but I still enjoy the “swoosh” these double monks make when I slide my foot in them with the shoe horn.

The cork settles and molds to your foot with time, making for a very pleasant experience.

It varies from person to person but for me and quite a lot of customers this last has generous width and good arch support.

My recommendation still remains the same about sizing though. If you are a D width in most of your dress shoes you should size down half from your regular.

Example: Someone who wears Allen Edmonds 65 Last in US 9 or Carmina Rain in UK 8 should select a UK 7.5 in the Carlos Santos 401 Last.

Conclusion: A Sentimental, Amazing Shoe

These Carlos Santos 9975 Double Monks were one of my first Goodyear Welted Shoe purchases and one of the most important ones.

I was just starting my shop, falling in love with this brand and it’s incomprehensible quality and price compared to the opposition.

And here we are 7 years later, after 400 wears looking as good as new, with newfound character absorbed over the years, durability, evolution and comfort.

Looking back, shoes like these are the ones that solidify and reinforce my thoughts that quality trumps quantity and that I made the right choice to become a shoemaker and retail this historic brand.

Some could argue that I am biased (which I am a little), but the emails I receive from happy people, the photos you see of my own shoes tell their own story.

And of course, as you will see in the next parts I will sing the praises of direct competitors, or lambast brands that even gave me free review items.

It’s honestly one of the best $450 I have ever spent.

PS. This shoe is available in black at The Noble Shoe.

Shop The 9975

Thank you for reading,

Kostas Mandilaris,
Misiu Academy