Carmina Shoe Review - Chestnut SEMI-BROGUE Oxfords 👞 | Kirby Allison

The Carmina Shoe Review - Chestnut SEMI-BROGUE Oxfords is made with a beautiful chestnut vegetable tanned leather on their Inca last. The shoe features broguing on the toe cap, vamp, and rear quarters. I really appreciate Carmina’s ability to retain all of the broguing elements one would expect on a semi-brogue without the shoe being overwhelmed or looking too busy. This is achieved with several techniques we’ll discuss in a bit. The shoe retails for $495 with free shipping in the United States. For those located outside the United States, they can be purchased from Carmina’s European webshop for 410€. Cedar shoe trees are an additional $70. DESIGN The Carmina #80251 Semi-Brogue Oxfords are made in a beautiful, light-brown chestnut vegetable tanned leather on the company’s Inca last. This shoe has all of the traditional elements of a semi-brogue, with its medallion and broguing elements, but without being overwhelming or looking too busy. In fact, for a semi-brogue, it is actually quite a clean looking shoe, which I really appreciate. There is a great balance between the beautiful, open leather pieces and the broguing, which showcases the natural beauty of the vegetable tanned leather. Carmina is able to achieve this balance on the #80251 using several techniques. First, they use single-needle stitching along the broguing. I have seen this done by other makers using double-stitching, essentially creating four rows of stitching along the broguing, and it creates a very h