Woodlands - Ultimate in comfort. Review on Woodland

The rugged look and classy leather of this footwear brand has always held me fascinated. Earlier I used to buy any unbranded footwear, the criteria being design and gloss. My first buy was a Lotto branded shoe for 1.5k which I had to unfortunately stop wearing since I started working online. After being in the shoe box for 1 year or so I decided to wear it for a wedding. Unfortunately I reached the venue but couldn't walk as the sole disintegrated into fine powder. Still not learning I further bought 2 more 1k range leather sandals (other local brands) but these too wouldn't last as the leather starts to disintegrate after 1 or 2 years of sparing use mostly over the top portion.

Around 2004, I stepped into a Woodlands unit and bought a shoe suiting my budget yet still looking tough and rugged. (around 1.5 k after discount)  It looked great with any casuals and the comfort was incomparable. Since then I have worn it through a different variety of terrains, trekking, jungle trips, limestone caves and even a mudvolcano. Yet ... there is not a single scratch to prove it. Around 2007-8 the inside padding stitches came off and the sponge on one of the shoes popped out. Since then I discarded it as I didnt think a local cobbler could do justice to the craftsmanship and left it on a shoe-rack outside my house where it was exposed to scorching heat and some spraying from the rain.

After a gap I again decided this time to buy a sandal from this wonderful brand. I was confident that even the sandal would last a minimum 5 years. so I invested around 2.3k this time and bought a stylish pair. Unable to discard my old shoes I took it back it to this store and got it repaired for a mere 50 bucks. It is now as good as new and looks better the older it gets.

Well the camel color sandals look cool with traditional mundu and even with any other casual wear. I have not tried other brands but I am sure this brand will never fail the footwear torture test. However I am not sure how the sandals will perform in the rain. Anyway I am sure I wont have to invest in footwear for atleast a good 5 years.

Kudos to this brand.

(Please check the footwear piece you decide to buy for any signs of manufacturing defect, any signs of stitch give-way and also tug gently on the portions of the joining areas of top and bottom. Also try to bend the sole to see the flexibility it can give on rough terrain.)