At last! I’ve finally come around getting me a pair of the Carnaby Pro Leather! I was holding off on it and things just lined up for a responsible purchase so huzzah, why not! I’ve been putting this to the test for over a month now and I’m sure you’re curious about how it measures up!
If you’re looking for a product review for Lacoste Carnaby Pro BL Leather Tonal Sneakers then you’ve come to the right place!
Table of Contents
Reason for purchasing
- I wanted a nice, clean, white shoes I can wear when I have to dress casual (or sometimes casual-formal) and look nice and presentable. I technically have one already but need something leather/easy-to-clean since the one I have (Lacoste Lerond) is hard to maintain.
- I don’t need it for activities (e.g.: I’m not going to run or play street football with these) but I still need it to be comfortable of more-than-usual standing and walking
- It was 40% off
Testing scenarios
I’ve worn this just to quickly walk down the building, errands, spend time in a cafe, or go have a night out. Also I’ve worn this with long walks both in actual paved paths and also on ground/dirt. I’ve walked it on dusty trails, soft mud, even grass patches on a decline on a humid day.
I’ve worn ankle socks with it every time.
Insights
Look and feel
Construction
As always, let’s start with the most obvious: the looks. Based on what I was looking for and my preference, this checks everything. I wanted it white, simple, clean.
More specifically, I don’t like when white sneakers look “patched up”. For me that means I don’t like it when: the upper is made of different textures, different shades of white, or sometimes the stitching has a different colour. It’s also a distraction for me when the stitching is thick so you see more intersections rather than flat, clean surfaces.
The best I can think of as an example is the Adidas Superstar. Yup, nope. Sambas or Salas: could be since I love ⚽
It has a higher heel tab compared to my Lacoste Lerond. That’s a new sensation for me. You feel it when you’re putting your foot in. On one hand, it’s a bigger tab for you to pull when you’re about to wear it but also (and especially during my first few tries) I was scared that the tall tab would continuously poke or bother me while walking (it didn’t).
Texture
On top of making the shoe easier to clean, the leather texture also gives you that personal aesthetic that “you’re not here to do a sport (although I think it’s technically for tennis lol), but you’re here to make an impression.
Sure it also gives you that more premium material/feel compared to the “poly” materials.
One tip I can give is that when you get your fresh leather pair, it’s so fresh it has no creases. I’d suggest to wear it properly and excellently from day 1 so when the creases form it forms on the right spots.
With my old pair, I didn’t know I was wearing the right shoe loosely so when the folds formed, it’s slightly on the wrong place. What happened is that the part where the shoe folds around your toe area vs where my actual join for my foot and toes are, they don’t align! So it was also uncomfortable, sometimes painful to walk long period with it.
This time I made sure that my heel is shoved to the back of the shoes and tied it really tight at least for the first few tries. After the creases formed, I got lax and loose about it but it’s still comfortable and this time the folds and anatomy align!
Maintenance
This is another 10/10 with this pair: it’s leather so it’s easy to clean. To start, things don’t stick much to it and it’s not an absorbent material. When cleaning, you just wipe it off with dry paper towel.
So far the best test I’ve had is we were walking on a mildly soft mud and there were some splatters. I didn’t clean it right away for fear of smudging (traumatized with my white canvas Lerond :/ ) and then it took us maybe another hour to get home and only then I did water + paper towel. It came off easily.
I have yet to experience crazy accidents like swift swipe of football cleat that leaves a mark or something.
Oh, and the sneakers are leather but the laces are still cotton. It’s not synthetic or if it were to be cotton, it’s not the tight-stitched one that’ll offer stain/dirt resistance. So don’t go splashing on mud just yet. You’ll be able to wipe it off the rest of the shoe but your laces will look like shit.
Comfort
It’s not Pure/Ultraboost or Pegasus I’ll tell you that much LOL. Well to clarify, I wasn’t expecting couch comfort level like that. It’s just that I came from that side and I’m slowly going to the other side of the spectrum.
I would say it’s a 7.5/10 comfort which becomes 8/10 once you’ve given it a couple of minutes walking around with it.
“Walls” of the shoe
It’s a different type of comfort. The first thing I noticed is I really felt and noticed the sides of the shoe. Unlike synthetic and comfortable shoes where the shoe just melts to the shape of your foot, here you’ll feel the shape of the shoe. It’s not uncomfortable but if you’re like me who’s coming from the same side of the spectrum, that’s something to notice. Maybe the first two days I wore it I definitely felt like there was a breaking-in period where your foot will have to resist and put pressure against the shoe to take a more permanent shape.
After a while as you walk with it, you don’t notice it as much.
Edit (Sept 15, 2024): I guess there’s just a breaking in period; maybe 7-10 uses? Because now I noticed that…I barely notice it at all now, which is good in my books!
“Midsole sink”
The second thing I noticed was inside the shoe. The first few times I wore it, it felt as though my foot sank a couple of millimeters through the midsole inside while having a stiff edge/borders of the shoe. What ends up happening is I can feel the edges of the shoe, if that made sense? So imagine a butter tart and you’re stepping on it slowly right before the shell crumbles. While stepping on it, you’ll feel your foot going deeper in the center (the tart). At the same time, you can feel the pastry shell resisting on the edges. So like that, but in a shape of a shoe.
Again it’s not uncomfortable or painful. It’s just a new sensation. I don’t know if these concerns are normal and expected for leather sneakers. This is my first time having leather on my sneakers (excluding dress shoes) after all. You don’t notice them at all or give you any inconvenience as you walk through the day.
Also, same thing, as you walk with it, you don’t feel/notice it as much.
Heel abrasion
Apart from easy-to-clean, the second biggest factor/concern/fear I had is that I wanted my new pair to not cause too much abrasion on my own heel while walking. I like ankle socks and sometimes the socks sink and rubs with my skin directly. As mentioned, this pair has a bigger and higher heel tab so that’s something I was really worrying about the first few times.
I learned over time that the causes of that abrasion is either the shoe’s too big or the laces aren’t tight enough. Neither are the case for this one for sure. You’ll read in the “laces” section below how secure it is and as mentioned above, I made sure I wear this properly now every time.
Thankfully I haven’t had any issue with it. I made it a point to wear it during some of our warmest, most humid days and no problem! No abrasion, no wounds. This is during days where it was humid enough that if you walked to a date, you wouldn’t look or feel (or smell) sexy. It wasn’t humid enough though where sweat beads are dripping down your socks.
Recommendable, just based on comfort?
Again if you’re out and “presenting yourself” and looking good, this is perfect. If you intend to use this for long walks or long hours of standing, I would not recommend this. Primarily it’s because there are much more comfortable shoes out there. It’s bearable and you can survive if you have no other option or if this is your only pair, but well~ keyword is “survive”.
I wouldn’t wear this to music festivals where you’re standing 6-8 hours. In fact I didn’t.
Laces
I just needed to discuss some items here quick:
First is that the laces are long. I never get that with shoes. There are shoes with laces that are so long with no further holes to loop it through and there are boots that are hefty that have short ones, ugh. I have never tripped on it nor did I feel it was a hazard. It was just noticeable.
I find that they get easily tangled. With previous pairs, I don’t pay attention to it. I just pull an end and it unties itself neatly. With these, I’ve tangled them twice already. If the end is through a loop and you pull it, yup, you’re screwed. It’s a little bit of con since I never had to devote brain power for motions like this in my previous pairs. At the same time it’s not enough to surrender the pair. It can easily be resolved by just being mindful that you’re not pulling an end through a loop.
I find that the laces are tight and secure. For example, in my previous pairs, if I over-tighten the laces, it loosens eventually as you walk (may not be a good thing actually). For these, if you over-tighten it and it’s painful, it’ll be painful each step and it wouldn’t give. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing for you but just letting you know.
Lastly I find that the flat laces are really nice to look at but difficult to loosen. What I mean is when you get home and after I untie my shoe, I find that I have to focus and use my nails to lift the laces off the shoe. Again, aesthetically I love it. It just that this experience it different and it’s the first time I’m experiencing this. I’d prefer it to be flat and looking good and easy to pick out but you can’t win ’em all lol.
Outsole
If you didn’t know already, the Carnaby has this smooth-looking outsole design and shallow treads. I don’t know much about tennis so maybe this is “tennis-inspired” and maybe flat-surfaced outsole is a desirable characteristic in that sport. I’m only wearing this casually and for style so when I first saw this, I was worried about its traction. Usually when I see a flat outsole like this it means your kicks are so worn out already lol.
The material is rubber for sure and I have yet to get into a situation where I slipped when I normally shouldn’t. I even took a couple of steps in this dirt+grass trail on a decline and I was still in control of that. It’s not as slippery as I thought it would be.
It’s grippy like any other shoes, any other outsole design patterns. If you think you can do a slide with this on a smooth asphalt/concrete, I highly doubt it (unless it’s dusty/rocky).
I only have one mystery, one more test to do to be satisfied. I’m waiting for winter to come and I want to see how this fairs with winter. I don’t intend to use this on high piles of snow but I’m hoping that I shouldn’t be slipping on the thinnest or layers or send me sliding on a thinly-snow-covered slope.
I know this isn’t a winter boot but I do travel to winter destinations too and the varying snow conditions plus having to present myself to people (also think après-ski) makes it a factor to consider.
Why choose this over other Lacoste white sneakers?
Lacoste definitely has lots of options when it comes to white sneakers so I’ll quickly compare it against some of their other product line.
Against the Lerond (or any other canvas variety), it’s the cleanliness/maintenance issue. This Carnaby is easier to maintain.
Against the other varieties of Carnaby’s (e.g.: the NOT tonal ones), I have equal weight and consideration with them. I could’ve easily bought the others instead of this. It was mostly due to price and availability (on top of material and appearance preferences), that’s why I ended up with this one specifically.
The Powercourt line was the close second if none of the Carnaby’s worked out for me. I like plain white sneakers but I do love their French-flag-inspired colourway.
The Bayliss was my third option. It starts to fall off my requirements though. For example, it has that perforated section on the upper. I don’t think it looks nice and I think that’s just gonna be another part that’s hard to maintain and possibly holes that might get caught on things. I do like shoes with heel loops so that kind of makes up for it.
All else, too much going on/not interested.
Recap
If you’re looking for a white, stylish, quality, and brand-recognized pair, this is definitely a great contender. There are lots out there but the Lacoste Carnaby Pro BL Leather Tonal Sneakers are definitely memorable.
Again if you’re needing a shoe for long walks or spending a lot of time standing, maybe this isn’t for you.
