Crocodile Shoes-How Can I Tell If They Are Real

Having the real thing has always been important to me and I'm sure it is to you, and that goes for crocodile shoes as well. As anyone would well know there are plenty of look alikes available for crocodile mens shoes from your very fake looking shoes made of vinyl to your more realistic shoes made of almost convincing printed leather. First we'll get the overly fake looking crocodile shoes made of plastic out of the way. You know these shoes are fake the moment you lay your eyes on them by either their overly shiny appearance to the not so convincing look of the crocodile texture that was poorly done. They look like plastic and will even smell like plastic.

Even if you can get past the shininess of the fake crocodile shoes, you won't be able to get past the fact that the scales look absolutely nothing like real crocodile mens shoes. No way, no how. Plus the plastic fake reptile style shoes usually have very cheap looking plastic sole and heel combinations that have been glued on entirely and don't look like they will last more than a couple wears. They may even have fake stitching on the soles but still not very convincing.

On the more expensive imitation crocodile shoes like Giorgio Venturi shoes which are made of leather, you can expect to pay about $70 or $80 and although the shoe manufacturer does a much better job of it, you can still tell they are not genuine article and here's how. First although made of leather and heat pressed into crocodile printed scales, you simply can't replicate the true texture and feel of real crocodile shoes. Genuine Crocodile skin has a texture that almost feels like snake skin. The skin has a natural grain to it that you can feel by rubbing the skin in one direction and then rub in the other direction and feel a difference. That can't be duplicated by a high pressure press.

Real crocodile shoes just have a suppleness to the skin that will get completely lost on printed leather just because the croc print on leather is done with high pressure literally crushing the leather and taking away any suppleness it may have had. Plus on imitation printed leather crocodile style shoes, all you need to do is look at the other details like the interior of the shoe which a shoe maker will always cheap out on if they can and will to keep costs down. If the shoes are lined in leather it will not be fully lined and will use inferior grades of leather such as pigskin or don't use real leather at all inside but use leather looking vinyl.

The forefoot of the fake crocodile looking shoe will not use leather lining at all but use some sort of cloth fabric instead. Now the soles used on the imitation crocodile mens shoes may or may not be made of leather, if they are leather they are cheaply attached by either glue alone or halfway stitched and glued for the remainder of the sole. You will be able to tell that the sole of the shoes are not genuine stacked leather heels that have been shaped into a heel and hand nailed onto the genuine leather and highly polished soles that real crocodile shoes for men would have. You can also let your nose tell that the shoes you are looking to buy are real crocodile shoes.

When you first pull those real crocodile shoes out of the box that you are looking to buy, you will notice immediately the rich aromatic smell of real Italian leather, unlike cheap shoes that use tons of glue and give of glue vapors, genuine exotic skin mens shoes use very little glue at all so the rich smell of Italian crocodile skins and leather is all you smell. Plus on authentic crocodile shoes there will be stamps into the sole stating that the shoes are made of genuine leather in Italian and stating that the shoes are genuine crocodile by either a stamp into the leather or a miniature brass plaque that has been nailed onto the sole. Let's face it when you're buying real crocodile shoes it won't take long to realize that they are genuine crocodile shoes and not some look alike mass produce copy.