text: The Cole Haan dress shoes arrived yesterday, and I very excited/anxious to be receiving them.  I ordered them for a close friend's wedding, since I was invited to be an usher. I figured it was time to update my shoes, since my last ones were on the verge of retirement.  Easier said than done for a poor college student.  It took a good chunk out of my paycheck, but I was able to order the shoes just in time for the wedding with 3 days to spare.  Well, I can honestly say when the shoes arrived they were, I sure was surprised (both in a good and bad way.)  The shoes themselves are of really good quality.  I've worn many dress shoes throughout my life (my family is religious.), and there are some things that I would like to point out about these shoes.  Some dress shoes the leather is softer, more pliable, than others; well, not this shoe.  These are as stiff as a board, with very little give.  That can be a good or bad thing depending on one's opinion.  I personally like dress shoes that way.  With the shoe being so stiff,  it does mean they'll be taking some breaking in.  Now I bet your wondering why if I liked the shoe, that I gave them one star.  Here's why.  The pair of shoes I received, well, it was obvious that they were used.  To be honest, I expected shoes that had been tried on like you would expect in a shoe stores (it's hard to find a pair of shoes that haven't at least been tried on once by someone else.) The issue I have, it that the pair I received was obviously used/abused for a couple days, then returned.  There are scuffs around the shoe, but scuffs aren't hard to polish out.  The heal is worn, by outside use if I could guess (concrete/pavement) it's harder to wear down the heel of a shoe on carper or tiles.  The shoes also have permanent creases already from excessive use (still livable, since I was only going to do this to the shoes myself.) But the biggest issue was the gash taken out of the side of one of the shoes.  Everything else could be seen as normal use or polished out.  Holes in leather shoes are harder to cover, and all you really can do is try to make them less noticeable.  However, this was the breaking point for me.  If I wanted a  pair of used shoes, I would have bought used shoes.  I would love to return them, but I need them for my friend's wedding.  Which is the most frustrating part. is what really frustrates me.  And I'm not one of the people that would use the shoe for a day and then return them (as you can see already happened to these shoes already.)  So for a recap:<br /><br />Pros:<br />-Stiff shoes (harder to break in, but more preferable for me.)<br />-Look (the style and sheen of the shoes are great.  You know the saying, you get what you pay for, and the quality of these shoes is well worth the price.)<br /><br />Neutral:<br />Like many others have already mentioned, order smaller shoes than you normally wear. I wear a 10M (U.S.) in tennis shoes, so I ordered a size 9M and it fit perfectly.<br /><br />Cons:<br />Don't expect a new shoe out of the box when it arrives.  If you need them for an event like I did, order them weeks in advance so you can return them if necessary.  (I normally do, but didn't have the money at the time to do it.  I had hoped that Amazon would pull through with their regular reliability, but was let down when I needed it most.)<br /><br />I would have given these shoes 5 stars had they been New, but getting damaged used shoes when you pay high price for new shoes is unacceptable.s normal use or polished out.  Holes in leather shoes are harder to cover, and all you really can do is try to make them less noticeable.  However, this was the breaking point for me.  If I wanted a  pair of used shoes, I would have bought used shoes.  I would love to return them, but I need them for my friend's wedding.  Which is the most frustrating part. is what really frustrates me.  And I'm not one of the people that would use the shoe for a day and then return them (as you can see already happened to these shoes already.)  So for a recap:<br /><br />Pros:<br />-Stiff shoes (harder to break in, but more preferable for me.)<br />-Look (the style and sheen of the shoes are great.  You know the saying, you get what you pay for, and the quality of these shoes is well worth the price.)<br /><br />Neutral:<br />Like many others have already mentioned, order smaller shoes than you normally wear. I wear a 10M (U.S.) in tennis shoes, so I ordered a size 9M and it fit perfectly.<br /><br />Cons:<br />Don't expect a new shoe out of the box when it arrives.  If you need them for an event like I did, order them weeks in advance so you can return them if necessary.  (I normally do, but didn't have the money at the time to do it.  I had hoped that Amazon would pull through with their regular reliability, but was let down when I needed it most.)<br /><br />I would have given these shoes 5 stars had they been New, but getting damaged used shoes when you pay high price for new shoes is unacceptable.