Wolf and Shepherd Coupon: Save 20%
When I navigated to Wolf and Shepherd’s website, I was offered a pop up with a 20% discount coupon off of a Wolf and Shepherd purchase for signing up to emails.About Wolf and Shepherd
In the summer of 2014, a friend called up Wolf and Shepherd founder Justin Schneider, pictured below, to say that his dress shoes were so uncomfortable that he had to take them off while sitting at his desk and wear sneakers to and from work to avoid having them on longer than he needed to. “This seemed to be a consistent problem among my peers,” Justin told Modern Fellows. He started cutting up shoes and gluing sneaker insoles to dress shoe uppers. “By the end of that year, I had a working prototype of a classic dress shoe with an innovative foam sole,” Justin recalls. From there, he found a factory in Portugal, identified the suppliers, including a top-of-the-line Italian leather company, and developed a proprietary, patent-protected foam. The company launched a pre-sale campaign in July 2015 and was off-and-running, adding new styles, refining its technology, and ramping up ever since. The brand received a nice pop of media coverage after runner Juris Silenieks set a new world record by running the Hotlanta half marathon in Wolf and Shepherd’s dress shoes.
What’s So Special About Wolf and Shepherd’s Shoes
Having walked around the streets of Washington, DC for the better part of two months in the pair of cap-toe lace-up oxfords the company sent over, it’s clear that Wolf and Shepherd has nailed a near-perfect combination of good looks, comfort and craftsmanship. In terms of comfort, while the shoes took about 3 wearings to break in and feel truly my own, since then, they have felt about as good as sneakers walking around the city. (Pro tip: Wear the shoes around the house or for a couple of quick outings to break them in.) I wore them to take Flat Stanley on a long adventure past the White House and Washington Monument, on an 11-hour day spent mostly on my feet at work, and while sloshing through an unusually long bout of rain in the DMV.


Reviewing the Durability of Wolf and Shepherd Shoes after One Year
As a consumer, it’s often hard to know what to make of product reviews that feature perfectly-glossy photos of just-unboxed gear. After weeks, months and years, clothes and shoes wear and colors fade, yet some products hold up better than others.

How Focusing on Customers Helps Wolf and Shepherd’s E-Commerce-Focused Brand
The company’s core business is direct to consumer e-commerce — though their shoes can also be found at select menswear stockists — so Wolf and Shepherd has to stand out online and find ways to give confidence to potential customers to make a significant purchase online. For one, Wolf and Shepherd allows returns for a refund or exchange within 30 days of the shipping date, and domestic (U.S.) returns are free of charge. Justin says that, “what we’ve learned most from our customers is to listen to them about what next steps we need to take as a company.”We take their feedback very seriously. They guide our product decisions, let us know if our storytelling is resonating, help determine what markets we should nurture and get a foothold in, and communicate if we’re positively impacting their lives. Listening to them is paramount to our business.

What’s Next for Wolf and Shepherd
What’s next for the startup brand? Justin told me back in 2018 that, “we’re currently in a growth phase, so the next year is critical as we look to scale and evolve.”

Wolf and Shepherd also plans to expand its line of crossovers, debuting a wingtip hybrid dress shoe, a hybrid penny loafer and a hybrid dress shoe with a merino wool 3D-printed knit upper.
“Ultimately, we want to be more than a go-to shoe for men; we want to be a go-to brand for style, quality and performance,” he added. Photo credit: Photo of Justin Schneider courtesy of Wolf and Shepherd.
About JakeJake is passionate about exploring entrepreneurs' global journeys. He founded Modern Fellows in 2012 to get to know the entrepreneurs behind the innovative brands helping men dress sharp in the digital age. Jake has written about entrepreneurship, international business and/or fashion for outlets including Business Week, Forbes, Inc., Details Style Syndicate and Primer Magazine, and has provided analysis on international business for BBC Radio, NBC News, CNN and Time Magazine. |
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Hi David, thanks so much for the feedback! Please reach out to our customer experience team if you’d like some assistance making another selection you love. I assure you, we do not pay for reviews, as Jake mentioned! We do have a lot of happy customers, and would love for you to become one of them!
Thanks, Jake for sharing your experience with everyone! We appreciate your feedback.
Hi Christian, we are so glad we were able to help with your order and appreciate your feedback!
Hi Emanuel, we are so sorry to hear about this! Will you reach out to our customer experience team to assist you?
My shoes broke after a year, leather separated from the sole. Very disappointed, poor quality to price. I like the look of them, but wont spend $350 on a pair of shoes lasting that short of a time.
After 6 months of wear, the leather became separated from the sole on one of my shoes (about a 2-inch long area). I sent photos in to the company and they immediately offered to replace the shoes for free. Maybe I had a defective pair? Awaiting shipment of the new ones.
As for the leather, it is very soft and supple – and maybe because of this, the leather seems to scratch / tear a lot easier than other full-grain leather dress shoes I’ve owned for years.
On comfort, I would say they are average. I certainly would not be tempted to run a mile in these let alone a half-marathon as advertised. I think a brand new pair of Johnston Murphy trampoline soles might be a little more comfortable.
I appreciate the rubber sole over a slippery leather one and, overall, the shoes are certainly very sharp looking. Possibly the only shoe I can find that looks like a nice dress shoe but has a rubber sole.
These shoes are a complete scam. They don’t honor refunds and are made out of cheap leather. This whole thing is based around paid reviews. Don’t buy it.
Hi David, I can’t speak definitively to their customer service, but, as I noted in my review, my pair of shoes has held up well for more than a year. And to clarify, this is not a sponsored post or paid review, though I did receive a pair of shoes for free from the company.