We’re Not Too Sure About Greats Brand’s New Italian Sneakers

Greats Brand dropped an Italian leather sneaker today which looks pretty good, and only costs a fraction of the price of its competitors. From the Greats website:

The new Royale sneaker is hand crafted in Civitanova Italy, a region commonly known as "Shoe Valley" and used by most luxury fashion houses for their footwear production. The Royale is truly Hand Made using hand selected Italian leathers from Italy's best tanneries. Tanneries commonly known as the best in the world in the luxury fashion industry.

Both the footbed and the lining are full grain, vegetable tanned Vachetta leather, a hide commonly used for luxury bags. The laces are 100% waxed cotton and all of this is assembled on an Italian Margom sole by the best craftsman in Italy.

In the end, you're about to buy a Hand Made Italian sneaker that would sell for $400 or more at any of the luxury retailers in the world for the disruptive price of $159.

While we'd love to believe the brand at face value, we're cautious to tell you guys to run out and buy them. After having hands-on experience with their last silhouette, The Bab, which retailed at an accessible $59, there were some corners cut to help ensure the low-low price. It was nothing too serious, just a few unfinished seams, exposed foam on the inside of the shoes, and some shaky shipping procedures, but even sneakers coming from the most low-budget outlets still have those little things done. Greats Brand is run by two renowned and well-respected sneaker influencers in the industry, Ryan Babenzien and Jon Buscemi, and something as simple as unfinished seams should never be allowed to happen.

While the sneakers look great and will definitely rival brands such as Common Projects and Feit, we're just letting you guys know that you should take these sneakers with a grain of salt. Sure, the price may be great, but questions like Why and How these brands producing a product at such a low price should be asked.

Disagree? Let us know in the comments how you like the sneakers. That is, if it doesn't take you two months to finally be shipped a pair.