Before I tell you a good way to match a pair of shoes with your outfits, I want to tell you about a good purchase I made many years ago - a black Eastpak backpack. I bought it in my final year of high school for a (back then) enormous sum of $70. If I had know how great an investment I was about to make, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the purchase. Almost 10 years later, I still use the bag every day. It looks a lot more run-down, but still does the job perfectly. 

The quality is impeccable - mind you, they first launched with a lifetime warranty, but because of legal reasons they brought it down to 30 years. The design is timeless, and the black colour goes with pretty much everything I own.

So what would a good investment look like if we’re speaking about shoes? It would be different to bags - for starters, don’t expect to do 30 years with a pair of shoes, simply because they take a lot more stress. While durable shoes are important, things like comfort and looks are are also important.

For a shoe to be a good investment, it would have to look good, be comfortable and durable, and agree with your set of values.

However, there’s another important factor we’re missing. A shoe could look good, but might not necessarily be a good investment. Why? Because you may not have anything to wear it with. You might own patent leather shoes, but unless own a tuxedo suit to go with it, chances are you’ll never wear it. That brings us to my main point: for a shoe to be a good investment, it has to match your various outfits, be versatile and practical.

One company that tries to do this is Charlie Butler.

I came across Charlie Butlers one day after downing my morning coffee and checking my Twitter feed. Faran Saberi reached out to me and wanted me to do a review. How good could these shoes possibly be?

Ok, so let’s get to it. These are formal looking shoes that can be used in many different scenario’s:

Formal/smart

The above (left) look is Shidan wearing a pair of Charlie Butlers to work. He looks professional, but has comfortable soles under his feet. On the right he looks more smart, and genuinely badass, again with super comfortable soles under his feet. It’s a nice feeling knowing you can wear a pair of shoes all day without feeling stuffy or uncomfortable. Great one, Charlie Butler.

Here’s another example. Faran looks smart wearing Charlie Butlers to work with a vest and black tie. The look is a little more daring, but if you have confidence, you can pull it off. Once you pull the look off, the look itself feeds your confidence.

Casual

Vahid and Matin wear their Charlie Butlers on an off day. They’re hanging out and probably making a bit of trouble, as boys do. They wear their Charlie Butlers with jeans/chinos and casual tops and the look just works. Walking about town with a pair of shoes that look designer yet as comfortable as sneakers. Perfect.

Check out another shot of Matin wearing his Charlie Butlers in a casual look with denim shorts and black socks.

Light recreation

David takes his dog for a short hike to do some photography. His Charlie Butler shoes are not only comfortable, but they are versatile. He can take them into water as they are waterproof and the comfortable soles let him feel comfortable on his hike. On top of that, he looks awesome.

All Charlie Butler shoes combine a formal upper with versatile and comfortable soles. I understand why they’ve chosen it. It looks great and gives the old boot a modern spin, feels comfortable, and makes it more durable since they’re pretty thick.

As a result they can we work in any scenario - eg formal, smart, casual and light recreation. Yes, this means hitting four birds with one stone. Or rather, hitting four birds with one pair of shoes.   A pair of Charlie Butlers can replace all the different shoes you need for different occasions.

Now we’ll show you more examples of Charlie Butlers in different scenarios.

Charlie Butlers are handmade, they’ve got a good construction and the upper is hand-stitched to a mid-sole. They’ve got a minimalistic design. Apart from the brogued style upper of some models, all that’s to it, is a stitched sole, upper material with laces.

Here’s the scenario. A customer, David, purchases a pair of black Decker boots (on the left) and brown Richmond shoes (on the right). By the way, they’re on sale now on Kickstarter. You can get any two pairs of Charlie Butlers for about $260.00 USD if you’re early. Anyways, back to David…

His two pairs of Charlie Butlers can be worn with formal, smart or casual attire.

First, let’s look at formal work attire. In this scenario we’ve paired up David with a pair of Charlie Butlers with earth coloured work attire:

Here’s the look explained. Take an awesome vintage looking suite with a flannel tie. Simple socks, 70s style glasses and a coffee. Then add a pair of brown Charlie Butler Richmond shoes and you’re set for work.

Now let’s take a look at a pair of Charlie Butlers with a cool smart outfit. Have a look:

Here’s the look explained. Here David uses his brown Richmonds again. He’s got a nice mechanical watch and sunnies along with his sport jacket and neutral coloured chinos. Nice one David.

Lastly, let’s have a look at a pair of Decker boots with a rugged dark casual look:

Here’s the look explained. A pair of mature black/grey jeans and a dark grey sweater. A cool cap and sunnies on with a smartphone in hand. Then top it off with a badass cruelty free biker jacket and a pair of Charlie Butler Decker boots. Well done David!

Charlie Butlers can be worn in 90% of occasions and they can become your go-to shoe replacing a closet full of shoes. Less clutter, more happy.

Even if it only replaces three pairs of shoes at $150 each, that’s a value of $450. And for a short time you can get a pair of Charlie Butlers for about $135.00 USD through their Kickstarter page. But hurry, their early bird specials will run out soon and their campaign only lasts for 28 days. In my books, that’s a good investment.

You can check out their Kickstarter campaign here.

If you want to read more about Charlie Butlers, our friend Tofigh Habibi did a short video review.

Have a look:

VIDEO AT THE END OF THE POST

Sup guys this is Tofigh Habibi, founder of Insider Freedom. I’m here today with a good friend of mine Faran Saberi, founder and director of Charlie Butler shoes. I had the privilege of receiving a pair of his boots which I’m going to try on today.

What I found really interesting is the message that’s printed inside the box: “Let each morn be better than its eve” which I think is very fascinating.

The shoes also come with a recycled and 100% environmentally friendly bag, for when you don’t want to use the box anymore, and also a handwritten thank you message to you from the director & CEO of Charlie Butler.

What I really like about these boots is that they look like real leather but in fact they’re 100% vegan. Being a vegan myself, I could wear these boots and I know that there was no harm done to any animals.

What I really like about the boots is the time and effort they’ve taken for every little detail. It’s all punched by hand, sewn by hand and I like the colour.

I would actually prefer if the stitching was done in black. Because then the black would match the brown better than white.

I’ve been told they’re very durable. Holding in my hand, it’s really lightweight and flexible. For today I’m going to try on the black shoes because of sizing, as they fit me better. I’ve been told they’re very comfortable, so here we go.

Ok guys, so I tried them on and like they promised these shoes are very comfortable, lightweight and very flexible. So if you’d like to grab yourself a pair of these boots or the shoes, head over to Charlie Butler’s website. And Charlie Butler does offer free shipping worldwide.

Note from Charlie Butler: the shoes and boots are on sale now through Kickstarter, for 28 days only with cheap early bird discounts.

Check out their Kickstarter here.