Innocent World Gretel Boots review

I received my Gretel boots today and because many people asked me to do a review and since IW's shoes got very mixed reviews in the past I decided to give it a go.

I ordered them via the lovely chibi_tenshi in august, if I recall correctly. They were said to come out in late september, however at some point they updated their reserve page with a notification of delay due to problems with the factory. I waited paitently until chibi_tenshi contacted me to let me know that she had my boots.
I paid around 300$ in total for item+ss fee+shipping and got them three weeks later because the customs snatched them and clearance and sending it to me took quite some while (I didn't have to pay customs fees because I'm clever at making up stories ;D).

(I won't review c_t's service because she was just awesome like every time. I don't need to review IW's service because I've ordered from them several times myself and have always been very content.)

Up to the boots! I ordered a size LL in navy. My feet are very weirdly shaped and my right foot is bigger than my left and stuff like this, so buying brand shoes is never easy for me. I owned several shoes from Baby and AatP and their L ist mostly too small and their LL too large because my feet are 25.3 and 25.5 cm long. This is my first pair of shoes from IW and I'm surprised that they fit pretty good.
They are wide in the feet area, so people with wider feet could also fit in and my feet fit exactly length wise. It might get uncomfortable after longer wear though because 0.2 cm more would've been nice for my right foot.



First thing I noticed: they looked almost black when I took them out of the box. They are darker than the stock pic though it doesn't really show on my pics (they photograph pretty lightly).
Second thing: they used a different heel, that was shown in the stock pics of the ivory version. I don't mind that too much, I actually like this heel better.



The heel is plastic, but appears very hard and sturdy.



The stitching is very neat and the sole has a bit of profile so it shouldn't be slippery.



The buttons are rivetet and well attached, they are all pretty even and in line. The piping looks pretty good.



more nice, even stitching



The zipper is light going and sturdy, though the ends are not that neatly serged, there are loose thread ends sticking out at the hem and above the sole but that's nothing I can't fix with some scissors.



Here you can see the loose thread ends a little better



The inside. It has a bit of beige pleather on the upper calves part and some synthetic mesh with little padding below.

I could've sworn those were made of real leather, their product page however states it's synthetic leather. It feels really soft though it is pretty thin and it has a little shine.

I originally bought these boots to go with my Rinks OP from Innocent World:



The colours go pretty well with each other what really surprised me. I have so many items from the same brands that have completely different shades of navy that I have to compliment IW on this!

I tried two coordinates with the shoes, my Rinks OP and a pirate-ish boystyle version because I'm moving to wear more boystyle lately and wouldn't keep them if they were only wearable with female styles.



Haha, please excuse my derpface and my missing makeup, it's cleaning day today x)

Now, to the rating:

+ nice manufacturing
+ awesome colour
+ good fit
+ sturdy heel that is easy to walk on (8cm height)
+ sturdy and easy going zippers
+ military design, do I have to say more?
+ very versatile
+ light weight

- long waiting time (delay due to factory problems)
- some loose thread ends

After all, that's a 8 out of 10!

I am very satisfied with my boots, happy that I can keep them and can only recommend them to everyone else!
Thanks for reading my review and feel free to ask any questions ^__^

(crosspostet to egl. Sorry for my absence, I'm pretty much inactive atm because I don't wear lolita and don't have money to buy stuff. I'll write more about boystyle soon!)