Carolina Shoes: Men's CA1520 Composite Toe Non-Metallic Oxford Shoes

A great fitting Shoe, true to size and lots of room in the toe box. Perfect for in the office and out in the field.

These are the first Carolina shoes I've owned. I didn't get them through this site, but though a company that came to my wife's work and sold them to the workers there, allowing them to use their shoe allowance without any cash needed. Good deal. Paid a bit more, though.

I work in a food manufacturing environment, and as such I frequently walk through messes that cake up and cling to my shoes. I walk about six miles every day during my shift, through messes, spilled oil, lots of powerful cleaning chemicals, and on steel grating, concrete and epoxy resin-coated concrete. I have worn out the soles on Doc Martin's in two months. My wife bought me a pair of Dockers 'work shoes' that I literally wore out in two weeks. The soles completely came apart, the tread was gone and had torn apart on one shoe. I'm hard on shoes, to put it mildly. Since December I've gone through two pairs of Doc Martin's, two pairs of Dockers-brand oxfords, a pair of K-Swiss's, recently bought a pair of Sketchers, also an Oxford-style, but black leather. Everything falls off that finish.

These Carolina Oxfords have excellent soles, highly slip resistant (even when walking in oil on smooth expoxy-finished concrete) and the tread pattern has no obvious weak spots, unlike the Dockers I destroyed in two weeks, and the Doc Martin's that cracked after a month. The soles seem like they will last a very long time.

I also have flat feet, and usually switching shoes results in terrible foot pain for the first week or two. Three nights of 9 hours on my feet, and no pain. They don't feel real comfortable at first, actually they felt really awkward, but after an hour that was gone and they were just an extension of my foot. Also, unlike many protected-toe shoes, these are very light, thanks to whatever composite they have in the toe. I like that it's not steel, as I've heard of people dropping something very heavy on their foot, and instead of breaking a bone, the steel has folded back and cut the toes off. That can't happen with this composite stuff. If you go that far beyond what the toe can handle, this is just going to crack and break.

TL;DR: these are excellent, good looking shoes, that are exceptionally comfortable and apparently very durable.

These are one if the most comfortable pair of work shoes I own. I even find myself wearing them outside of work. True to size and plenty of room in the toes. They polish and clean up well. I usually put them on, run a brush over them and that's it. They fit in well at the office and out on the manufacturing floor. Would definitely recommend and would purchase another pair without question. Working person is hard to beat for great deals on great shoes.

Big Man On Concrete! I have been wearing the Carolina 5520 boots for well over a year and found them to be an excellent boot for being on concrete all day and being a big man, (6'6"; 320lbs). But I'm now pulling 12hr days and by the 9th or 10th hour those 5520's feel like cinder blocks. Found out by speaking to a Carolina CSR that these 1520's are the same same sole/footbed as the 5520 boots.

They are at that and have saved me during my 12hr shifts. Love them!!

I will add one more thing that I have found helps immensely, buy a size larger and slip a pair of gel insoles under the Caroline insole. Really helps my knees. I've been using the Spencos, btw.

This shoe is very comfortable and seems to be designed to last unlike many others I have worn. This is a great looking shoe as well. I would highly recommend this work shoe especially for the price. You can't beat it.