Angelic Pretty VS Secret Shop Shoes: A comparison!
Long time, No Posts! I’m still alive. I thought I’d spend some time reviewing some shoes!
(insert angelic choirs singing here)
After acquiring several royal blue dresses, I realized I didn’t have any shoes that really worked. So I’d been spending a few months scouring the internets for shoes. I noticed Wunderwelt had some AP tea parties up for grabs that appeared to be NWT for around 7,000 yen and there was a pair in royal blue. Cool deal. Snatched them up! Looking back, I regret not buying the lavender ones that were up there too as my wardrobe exploded in lavender over this last year and my lavender tea parties are too small. What I didn’t expect was for them to come complete with the box, tags and all the packaging! I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting for the price I paid to get something that may have been worn once but was sold back and still had the tags. So that was really cool.
Currently my shoe collection consists of 4 pairs of secret shop shoes I bought early on in my lolita experience, some Ai tai na heels, a bunch of Bodyline shoes and some pairs of offbrand and some Melissa shoes. I’ve been wanting some brand shoes for awhile, but since I have a pretty decent collection of shoes, they were low on the list of priority.
(My shoe collection from last year’s wardrobe post) In this post, I’ll be comparing these shoes with my Pink SS tea parties I’ve owned for about 3 1/2 years now if I’m not mistaken. They’re my most worn out of my shoes because they’re flat, comfortable and I coordinate with a pink as an accent color a lot. They’ve seen better days but they still have a good amount of life left in them. First Impressions of the AP shoes: Not gonna lie, opening a box of AP shoes with all the packaging and trimmings for the first time was a treat. Feeling the texture of the shoes, the material feels a teensy bit thicker than the SS replicas. Examining the soles and the texture, I can tell for certian that AP shoes definately are made with a little more quality and care than the SS ones. Both however are made in China and it’s likely that the patterns may have been shared.
The bows on my pink SS shoes actually look a little nicer than on the blue AP ones, but we’ll see if I can steam them back into a proper shape maybe? The AP shoes are definitely prone to the same type of damage than cheaper shoes from SS, Ai tai na or Bodyline are prone to. New out of the box there are a few little nicks in the coating, which is pretty commonplace with my other shoes. So likewise, taking care that these don’t get all smashed up while transporting them to events or being aware of them when you walk is important.
Looking at second-hand shops, it’s common to see AP shoes with the same wear and tear (or worse) that my pink replica shoes are showing.
(This is what a lot of wear for a non-daily lolita looks like. I’m sure you’ve seen worse though! I try to keep mine cleaned up.) Differences: The biggest difference is in the sole design. The Secret Shop shoes have more grip on the soles while the AP ones only have small ridges. The AP logo and Secret Shop logos are present on the bottom. Also on the inside sole of the shoe, the SS logo is contained within a wonky heart, while the AP heart is a nicer shape.
The straps are the same size and both include the same button snaps for ease of use. The SS shoes feel a little bit more plasticy than the AP ones, but it’s clear that both are made from nearly the same material and I think the difference is negligible. Sort of like broadcloth from one brand to broadcloth from another. Both are broadcloth with a low thread count but one might feel a little denser than the other. At the end of the day both are cheaper materials.
Wear: I haven’t worn the AP ones yet, but I can probably give a fuller review of them after I’ve had the chance to wear them several times and give a good opinion. Though trying them on, they really don’t feel vastly different. It’s not the same difference you’d feel with a replica dress to a brand dress, or Bodyline to brand. If you were expecting that sort of difference, I’d suggest comparing these shoes, yes the AP ones, to true designer shoes. (Which I do not own but have seen and touched with my little dirty peasant retail working hands)
My Verdict: While I feel it’s 100% worthwhile to support the brands, I feel like brand shoes are really cool if you can get them for a price like this. I would love to replace my replica shoes with the authentic ones so long as I can get them for around this price. In total, I spent maybe $75 for them which is only $20 or so more than I’d pay for new Secret Shop shoes and for a negligible difference in quality, it’s worth the difference in case I ever show up to a brand event or something. Plus having AP shoes is pretty nice. Not gonna lie. Otherwise, I don’t feel it’s worth paying the full price of 15,000 yen for shoes that are made relatively cheaply in China with cheap materials easily prone to damage. These shoes probably have a sizeable profit margin for AP so that’s probably the only reason that makes buying them worthwhile. If I’m spending that much on shoes, they’d better not get knicks and cracks, scuffs, and have the coating peel or flake like I see so many shoes doing after lots of wear. Here’s a listing on Lacemarket showing some AP shoes that clearly shows the sort of damage they can take.
If you’re very anti-replica, but are hesitant to shell out the dough for AP shoes and full price, I’d recommend searching for good deals and sales. Though I have heard with the prominence of replica shoes on the market, buying authentic AP shoes can be tricky, so take care where you are buying them from. Otherwise, go offbrand. Get creative and decorate or recolor offbrand shoes to match more perfectly.