Amberjack The Original: Built for a Purpose
Price: $189
Why Buy?
The Amberjack The Original is a comfortable option that works perfectly on a business trip, trade show, or in a business casual office.
Why Avoid?
the Amberjack The Original is not a replacement for a traditional dress shoe, or a replacement for a sneaker.
Specs
| Model | The Original |
| Height | Low |
| Size | 12 Standard |
| Weight | 551 g / 1 lb 3.4 oz |
| Materials | Leather / PU / TPU |
| Construction | Cemented |
| Country of Origin | Portugal |
History
If you’re looking for a history of the brand Amberjack, you’ll actually find two out there. The first, and the one the brand includes on their website, is honestly a bit boring. It’s a story we’ve heard countless times, the “we want to cut out the middle man” one, and is probably not worth digging into.
However, the second – and likely correct – one is far more relatable. Search around the internet for a bit and you’ll find it. John Peters, then a consultant for McKinsey & Co, was constantly on his feet. In and out of airports, client offices, etc. John found the shoes he was wearing were impacting his life in a negative way, but his consultant outfits didn’t allow for a traditional sneaker.
Adding a bit of spice, many of the brands he ended up consulting with were major footwear brands. This gave him insight into the market that few had, and things started to click.
If I were them, I’d personally suggest the second story. It gives a clear reason why you would pick these shoes up and sprinkles a bit of insider info! It also gives a reason for several of the small design details we’ll get to later.
I can tell you; it personally rings true with me. When Amberjack reached out to see if I was interested in trying out a pair, I had just gotten back from a week-long trade show where I was wearing Allen Edmonds Strandmoks every day and I really welcomed the idea of a shoe I could swap out instead.
So, are the Amberjack The Original worth it? Let’s dive in and find out.
Disclaimer:
Amberjack provided this pair of shoes for the purpose of a review but this is not sponsored. They were not able to see or edit this review prior to it going live.
Looks
Upper
The Upper of the Amberjack The Original, at least in this Chestnut color, is made from a medium brown leather with just a bit of burnishing around the toebox. The pattern is a derby style, meaning the quarters are separate pieces from the toe box.
The original version of, well, The Original had quite a bit of decorative stitching on it, but recent models tone it down a bit. While there is still decorative stitching, it’s tied to structural components, and I think this is a big upgrade.
The leather out of the box is kind of so-so looking, but comes alive with just a few steps of wear. I’m honestly not sure why. My guess is that there is a bit of sheen that gives the impression of a poly coat that is no longer visible with creasing? In any case, if you get a pair give them a bit of a flex before you judge them.
For the last, Amberjack uses a very well-proportioned shape, much better than similar products. It’s definitely on the dressier side, but for the purpose their founder envisioned, that’s a good thing.
As for areas where I think the brand could improve – there are two. For a shoe that does a really good job of managing to both fit in with the business travel set and the post-work drinks set, the perforations near the bottom of the lacing and the loop on the heel seems out of place. The Original has so many little details that let them be both formal and comfortable, why add these?
Mid- and Outsole
Coming to the bottom of the Amberjack The Original, you’ll find a two piece midsole/outsole combo unit. Depending on your colorway you can find high contrast, mid contrast, and low contrast combinations. Other reviewers have complained a bit about the higher contrast versions, but I don’t think that’s really fair. There are plenty of lower contrast versions if that’s your preference.
I personally like the designs that have a least a bit of contrast to them, like on this colorway. It manages to take inspiration from welted footwear without resorting to a fake welt.
One of my favorite design choices from the shoe can be found on the outsole. A big problem I have with shoes that aim to look dressy but be comfortable is the outsole. A traditional design, with a heel and thinner outsole, doesn’t leave room for padding. A more sneaker-like wedge design looks like you took a sneaker outsole and glued it to a dress shoe. Not a great look.
What Amberjack did with The Original is take a wedge designed outsole – giving room for padding – but with fairly aggressive cut ins around the mid-foot. If you wore these to the office, anyone who is at their desk would think they have a heel.
To get the padding, they use a thick drop in insole, which curves in around the cut ins. It’s a really clever design that doesn’t come through in close up pictures.
Summary
Let’s get one thing out of the way. If you’re looking for a replacement for your pair of black Park Aves, this isn’t it. Clever designs or not, this isn’t the shoe for a full-on business suit.
However, back to that intended purpose that Amberjack doesn’t advertise enough: The Original excels there. Wool trousers and a blazer? Sure! Chinos and an OCBD at the office? Definitely!
I will say, the color you pick will impact the style quite a bit. There are several to choose from, but something like the blue suede “Cobalt” version will fit a different look than the Chestnut featured in the images here.
Fit & Comfort
Fit
The Amberjack The Original fits much more like a traditional dress shoe than a sneaker. The core models come in 7-15, with half sizes up to 12.5. Core colors come in both Standard and Wide, but more-out there colors are single (standard) width only. If you are wide, you can find the wide selection here.
Amberjack suggests going true to size, which I would agree with. Though, where they suggest going down if you’re in between sizes I would suggest the other way unless your foot is quite narrow.
The last in standard is longer but also fairly narrow and I think normal and wide footers might get some toe pinch going down. Their leather on the upper is quite soft, and the insole will compress with wear, so they might loosen up a bit with time, but still – crushed toes are never good.
I got these in my standard go-to size of 12 standard, and they fit ever-so-slightly tight in dress socks. Going to an 11.5 would have been entirely unwearable, and if I wore thicker athletic socks I’d have wanted to go up to a 12.5.
The good news is that they free offer 30 day returns and 60-day exchanges for size, so if you do get the wrong size it should be pretty easy to swap out.
Comfort
When writing reviews, I typically include around 100 words on comfort, but I think for these they justify a little bit more. Afterall, comfort is the raison d’être for these shoes after all.
First, let’s focus a bit on how the Amberjack The Originals were designed. As mentioned above, most of the time when a company is designing a comfortable dress shoe, the solution is to create a dress shoe upper, a sneaker midsole and to cement them together. What Amberjack did with the Original is to create a shoe with a harder cup sole attached to the upper. This allows for an incredibly thick insole to be dropped into the shoe.
By having the insole act as the midsole, The Original can have a significant amount of padding without exposed foam. Overall, I think this is an excellent way to approach the problem.
And, in short, it works well. The insole, which is around a ½” thick at the heel, feels like a very dense PU (think memory foam). It does get much thinner towards the ball of your foot, but it doesn’t really feel too thin. I will say, there is a pretty major drop. It’s more than most dress shoes, and would be considered large even for cushioned sneakers.
The other thing to be aware of is that, since the insole is entirely encapsulated within the cup sole, there isn’t anywhere for it to expand into. This gives a different feeling to unencapsulated. One isn’t better (or worse), but it is different. In any case, I think it’s an excellent trade off for the design, even if you prefer open foam.
Materials & Construction
Materials
The Amberjack The Original’s upper is made of full grain leather. Out of the box it looks like it is coated, though after only a bit of wear that goes away. It is a bit thinner than I typically would prefer in a leather shoe, but I imagine that was a trade off made in the interest of comfort, so it’s hard to blame them too much.
The sneaker is lined with sheepskin. This lining is incredibly soft, again trading a bit of durability for comfort. That being said, since these shoes are not resoleable, I’d bet that the lining will outlast the outsole anyway.
There is a bit of foam padding around the collar of The Original, but it’s minimal. Similarly, there are both heel and toe stiffeners, but they are still quite flexible.
Underfoot, a thick insole does most of the heavy lifting in the comfort realm. It is removable, but it is core to the sneaker’s function and shape. I would strongly suggest against replacing it with another insole, even if it is technically possible. Under that sits a thin open-celled foam.
The outsole of the Amberjack The Original is made of TPU, or Thermoplastic Polyurethane. Though, saying just “TPU” isn’t all that descriptive. TPU can be made into a variety of different feeling materials. Both Adidas Boost and the outsole of certified work boots are TPU, just to give an example. On this sneaker, they went for a harder variety on the dark color near the heel and toe, and a much softer compound under the ball.
Stay tuned for an update on durability, but neither has a negative impact comfort-wise.
Construction
The Amberjack The Original is made of a cemented construction. Or, in other words, the upper is glued to the outsole. This is by far the most common way to make a shoe. Benefits include flexibility and more affordable construction. As for drawbacks, the biggest is that cemented shoes are not resoleable. Once the outsole wears out, the shoe is done.
I think it’s also worth mentioning where The Original is constructed. Unlike most shoes in this style, Amberjack makes their shoes in Europe – Felgueiras, Portal to be precise. They even have a video where you can see the shoes being made on their website.
Making shoes in Portugal increases the cost of construction compared to their competitors, but there is an even better part of this. By showing the factory where the shoes are made, it allows for verification of working conditions. Factories, even ones in countries such as Portugal and Italy, can often have really bad working conditions.
I won’t get into it any more on this review, but there is actually a case study available on the factory they use available online if you want to search for it.
Ease of Care
The Amberjack The Original is a fairly easy shoe to take care of.
The brand themselves mentions that it’s incredibly important to use a shoe horn when putting them on. I get why, the softer materials used in the shoe’s heel cap means that it would be fairly easy to damage it. Shoe horns are extremely affordable, so there really is not reason not to use one.
Next, they mention using leather conditioner for “dull or wrinkled” leather. For the thinner leather on these shoes, you’ll probably want to use a conditioner every 3-4 months of regular wear, but you’ll want to use a lot less of it. Basically, less product more often.
Amberjack themselves offer a shoe care kit for $55. It includes shoe cleaner, odor neutralizer, and a polish/conditioner combo. It’s nice to get them all together, but personally I’d just recommend a bottle of Bick 4. It’ll do a great job cleaning and conditioning, and this style of shoe doesn’t really need polish.
Plus, it’s only ~$10 for a big 8 oz bottle.
I’d also recommend using shoe trees with these. You can typically find these pretty cheap on Amazon, and they never wear out. The softer leather is especially prone to picking up creases, and a shoe tree will help them naturally smooth out.
Pricing
The Amberjack The Original comes in at a price of $189. This includes free shipping and returns, plus a 2-year warranty for issues related to construction.
Typically, I’d trying to find some comparable shoes out there, but to be 100 percent honest, I’m struggling a bit with these.
My first thought was something like the Cole Haan Zerogrand line. These begin at slightly less – around $170 – though most models are up at to $220. However, these are closer to sneakers than the Amberjack line.
Then I thought about something like the Cole Haan traditionally cemented shoes. These run an even broader range of $150 to $300 (though I don’t think anyone has ever paid anywhere near that). Again, though, those are not really comparable shoes.
Honestly, it’s up to the buyer on what to compare the Amberjack The Original too.
Are the Amberjack The Original Worth It?
As I’ve mentioned several times here, the Amberjack The Original is a bit of an outlier when it comes to what type of shoe it is. It’s not a traditional oxford, nor is it a dress shoe hybrid or whatever those sneaker dress shoes are officially called. The shoe doesn’t work with business suits, nor does it really work with pure casual wear.
However, for the purpose in which it is designed, it excels. It’s presentable enough for slacks and a blazer or business casual. They are comfortable enough to wear all day on your feet. They are easy to slip on and off at an airport. Really, they are a tool for a job in the same way a pair of White’s boots are.
If I could wave a magic wand, I would change a couple things. Notably, I would encourage the brand to offer the shoe without the perforations and loop. At least in the Chestnut and Obsidian colorways that are probably mostly bought by those who need to wear a jacket.
Still, as I’m putting the finishing touches on this review, I’m also packing for another work trip. Want to take a guess which shoes I’m bringing along?