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Image Madewell

Madewell

# Reviews

Madewell consistently offers incredible prices and deals for good quality products to ultimately create a brand that is both trustworthy and affordable. One of the best parts of Madewell is that it offers many sales and ways to save money, including a current holiday sale for up to 50% off in stores and online, as well as ongoing 15% off sales for teachers and students, as well as for community heroes like U.S.-based medical professionals, first responders, and military personnel. With so many ways to save, Madewell establishes itself as a brand for all.

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Highlights
  • Madewell consistently offers incredible prices and deals for good quality products to ultimately create a brand that is both trustworthy and affordable. One of the best parts of Madewell is that it offers many sales and ways to save money, including a current holiday sale for up to 50% off in stores and online, as well as ongoing 15% off sales for teachers and students, as well as for community heroes like U.S.-based medical professionals, first responders, and military personnel. With so many ways to save, Madewell establishes itself as a brand for all.
  • Madewell makes it clear that they are completely committed to both being a socially responsible company as well as serving and promoting a more socially conscious consumer base. Their website highlights various initiatives for accessibility, the Black Lives Matter Movement, COVID-19, and gender equality. In addition, Madewell is very transparent about their policies and practices from animal and wildlife protection to reducing chemical output to ensuring ethical vendor conduct, which shows how much they care about their customers as well as their own legacy and impact on people and the environment.
  • While there are only three offerings for women? oxfords, what they do have covers all of the bases of quality, color, and varied style, with standard black and brown pairs that can be a staple or complement to any outfit, but also a fun patterned oxford that adds a pop of personality starting from the bottom up. No matter what you choose, Madewell offers a visually appealing and well-made oxford that fits perfectly with nearly any clothing or occasion.
  • Madewell makes your comfort the top priority, as their women's oxfords come complete with built-in MWL Cloudlift Lite padding that negates any painful or long process breaking in the shoes. These padded insoles have a memory foam lining that will pillow and support your feet no matter your size, shape, or type of arch. It is an included price and amenity for an already high-quality shoe that even provides half sizes in an effort to give you the best possible fit.
Price range $139.50 - $148

With a cost range from $139.50 to $148, Madewell is an extremely affordable and well-priced brand when it comes to their women's oxford shoes. This is also before taking into account any of the many sales and deals they offer. Whether it is their current holiday up to 50% off sale, their teacher and student or community heroes 15% off deals, or future seasonal offerings, there is no shortage of ways to save and pay even less than the already great prices that Madewell has to offer.

Cost Compared to Competitors

With their $139.50 to $148, Madewell offers the best price range and deals compared to all of its competitors. While Nisolo is the most comparable price-wise with their $136 to $185 price range, while both The Frye Company and The Office of Angela Scott are on the more expensive side of things, with women? oxfords that cost ranges of $198 to $398 and $475 to $575, respectively.

Pros:

Madewell makes sure to cover their bases when it comes to communication and presence. With official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, and Spotify, as well as active email accounts and phone lines for consumers both domestic and international, Madewell makes itself as interactive and supportive to as many people as it can.

Madewell creates a very strong sense of community by raising up smaller and/or independent businesses with its Hometown Heroes Hub, while also connecting to the communities where they have physical stores by creating equal opportunity job opportunities and making accessibility, ethical practices, and social justice their priorities. They routinely demonstrate a willingness to learn from their community so they can improve and satisfy both their consumers and employees alike.

Madewell has a fairly lenient and flexible return policy that goes for both domestic and international orders, as both allow for returns with a full refund or exchange up to 30 days after the initial purchase, as long as the products are undamaged, unworn, or remain in their original condition.

Madewell makes a continuous effort to be eco-conscious by offering paperless receipts, LED lights in their physical stores, selling water in recyclable boxes instead of plastic bottles at their stores, and donating clothing samples to Cotton? Blue Jeans Go Green·program, Good360 and FabScrap so they aren't sent to landfills instead. Additionally, by 2030 they plan for all of their operations to be carbon neutral.

Cons:

Ultimately, there are very few options to choose from in style, color, and most of all, size. Two of the three pairs of shoes only come in size 5s and 5 1/2s, which is extremely limiting and would exclude the majority of women, leaving just one shoe, Madewell? plain black oxfords, as a consumer? option.

Madewell offers so many different things, from clothes to accessories to bags and more, that it seems possible their shoes could not be as high quality as some of the other vendors, as they may not their top priority or main focus. Also because there are so many Madewell stores, the products may be more mass-produced and made in less eco-friendly or careful ways compared to some of the more concentrated or small vendors.

While the reviews the shoes do have are high, there aren't that many reviews to go off, especially if you are conflicted and having difficulty making a final decision. Even more frustrating is the fact that it seems reviewers cannot post pictures to go along with their review, thus making it difficult to get a full grasp on how the product looks for regular consumers and not just the models in their promotional shoots.

Besides a small blurb at the bottom of their shoe page on their website, not much information is provided on how to actually care for and prolong the original good, clean quality of their oxfords. The product care tips and tricks they do have seem geared more towards clothing than shoes.

IDEAL CUSTOMER

Madewell? teacher and college student and community hero deals make it clear that their target market is stretched wide and inclusively when it comes to age, profession, and lifestyle. This seems like a good product for anyone from college students to workers of both full-time and part-time jobs all over the world. Based on this and the images provided by their social media pages, it seems like they are targeting mostly women of all races and ethnicities between the ages of 18 to 50.

How long does the product last?

You can be certain that a company called Madewell is going to have well-made products that last for a while (it is in the name, after all). In fact, their website says that Madewell's women's shoes are made to last forever. As long as you take care of them, this product is built to stay with you for many years.

Coupon/sales

You would be hard-pressed to find a company with as many great deals as Madewell. For the holidays, they are offering a temporary extra 50% off of select styles and 40% or 30% off of everything else. They have an online-online deal for 20% off two or more pairs of socks, among other deals and discounts for various clothing items. To top it all off, they offer 15% off online and in stores for both their teacher and college student and community heroes discounts. Signing up to be a Madewell Insider also comes with perks that will save you money on both products and shipping. No matter who you are, it seems easy to find some sort of way to save with Madewell.

GOOD FOR GIFTING?

Madewell? women? oxfords are great for gifting, especially for the holidays with their unbeatable seasonal deals. These products are affordable for just about anyone and would serve as a thoughtful and practical but still aesthetically appealing gift that is not so expensive it would run the risk of making the recipient uncomfortable. Additionally, because Madewell ships both domestically and internationally and have a generous return policy, choosing their products as gifts has never been easier for giver or recipient.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Madewell offers a whole host of various ways to get in touch. They have specific emails and phone hotlines for both U.S. and international customers, as well as ways to be reached by live chatting through their website or tweeting to them directly @askmadewell. Their live chat is available from 9 am to 11:59 pm ET every day of the week, by telephone every day from 7 am to 11:59 pm ET, and Twitter from 7 am to 12 am ET any day of the week. No matter which method you choose, Madewell? customer service is fast, direct, and easy to access.

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Packaging

Currently, most products are sent in easy to unbox, lightweight, plain cardboard boxes with the Madewell logo on them. However, by 2025, 100% of packaging will be sustainable sources and without any non-recycled plastics, making disposal and the environmental impact even easier and lesser, respectively, than they are now.

shipping

Madewell ships to all 50 states domestically with $3.00 economy, $5.00 standard, $15.00 expedited, and $25.00 shipping rates that also apply for all non-loyalty members (Madewell insiders have shipping fees waived for the economy and standard methods). They also ship internationally to numerous countries across six of the seven continents for additional fees and express delivery times ranging between two to six business days depending on the location. During the holiday season, it takes them longer to process orders, so customers may need to plan in advance to account for the extra time that may take.