A few days ago I received a pair of shoes that I had bought off eBay, listed as being made of leather. I tried them for a few hours and discovered they pinched my toes on one foot, but fortunately I invested in a wooden shoe stretcher just in case this ever happened. I got it set up, but in the process noticed the inside of the shoe indicated it was man-made materials. Will it still stretch?
Why waste your money on artificial leather? Yes, artificial leather is a lot cheaper than quality full grain leather which has been tanned naturally but the real leather will last infinitely longer than the fake leather and the fake leather just looks cheap. I would rather buy less and spend more but that's my personal preference. Will they stretch? Of course, you need to wear them in.
Yep, they'll stretch like anything else. All shoes no matter what they are made of will stretch a bit. Thank goodness or we might all be in pain all the time! Although in general I would agree that real leather is probably the better investment, I have had fake leather shoes last for years. Years and years and years. I think a lot of times it's just luck of the draw. You can find cheap stuff that is actually good quality and you can find expensive stuff that falls apart in 2 months.
Ideally you will buy your shoes slightly too tight and then they will stretch with wear for the perfect fit. The only problem with that is the wearing in process can be quite painful. Expect blisters and sore feet, especially if they are made from quality hard-wearing leather. My last boots took months to wear in and my feet were badly blistered.
