Honey Cocoon beats Trendy Good
Originally posted 26th August 2019 * by Greg T. Miraglia
These shoe ads kept popping up on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t know if I was just targeted more by the algorithms than most, but every time I clicked on a new tab these things would appear. Two different sets by two different companies: one was green without laces (just a tightening mechanism) and the other was a blue camo pair.
A few weeks back, I found that my day to day shoes were falling apart. Several times heavy objects had fallen on my feet and this pair protected my toes like socks. I paid $15 at a thrift store and they lasted me five years. Best shoes I ever had, but I needed actual work shoes.
So, I took $150 out of my savings and decided to give both of these indestructible shoes a shot. I decided I’d run them through a few back to back tests.
The Green pair came from a company called Trendy Good (sometimes they market themselves as Oak Bay) and they were shipped from Yangzhou Shi Jiangsu, China. The Blue Pair came from Honey Cocoon and were shipped from California. Neither has a standard size tag that says “made in,” so their initial construction is slightly mysterious, however we can assume parts were manufactured in the places they were shipped from.
I tested them with 4 events (TG=Trendy Good and HC=Honey Cocoon):
Event 1: Initial Comfort
When I plopped my feet into Honey Cocoon’s blue pair, I was skeptical, but they fit like a new pair of shoes. I knew they had to be broken in and there was no issue beside my history of not buying shoes new, let alone online without trying them on first. Trendy Good’s Green pair came in and I was eager to try them on. However, they felt strange on my feet. The steel toe wasn’t fully sown into the material, so I could feel the difference between the lower shoe and upper shoe significantly. My toes were also slightly squished, but I was determined to give them a chance. I walked around with them and every now and then had to take them off to give my feet a break from the shoes.
HC – 8/10
TG – 3/10
Event 2: Board Drop
They both have steel toes in them. Trendy Good’s pair is marketed as having European Steel in their shoes, which initially mislead me into thinking they were coming out of Europe instead of China. As an American that doesn’t like China’s business practices, it irritates me on how effective their marketing was. I put both pairs on and drop some boards on my feet. Steel toe being pretty proven; I didn’t think this test was going to say much.
HC – 10/10
TC – 10/10
Event 3: Screw Press
I screwed six screws into a wooden board, because both of these companies made a show of how tough their soles were, and with both pair I stood on top of those screws. Trendy Good’s pair were awful. I could feel the screws penetrating the rubber and when I lifted my foot up, the board and screws were stuck to my green shoe. I was afraid if I put too much weight down, they would have penetrated the shoe. Honey Cocoon’s pair were spectacular. I took my safety leg off the concrete and stood on the screws with all my weight, and they didn’t penetrate the sole at all. I lifted my leg and the board stayed on the ground.
HC – 10/10
TG – 4/10
Event 4: One Eight Hour Shift
Honey Cocoon’s blue pair, I wore them for a week and a half of shifts before Trendy Good’s even arrived, mind you, I ordered them on the same day. When the green pair finally arrived, I brought them to work the very next day. I wore them around the house with breaks, but at work you can’t take off your shoes every half hour. Six hours into my shift, my toes were in pain and a soreness was creeping on the edges of my foot. I couldn’t do it. I ran to the car and retrieved the Honey Cocoon shoes.
HC – 9/10
TG – 1/10
For the shoes themselves (not shipping or tax), the Honey Cocoon’s cost me $67.95 and the Trendy Good’s cost 79.99. From my limited testing, Honey Cocoon offers a better bang for your buck.
I am happily using my blue pair on the regular, but the Trendy Good return policy includes paying freight back to China. It looks like they’ll be a backup pair. I would have preferred both pairs being great, but one out of two isn’t bad. I doubt either are indestructible, but my need for work shoes dictated that I couldn’t test the premise of their marketing.
If you have used either pair or have any questions about them, I’m down to talk about.