Comments on: Risto Sports Series 2 Shoe

By: Bill Krupta

Bill Krupta — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:44:58 +0000

Called and talked to people at Risto. They know what they are doing and talking about, they ask me what lifts I’ll be doing and they gave me the real reasons why I need this type of shoes. They are the most qualified professionals I have seen in any field. My shoes were in stock and I got them in 3 days. I also learn they operate a non-profit which helps international lifters to train at their training centers and get ready for world level events.
I got PRs in snatch, C&J and squats within 2 weeks of training with proper shoes…

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:18:04 +0000

When I ordered the shoes, I was a little bummed out that I had to wait for them to come in. I emailed Risto Sports and asked if I could pick them up at the Risto gym, since I was going to be in the Boston area. I drove to their gym in Maine and could not believe my eyes. I was lucky that I got to see athletes training for the Olympics, there, in the Risto's. They had the best technique I have ever seen. I even got to break-in my new pair of shoes at the gym with Coach Ivan Rojas.

By: phatmisiek

phatmisiek — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:38:25 +0000

This is the best bang for your buck. Top quality shoes VERY comfortable. Best shoes I had so far!

By: Aimee

Aimee — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:35:42 +0000

This is my first pair of lifting shoes, but I have no complaints, solid shoes. Had some sizing issues but Risto made the exchange easy.

By: Risto Sports

Risto Sports — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:29:50 +0000

Dear KJS,

Risto Sports is committed to ethical treatment of the people making our shoes. This includes Religious holidays. Unlike other companies that have been in the news lately, we will not force or coerce workers to work holidays. KJS, did your employer make you work on Thanksgiving or New Year's Day?

Due to the incredible response we have had to the shoes, some shoes have been produced at manufacturing lead time vs being already in stock. Hand worked shoes take more than 2 weeks to make. These are NOT plastic injection mold shoes.

By: Risto Sports

Risto Sports — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:29:06 +0000

Dear KJS,

By: Patty Maizels

Patty Maizels — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:30:22 +0000

I have a pair of custom risto shoes that I have had now about a year. Yes there are some slight "detail" flaws, but the intergrity of the shoe is great! People need to understand how this shoe is made, its not mass produced by a machine. These shoes are HAND MADE to order, so it shoudl be expected that there will be detail differences (ie color variations, threading variations). And as far as the time it takes, its worth it i the quality is good. If you want a perfect stamped out shoe then dont buy custom hand made shoes…simple as that. Ristos rock.
Patty "Soxx" Maizels

By: Ivan

Ivan — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:14:05 +0000

I have honestly never been so disgusted with a purchase in my entire life. I bought a pair of white thunders in early February. As the weeks passed by and no shoes were on my doorstep, I emailed Risto and got some BS line about how the workers in their factory were partying for some holiday or something, and everything was weeks behind. Of course, nothing was written about this on their website, and they wouldn't have told me about this random holiday unless I asked. So finally, 5 weeks later when the shoes actually arrive it turns out they were just too small so I wanted to exchange them. After multiple emails and phone calls (and yet another week of waiting), I'm still waiting to hear back about what to do.

Put simply, don't waste your time and money. People on this thread aren't kidding when they say that Risto's customer service is the definition of piss poor.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:46:04 +0000

The order was placed early january of 2011 and i did not receive my FIRST pair until mid to late april. I know you are probably asking yourself "why the hell would this guys wait 3 1/2 months for a pair of shoes?" Well trust me I wouldn't have but customer service kept leading me to believe it was only going to be another couple weeks or a few more days blah blah blah……so i figured well what's another 2 weeks when i've already been waiting for six and so on. Anyway I just order a pair of Reebok oly's so hopefully I will get to try those out before mid april

By: KJS

KJS — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:20:24 +0000

I ordered a pair of white thunders over three weeks ago. I have since then inquired by email and phone at least 5 times, and i have received one response apologizing, but implying that i should've expected a back-order delay. (Even though, the website says "White Thunder sizes 38-44, 47-48 are on backorder; all other sizes IN STOCK", and i ordered a size 45.) Coach Rojas also spun a tale about how his workers took a two week religious vacation, and that's why the shoes haven't been produced. I replied that i would not want to cancel and refund unless i didn't recieve any confirmation of my shoes' existence within two weeks. Guess what? it's the end of week 1 lol. Needless to say i do not have high expectations or regard for this company. Hopefully they won't take a whole month to give me a refund. After seeing some squats nearing 500 on youtube in the reebok olys i'm considering those. I was just unsure if they would stand up to very heavy lifting done by heavier people.

By: 123

123 — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:17:28 +0000

Risto's customer service is non-existing !!!

Ordered a pair of shoes in November 2011, not realizing the front page said 6 weeks backorder. Of course the product page itself didn't mention this. Neither did the order confirmation.

I had to cancel the order since I was in the US only for a limited time. I wrote them at least 3 e-mails with no response at all. I tried calling them, and put a message on the machine. No response. I wrote on the wall of their Facebook page. They deleted my post, without in any way responding to me.

I finally went with a pair of Adidas Power Perfect II.

My order is still in their system, when I log into their website (February 2012).

This company is very shady. I would never deal with them again!

I will not post my real name as I suspect they might turn to dirty methods as to punish the bad pr.

By: wlshoes

wlshoes — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:25:28 +0000

I'd be curious to know when this order transpired. Risto was plagued with issues awhile back but from what we can tell, and have heard from buyers, most of their issues have been resolved. As for quality control, it is rare that we ever hear or see anyone complain about an actual performance effecting defect; most of the time it is cosmetic issues. Still, it's very disappointing to hear that they are taking so long to get orders out again. It's expected for a company to call and inform a customer immediately if a product is going to be back ordered or delayed – anything less is unacceptable in our opinion.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:45:06 +0000

I had a similar experience about 8 months ago. Took 3 months to get the shoes, there were defects all over the shoes, one of the straps was too long, and the leather was coming apart from the wooden sole on both shoes and in the heel area especially. 3 weeks later i got my second pair and the bottom of one shoe was uneven which created a very uncomfortable pressure point in my arch so obviously they had to be returned, oh and they looked like a completely different shoe aside from the colors, kind of like an old pair of leather bowling shoes you'd find in your grandfathers attic. So when I called to exchange this pair they were out of my size…..so had to go up to a 46 from a 44 or wait until "we don't know when the next shipment will be in"……so long story short you shouldn't waste any more time with this company and get your money back. Absolutely no quality control or consistency in the product….the handmade in Columbia by artisan BS they push on their site is more of a burdethan a benefit trust me….go with the big guys like Nike reebok or Adidas, they are more expensive and may not look as "old school" but at least with them you know what you're getting.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:04:13 +0000

Ordered some Risto shoes almost 3 months ago and never received them. The best shoes in the world won't do you any good if you can't even put them on. Steer clear!

By: Marius

Marius — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:08:46 +0000

Just got these and I was relieved as the fit was as good as perfect. Good craftsmanship, awesome design and the smell of new leather is hard to beat. I have not yet tried lifting with them, but as there have been some comments regarding the quality I figured that I would leave a comment with my experience. Can't wait to try them tomorrow!