I first purchased woodland-formal shoes in 2002. I was using till 2009. Changed it just because the color was fading, otherwise no issues. Without second thought I purchased new formal shoes in 2009 from Pune-Satara road (in Pune city), factory outlet. I got issues from Day-1
1) Very uncomfortable. My back portion above ankle used to pain a lot. Got reply from dealer, use it and it will be OK. After more than 1 mnth of painful experience my shoes got settled to my foot :(
2) Almost within 1 yr I started noticing the unevenness in the sole. The sole started to wear out and became very uneven. The outside toe portion is just giving way and getting out from the leather part.
So the conclusion is very obvious. Woodland has just improved in their ads. Quality is completely zero. The strict quality checks on the local manufacturing units no longer exists. So its high time for Woodland to wake up before the name completely diminishes. At least with local or non-branded companies I get the similar quality with much lesser cost.