Carets oxfords are made with Board-Lasted Cement construction, which sets them apart from most dress shoes and barefoot shoes.
Anglo-American style dress shoes are usually Goodyear Welt. Italian style dress shoes are usually Blake. Most barefoot shoes are Strobel, the typical construction for sneakers.
With these shoe construction methods, durability and flexibility are inversely related.
<-- more durable ---------------------------------- less durable -->
Goodyear Welt | Blake | Board Lasted Cement | Strobel
<-- less flexible ------------------------------------ more flexible -->
Given our positioning as the most dressy of barefoot shoes (or the most barefoot of dress shoes), we chose the construction method that best balances the structure and durability of dress shoes with the flexibility and lightness of barefoot shoes.
Another thing to consider is that Goodyear Welt and Blake construction don't allow us to use our patented hollow heel outsoles.
You can learn more about footwear construction methods in this article: https://www.sneakerfactory.net/2015/12/shoe-construction/