u/Free-Requirement-777

I want to share my experience because I think it’s important for this community to call out misleading sellers before more people waste their money.

The pitch

Happy Whale explicitly told me from the start that he had the new AP batch of the LP Summer Walk — specifically advertising that the sole issue from previous batches had been fixed. That claim is what sold me. I wasn’t just buying loafers, I was paying for a specific quality tier.

The QC reality

When the QC photos arrived, two things were immediately obvious:

•	Insole printing: visibly low quality. Blurry, flat, cheap-looking compared to what the AP batch is known for.

•	Tongue detailing: advertised as embossed — it is not. It’s printed. And it shows. Under any decent lighting it looks like a sticker, not a structured emboss.

These aren’t minor nitpicks. These are exactly the details that differentiate batches, and exactly what I was told had been corrected in this “new” version.

The confrontation

When I raised these issues, the responses were textbook deflection:

•	“They’re all the same”

•	“They’re all AP”

•	“The quality is the best”

No acknowledgment of the discrepancy. No comparison to retail or to previous batch photos. Just generic reassurance designed to make you doubt your own eyes and move on.

The exchange request — where it gets interesting

I asked to be sent the batch that actually had the embossed tongue and proper insole printing — the one he originally described. His answer: that batch is still in production and won’t be ready for another month.

Let that sink in.

He’s selling you a batch he doesn’t have yet, or he’s selling you an inferior batch under the AP label and hoping you don’t notice. One of two things is happening here:

1.	AP factory is running two simultaneous batches with significant QC differences and Happy Whale is knowingly offloading the weaker one without disclosure.

2.	Happy Whale is not selling AP at all — he’s moving a different factory’s product under the AP name, and the “real” AP batch conveniently doesn’t exist yet (or exists only as a sales hook).

Neither option is acceptable.

[REVIEW/WARNING] Happy Whale - LP Summer Walk “AP Factory New Batch” — Don’t fall for the pitch

[QC] LP Summer Walk Loafers from AP Factory - New Batch | Happy Whale