Jack Purcell - John Varvatos Black & White Mistakes

I have a pair of black & white John Varvatos Jack Purcells that I wear on a pretty regular basis. I picked them up in NYC several years ago for the shockingly low price of $18. I was concerned they may have been some kind of knock-off (there has to be a catch, right?) but have come to the opinion they were just cruddy shoes that had to be dumped.

Problem #1: I wore them for six minutes before the white suede sides became dirty beyond repair. The went from "meetings" sneaker to "everyday" sneaker just as quickly.

Problem #2: They never had the Jack Purcell shoe strings. They were grocery store shoe strings.

Problem #3: The toe "swoop" on the left sneaker is noticeably lower than the right sneaker. When I say noticeably lower, I mean by over a quarter of an inch. Take a look below:

On the left sneaker (above), notice there is less than 1/2 an inch between the bottom of the swoop and the black border. On the right sneaker (below), there is 3/4 of an inch between the swoop and the black border. It may not sound like much, but when you can notice by sight, the difference is pretty clear.
I don't believe these are knock-offs, I think these were mistake shoes that got pulled from the line and were snatched. They probably were intended for the scrap heap but ended up in that back alley sneaker store for me to find.