I have to laugh again because that is exactly why I've been flying wearing the engineer boots. Even with TSA pre-check I have to take my footwear off 90% of the time.
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Engineer Boots, Harness Boots...
- Thread starter Creeping Past
- Start date
Same here!
My last deployment to Kuwait changed my feelings on standard travel wear. I might wear a skin tight Spider-Man suit and carry my wallet and keys in a purse next time....ugh.
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Edward
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Ha. Being Irish and of a certain age, I'm well used to being pulled over for all the "random" security hecks at airports.... Though it's so rare they find anything on me that could have been setting it off once I'm through the full body scanner, that I do tend to think of what's easiest. As said above, I mostly wear penny loafers when flying now, and all my wallets, keys, and loose bits go in a hand luggage bag so they're more easily taken through. the biggest pain is the belts.... I used to stick to braces when flying, but they're even more of a problem. I'm seriously considering trying a kilt, though even that has buckles... Jogging bottoms, yes, but frankly, if you have to sink to those, why bother flying n the first place?
TBH, I have come to believe that the scanners are designed to ping at certain intervals even if they haven't found anything...
TBH, I have come to believe that the scanners are designed to ping at certain intervals even if they haven't found anything...
bluesmandan
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What do you guys make of these boots? Miguel Jones. He does custom sizes and custom designs. For around $200.
http://www.custom-boots.net/engineer.html
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http://www.custom-boots.net/engineer.html
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I'd apply the same criteria to somebody offering cheap custom boots that I would to a company offering cheap made-to-measure jackets: it's just too good to be true.
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Edward
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https://www.umshopp.com/collections/mens-boots/products/ctmx40603
Anyone heard of these? Look nice, but the price seens too good to be true...
Anyone heard of these? Look nice, but the price seens too good to be true...
Woodtroll
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I believe that site came up in discussion a few months back, and someone pointed out that those pictures are copied from one of the big-money retailers (S&S, maybe?), and felt the website was some sort of scam. I may be mistaken, but think that is the same site. Buyer beware unless you can verify!
Edited to add: here is the discussion I remembered about these same boot pictures:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/engineer-boots-harness-boots.43530/page-166#post-2494794
Last edited:
Woodtroll
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Or you can buy the same boots here (note the identical pictures):
https://www.rubymen.com/products/6b8c4089f309
for only $49 US as "Men's Low-Heel Knight Boots". For less than $50, everybody needs a pair of knight boots!
I think I would pass on any of these low-dollar sites, but who knows what you might (or might not) get?
https://www.rubymen.com/products/6b8c4089f309
for only $49 US as "Men's Low-Heel Knight Boots". For less than $50, everybody needs a pair of knight boots!
I think I would pass on any of these low-dollar sites, but who knows what you might (or might not) get?
Mich486
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Yep I read somewhere it’s a Chinese scam. Well it seems like you get the shoes you order but they are just a really cheap copy of what you see in the pictures. Stay away!
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bluesmandan
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I’ve googled him a little bit, and Miguel Jones seems to be the real deal... based in Leon Mexico. Most of his designs are of the Latino persuasion. Definitely not a chinese scammer like some of those others. I wonder what his engineer boots are like in hand (or on foot rather).
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Is it personal experience or just prejudice? Why Chinese scammer specifically? How do these Chinese scammers work, three different fancy company names and three logos, although same web layout and pricing. Why not Pakistani scammers?
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Edward
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China is well-known for a long-standing "liberal" approach to intellectual property; it's quite normal to walk into a tailor there, they'll show you pictures of Gucci or Hugo Boss or whatever, (sometimes even the official catalogues!), then offer to make the suit for you. Obviously what you pay for is a much lower quality item, as one might expect when you're in that situation, and they're offering you a suit made in 24 hours.... That sort of thing is harder to spot online, so more people get taken in. I don't think it's always necessarily a "conscious" fraud (at least with the Chinese); sometimes it's just a case of they look at something, say "Yeah, we could copy that", so they cut and paste the photo to the ad and wait for the first order. Other times it is much more deliberately fraudulent. I certainly see a lot of sellers on eBay, typically leather jackets, from India and Pakistan who not only use Aero's photos, but also their TMS and such in their auction titles. Typically they know rightly they're up t no god, but keeping them down is a real whackamole affair, and there's always someone who will pay the money.
As folks say, caveat emptor. The pictures in the link I posted did look too good to be true for the prices charged; makes sense to have it confirmed they are lifted from another site. Personally, that would put me off dealing with them even if they did produce a nice product of their own, in the same way as I would be uncomfortable buying from X Brand because of the way they abused the Lewis Leathers TM on their eBay marketing.
Because China is considered by lawyers to be the wild west when it comes to copyright and intellectual property law. Loads of big name companies fight to get control of their brands because small time scammers will register the name as their own. As such, counterfeiting is rife as are the scams that surround it.
You're right, though, about Pakistan, as it is another home to some very dodgy outfits. Quite often they'll nick images of various jacket styles from websites and then simply say 'example of our jackets'. Aero, ELC et al have been subject to this, though I remember one wonderful example where they actually used a picture of John Chapman wearing his own jackets! Basically, they offer these jackets for buttons and if you're fool enough to order one from them, they then kind of guess the construction to make up a pattern, use cheap nasty leather to construct it, and you're left with a lot of disappointment when an unwearable travesty turns up.
It's a bit like the days when companies used to advertise in the back of the NME and Melody Maker, offering copies of the latest fashions that pop stars were wearing. You'd send off for what you thought would be a knock-off of the duster jacket Paul Weller was currently wearing and in return you'd get sent a lab coat!
You're right, though, about Pakistan, as it is another home to some very dodgy outfits. Quite often they'll nick images of various jacket styles from websites and then simply say 'example of our jackets'. Aero, ELC et al have been subject to this, though I remember one wonderful example where they actually used a picture of John Chapman wearing his own jackets! Basically, they offer these jackets for buttons and if you're fool enough to order one from them, they then kind of guess the construction to make up a pattern, use cheap nasty leather to construct it, and you're left with a lot of disappointment when an unwearable travesty turns up.
It's a bit like the days when companies used to advertise in the back of the NME and Melody Maker, offering copies of the latest fashions that pop stars were wearing. You'd send off for what you thought would be a knock-off of the duster jacket Paul Weller was currently wearing and in return you'd get sent a lab coat!
Mich486
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Because I read that the shoes are sent from China. Maybe they are Of a different nationality working in China? That could be although unlikely. No prejudice from my side. Also scammers is what they appear to us but they might honestly think they are a legit business.
There is a Facebook page with loads of negative feedbacks if you want to look it up. Shoes delivered with huge delays and just a cheap mall copy of they show. H&M shoes kind of quality.
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Edward
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John's not the only one - one of them is using shots of me in a Lost Worlds B3, lifted from TFL. I emailed them about it, and they sent a very polite holding response, but never came back to me. (Not that I expected them to!).
The sad thing is that people in the West only see the least of what China can produce, simply because they want to buy something for next to nothing. I have somewhere a pair of co-respondents a Chinese cobbler made for me, to my spec and with a few measurements taken; lovely shoes. They've sadly been hit by a carpet beetle this Winter, so their lifespan is now limited, but I had them made in 2009, and they are still beautiful. Fit like a glove, lovely quality. I'm sure there are hundreds of places in China could make outstanding engineer boots, but you'd have to be prepared to pay close to Western money for them, which most people simply won't do under this odd notion that stuff from China "must be cheap".
