Footwear to go with our jackets

[red devil]

The more I’ve looked into the new Wesco’s the more the skinny straps bother me. I just feel like the straps on the previous knuckle draggers looked better.
The clinch engineers are just on another level...not only in design but also price lol. I believe they were doing a preorder a few months back for them. Although I think the preorder was available only to previous Clinch customers and members of the SDP discord (more reason to join ). Interestingly enough they’re doing a natural colored leather opposed to the typical overdyed black and brown. This is the photo they were sending around, no mock ups available but it would be this leather.

View attachment 311110

What does SDP stand for?

 

[powerserge]

What does SDP stand for?

Stitchdown Premium
Stitchdown is a footwear blog/website. If you subscribe to the premium membership, you get access to the discord sever (a bit chat room), giveaways, early access, and discounts. I think it’s well worth it and have really enjoyed it. @Ayeteael is also apart of it, and might be chime in his thoughts on it.

 

[Ayeteael]

Stitchdown Premium
Stitchdown is a footwear blog/website. If you subscribe to the premium membership, you get access to the discord sever (a bit chat room), giveaways, early access, and discounts. I think it’s well worth it and have really enjoyed it. @Ayeteael is also apart of it, and might be chime in his thoughts on it.

https://www.stitchdown.com/ provides editorial content on boots and shoes. if you join SDP ($50/year i think) you get access to their discord and other discounts, MTOs, and exclusives. It's how I got my Onderhouds. The people on the discord run the spectrum of diversity but are united in their love for boots and shoes. Ben, who runs stitchdown, is just a good dude and everyone else i've come across on the discord seem like good peeps. Lotta knowledge to glean from that hivemind.

 

[Jin431]

The more I’ve looked into the new Wesco’s the more the skinny straps bother me. I just feel like the straps on the previous knuckle draggers looked better.
The clinch engineers are just on another level...not only in design but also price lol. I believe they were doing a preorder a few months back for them. Although I think the preorder was available only to previous Clinch customers and members of the SDP discord (more reason to join ). Interestingly enough they’re doing a natural colored leather opposed to the typical overdyed black and brown. This is the photo they were sending around, no mock ups available but it would be this leather.

View attachment 311110

Yes I was looking at a brown engineer so I thought might as well, good thing it didn't work out lol
They didn't order any boot my size (it's an unpopular size so they didn't preorder it) so that saved me some money too lol but I just messaged S&S and they said it was okay to preorder so long as a size is available.
Hmm that's interesting, I see the appeal of a natural finish but it will take forever to develop since people like us have so many pairs that we won't wear it religiously.

 

[powerserge]

Yes I was looking at a brown engineer so I thought might as well, good thing it didn't work out lol
They didn't order any boot my size (it's an unpopular size so they didn't preorder it) so that saved me some money too lol but I just messaged S&S and they said it was okay to preorder so long as a size is available.
Hmm that's interesting, I see the appeal of a natural finish but it will take forever to develop since people like us have so many pairs that we won't wear it religiously.

The wesco mr Lou in brown cxl might be a good option for you. The nice thing about the mr Lou is it has a narrow shaft and would fit under most narrow openings of pants.
Good to know about the preorder, did not know that. You saved a good chunk of change, I’m not sure I could ever convince myself to buy a pair of clinch engineers. Although...never say never.
You make a good point regarding natural finish on leather. It takes a lot of dedication to wear it in properly and to the point where it has darkened significantly. Doesn’t make much sense for those with really large collections. Unless that person likes the pale look of new natural leather, I personally don’t . I do like that the natural leather used by clinch has a bit of color and isn’t too pale

 

[Jin431]

@Jin431
Yup that’s them. I don’t think they have stores in the US that stock their products, but I’m not sure. Perhaps @dudewuttheheck or @Blackadder can confirm. I got mine from YA Japan. If you’re looking at them I would go for their newer engineer model. They look much better than mine IMO

The calf skin engineer looks really good.
Looks like it's just direct order from the company's online store. Got it, if I get them I'll just use yahoo Japan since I can't seem to find the button to change the language of the motor website lol how does their sizing transfer to US sizes?

Same company different line. Yours are Moto, mine are the Motor line. My gen 3 are Horween CXL.
http://www.motostyle.jp/motor/motor.html
http://store-motostyle.jp/?pid=122592394
I also have the Dress Engineer
http://store-motostyle.jp/?pid=154241761
Motor Dress and MF Road Champ
View attachment 311074
View attachment 311073

Those are cool, thanks for sharing them! I'm really liking these sleek engineers. Is there a better way to navigate the website?

 

[Jin431]

The wesco mr Lou in brown cxl might be a good option for you. The nice thing about the mr Lou is it has a narrow shaft and would fit under most narrow openings of pants.
Good to know about the preorder, did not know that. You saved a good chunk of change, I’m not sure I could ever convince myself to buy a pair of clinch engineers. Although...never say never.
You make a good point regarding natural finish on leather. It takes a lot of dedication to wear it in properly and to the point where it has darkened significantly. Doesn’t make much sense for those with really large collections. Unless that person likes the pale look of new natural leather, I personally don’t . I do like that the natural leather used by clinch has a bit of color and isn’t too pale

Yes, if I get a brown engineer might as well go with wesco build your own boot. I'll use the quick striker as reference for ordering lol

I noticed the S&S john lofgren engineers don't have brown cxl but they do offer natural cxl which is almost brownish enough

Hmmm I think you'll like it, if it was offered in my size I would have put a preorder in, that way the payment is also halved so it's not so painful hahaha

I have too many pair in my rotation, i can't even wear them to my workplace so most of the time they are just left unused so a natural Leather will probably stay the same shade for a long time if I own it.
Hmm you can bake it in the sun and apply leather lotion to get it darker but that kinda takes some of the joy out off getting a natural boot.
Agree, I can't do light pale colored boots as I would not know what to wear it with.

 

[jeo]

how does their sizing transfer to US sizes?

Tough question to answer as US sizes aren't super consistent from brand to brand. I'm a 7 in most US sizes, sometimes a 6.5 in some boot brands. My Moto boots are size 0. But I think their current sizing is more standard but I would assume a 7 in the dress engineer would probably be smaller than a 7 in most US brands.

 

[Jin431]

Tough question to answer as US sizes aren't super consistent from brand to brand. I'm a 7 in most US sizes, sometimes a 6.5 in some boot brands. My Moto boots are size 0. But I think their current sizing is more standard but I would assume a 7 in the dress engineer would probably be smaller than a 7 in most US brands.

Got it, that's always kind of a head scratcher. I'll probably just look into something else for now or better yet I'll wait for my black engineer boot order to be fulfilled and then see how I like wearing one before I get another one in brown lol

 

[powerserge]

Yes, if I get a brown engineer might as well go with wesco build your own boot. I'll use the quick striker as reference for ordering lol

I noticed the S&S john lofgren engineers don't have brown cxl but they do offer natural cxl which is almost brownish enough

Hmmm I think you'll like it, if it was offered in my size I would have put a preorder in, that way the payment is also halved so it's not so painful hahaha

I have too many pair in my rotation, i can't even wear them to my workplace so most of the time they are just left unused so a natural Leather will probably stay the same shade for a long time if I own it.
Hmm you can bake it in the sun and apply leather lotion to get it darker but that kinda takes some of the joy out off getting a natural boot.
Agree, I can't do light pale colored boots as I would not know what to wear it with.

Hopefully you’d be able to build something similar and I think you should.
I pretty sure you could get brown lofgrens through his website. Now natural is a great alternative and ages really nicely.
When the payments is does make it much more manageable. That’s partly why I decided to get my role clubs, 200 deposit up front and then I get two years to pay it off.
I agree that you can expedite the process of aging but it just isn’t the same. You have to do it properly and put the time in, and it would be probably result in a better patina anyway. The best thing to pair a natural leather boot is with a natural jacket haha but I don’t think that’s a good look.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

In terms of Clinch, make sure you're aware of the different lasts. The original classic narrow is not the same as the classic narrow wide. They fit quite different. I also think that the original classic narrow looks much better.

 

[red devil]

In terms of Clinch, make sure you're aware of the different lasts. The original classic narrow is not the same as the classic narrow wide. They fit quite different. I also think that the original classic narrow looks much better.

Agreed, I went for CN when given the choice for my engineers back then

 

[Turnip]

Dainite Town Boots to go with the pony...

 

[Jin431]

Hopefully you’d be able to build something similar and I think you should.
I pretty sure you could get brown lofgrens through his website. Now natural is a great alternative and ages really nicely.
When the payments is does make it much more manageable. That’s partly why I decided to get my role clubs, 200 deposit up front and then I get two years to pay it off.
I agree that you can expedite the process of aging but it just isn’t the same. You have to do it properly and put the time in, and it would be probably result in a better patina anyway. The best thing to pair a natural leather boot is with a natural jacket haha but I don’t think that’s a good look.

Thanks! I'll just wait it out for now until I receive my black engineers from onderhoud. Just to make sure i really want to wear one.

That's so true, that's also why ordering from Indonesian boot makers make sense to me. You get great workmanship with premium leather and you can pay 50% downpayment at first then the rest upon completion which is around 3-5 months. I was thinking about the role clubs last summer but that sure is quite a bit of a wait.

I would imagine the first few wearing of the jacket/boot in natural finish will be a little too clean since it doesn't have any color variation yet. I don't know if I'll ever want one in that finish but you know how that goes. . .

 

[Bfd70]

Yes, if I get a brown engineer might as well go with wesco build your own boot. I'll use the quick striker as reference for ordering lol

I noticed the S&S john lofgren engineers don't have brown cxl but they do offer natural cxl which is almost brownish enough

Hmmm I think you'll like it, if it was offered in my size I would have put a preorder in, that way the payment is also halved so it's not so painful hahaha

I have too many pair in my rotation, i can't even wear them to my workplace so most of the time they are just left unused so a natural Leather will probably stay the same shade for a long time if I own it.
Hmm you can bake it in the sun and apply leather lotion to get it darker but that kinda takes some of the joy out off getting a natural boot.
Agree, I can't do light pale colored boots as I would not know what to wear it with.

I have Havana brown Lofgrens. They are aging very nicely. You can order them from Lofgren or ELMC which I used and was a good experience. I exchanged a dozen emails with Wesco. Chris was a great professional. However, in the end, i wasn’t positive we could get a good custom fit. I prefer off the rack that can be easily returned if they dont work out.

 

[powerserge]

Thanks! I'll just wait it out for now until I receive my black engineers from onderhoud. Just to make sure i really want to wear one.

That's so true, that's also why ordering from Indonesian boot makers make sense to me. You get great workmanship with premium leather and you can pay 50% downpayment at first then the rest upon completion which is around 3-5 months. I was thinking about the role clubs last summer but that sure is quite a bit of a wait.

I would imagine the first few wearing of the jacket/boot in natural finish will be a little too clean since it doesn't have any color variation yet. I don't know if I'll ever want one in that finish but you know how that goes. . .

Oh I didn’t know you were getting engineers from Rizky at Onderhoud?! That’s a great first pair of engineers and probably my favorite engineer pattern from a Indo maker. When are they stated to arrive? But that is a good idea to test the water but going all in.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Agreed, I went for CN when given the choice for my engineers back then

Same. I have two pairs of custom clinch engineer boots and they are both on the original classic narrow last. It's easily my favorite engineer last and I have quite a few engineers.

 

[Jin431]

Benzein Black Teacore Shinki Chelsea

 

[Jin431]

I have Havana brown Lofgrens. They are aging very nicely. You can order them from Lofgren or ELMC which I used and was a good experience. I exchanged a dozen emails with Wesco. Chris was a great professional. However, in the end, i wasn’t positive we could get a good custom fit. I prefer off the rack that can be easily returned if they dont work out.

Just saw those Havana brown boots! What a good looking shade of brown! Congrats on having a pair of this beauty! Agree, I'm all for returns when all else fails. I've had a couple made to order boots that are a half or a full size too big

Oh I didn’t know you were getting engineers from Rizky at Onderhoud?! That’s a great first pair of engineers and probably my favorite engineer pattern from a Indo maker. When are they stated to arrive? But that is a good idea to test the water but going all in.

Yeah man, I got lucky that he replied randomly from my spam of messages from starting from last summer. Definitely got lucky to get a spot as I've been trying the random draw whenever it's been up for a raffle. I'm going for my favorite black leather in the Maryam black horse butt (Truman service boot/incoming FP monkey boot/incoming onderhoud engineers). I should have it sometime in Mid May or early June but hopefully sooner than that.

 

[powerserge]

Yeah man, I got lucky that he replied randomly from my spam of messages from starting from last summer. Definitely got lucky to get a spot as I've been trying the random draw whenever it's been up for a raffle. I'm going for my favorite black leather in the Maryam black horse butt (Truman service boot/incoming FP monkey boot/incoming onderhoud engineers). I should have it sometime in Mid May or early June but hopefully sooner than that.

That’s awesome you were able to get selected and it will be here before you know it! Although that is the one thing I dislike about Onderhoud is semi-lottery system he has in place. I don’t mind waitlist but I refuse to play for a chance to buy a pair of boots. Of course he decides what’s best for his business but I’d rather wait and get a pair of another Benzeins.
The Maryam horsebutt is awesome and seems to be a MTO staple nowadays. I just a one pair of black shoes and I think for a pair of boots I would also opt for the black horsebutt. The pair that you have now, do you know if it’s dyed all the through or if it’s teacore black?