Footwear to go with our jackets

[Monitor]

I haven't seen any of their work but I can only imagine how high their standard and build quality is since they are an established high end maker. I haven't really looked into (high end) fashion brands because I relate their work with having exorbitant price tags but if it can be had for a reasonable price then I would probably try one out.

See, this is what I mean.

Okay, so while I have somewhat limited experience with heritage/repro/whatever brands - meaning I've yet to see any of the top-tier contenders - I did own a good few low to mid-tier options so I feel I'm allowed to draw at least some conclusion.

But the thing is, price point of the footwear I'm talking about here, fashion stuff, is actually at the mid-tier heritage market level.

I used to avoid fashion footwear for many reasons, one being what you've just mentioned; Price tag - but - turns out, when you compare any of these small-time makers, turns out they regularly ask as much as any of the high-street brands & often more.

For instance, the cheapest boots by Clinch are over $2K while you'd be hard pressed to find anything from a regular Celine or Saint Laurent line-up for half as much! Sure, the mega-rare Aligator skin ones but then again, you've got
Lucchese charging $13K for their Aligator boots. I'm not kidding, check it out.

https://lucchese.com/collections/men-cowboy-boots?sort=price-descending

$12,995! Believe me when I say that not even freaking Balenciaga EVER had the audacity to ask #13K for ANYTHING and they'd do it just for trolling.

Do a search for boots on Farfetch or MrPorter and compare it to SelfEdge & Standard and Strange and you'll see that the difference in price variation is negligible.

Heritage marketing is based almost entirely a premise of durability and quality vs. mass produced, flimsy fashion trash. That premise is sometimes true - Except when it isn't and when it isn't, it couldn't possibly be much further from the truth.

My MiuMiu's were 300 Euros. Or so.

 

[Jin431]

See, this is what I mean.

Okay, so while I have somewhat limited experience with heritage/repro/whatever brands - meaning I've yet to see any of the top-tier contenders - I did own a good few low to mid-tier options so I feel I'm allowed to draw at least some conclusion.

But the thing is, price point of the footwear I'm talking about here, fashion stuff, is actually at the mid-tier heritage market level.

I used to avoid fashion footwear for many reasons, one being what you've just mentioned; Price tag - but - turns out, when you compare any of these small-time makers, turns out they regularly ask as much as any of the high-street brands & often more.

For instance, the cheapest boots by Clinch are over $2K while you'd be hard pressed to find anything from a regular Celine or Saint Laurent line-up for half as much! Sure, the mega-rare Aligator skin ones but then again, you've got
Lucchese charging $13K for their Aligator boots. I'm not kidding, check it out.

https://lucchese.com/collections/men-cowboy-boots?sort=price-descending

$12,995! Believe me when I say that not even freaking Balenciaga EVER had the audacity to ask #13K for ANYTHING and they'd do it just for trolling.

Do a search for boots on Farfetch or MrPorter and compare it to SelfEdge & Standard and Strange and you'll see that the difference in price variation is negligible.

Heritage marketing is based almost entirely a premise of durability and quality vs. mass produced, flimsy fashion trash. That premise is sometimes true - Except when it isn't and when it isn't, it couldn't possibly be much further from the truth.

My MiuMiu's were 300 Euros. Or so.

that's good to know that it can be had and not break the bank. I don't knock on fashion brand boots its just most of the style I see them make is most of the time too formal looking for how I wear my clothes but I quite like that Prada that you shared (it's not too pointy lol). I also don't believe the notion that heritage brands is all about quality, since they are in the business after all and I'm sure they want to sell more of their stuff if they can lol

my fascination with boots is actually not the footwear itself but with the leather so I almost always gravitate to made to order brands. Although sometimes a pair is so well perfectly made that you don't really need to mess with anything about it like the clinch engineer or jodhpurs

 

[Robbie79]

should still be pretty similar with other boot makers. a Maryam/cloe/horween/shinki horse butt in natural finish would be 400-480 so maybe upgrade the leather.

I'm actually thinking about taking the risk and select this veg tanned leather as I hope that the quality is good, at least from the pictures it does look good as they mainly sell their local leather from what I seen on Instagram. But of course there is a risk left.

 

[Marc mndt]

My MiuMiu's were 300 Euros. Or so.

Lol, these are €800+ MRSP

 

[Monitor]

Lol, these are €800+ MRSP

Oh, right, new. I didn't clarify, it's what I paid for them, though it was even less. Amazing price, actually and all thanks to you!

 

[Aloysius]

Heritage marketing is based almost entirely a premise of durability and quality vs. mass produced, flimsy fashion trash. That premise is sometimes true - Except when it isn't and when it isn't, it couldn't possibly be much further from the truth.

Not to mention, even when the materials and quality are good, the retro/repro brands often have far worse patterning than the mainstream brands Standard & Strange customers scoff at…

 

[Monitor]

Not to mention, even when the materials and quality are good, the retro/repro brands often have far worse patterning than the mainstream brands Standard & Strange customers scoff at…

That's exactly it. I think a lot of them are honestly so lost at patterns and lasts that they don't even realize it.

Before I got into 'fashion' boots, I was like "yeah, these are pretty comfortable for a pair of boots". Now I know boots can feel as comfortable as walking barefoot over a Persian rug.

 

[Aloysius]

One of the exceptions is Toyo (Sugar Cane, Buzz Rickson's, etc); their pattern work is amazing, and not only on products that have been around a long time (so you can assume tweaks) or repro items.

As for boots, the designer stuff (not counting those horrific plastic sandals people buy) is usually made by reputable shoe companies. For aesthetic reasons, I wouldn't buy designer shoes personally, except Ralph Lauren Purple Label or Double RL, since those two marry aesthetics and design I like with very high quality suppliers, but it would be silly to claim workwear brands and Shinki have a magic edge because some Oakland hipsters like it.

 

[jglf]

I’m in talks with Benzein about ordering a pair of olive boots to match my olive Thedi jacket. I’m considering their olive badalassi as well as their Java olive pull-up. Anyone has experience with any of these leathers? Pics would be super helpful as well. I seem to remember @Jin431 owning a pair of olive badalassi from them, is that correct?

I have a pair in Java olive pull-up and it’s like a dark hunter/forest green. Nice leather, but not very thick and I would have preferred a more subdued olive color.

 

[matchankh]

I had the exact same experience with another maker. I reached out to the vendor who then reached out to the maker. The makers reply “I wouldn’t pay $1,000 for those, send them back.” While it won’t effect durability there is no way my OCD could handle that. At the price point the maker needs to exchange imo.

A little update Rizky just replied and he said maryam sent him a bad batch. When he was cutting the boot the leather was fine and he isnt sure why the leather does that as soon as its worn. He probably has other customers reporting this similar issue. He has agreed to a remake. Really happy with the outcome.

This is the boot brand new when I first received them. They are indeed well made and the pattern is awesome too.

 

[Robbie79]

I finally decided to order following boots made of Red Brown Oiled Shinki Horsebutt through Benzein as I really like the combination. I chose this natural single naturlar leather midsole, regular heels as pictured below and Dr. Sole Black Half Sole (same as below), natural welt color, white welt stitch, flatwelt 270° and structured toebox (not sure if unstructured would have been better).

Customer service is very friendly, supportive and fast.
Current waiting time is 4-5 months.

 

[Monitor]

Wow, these are beauties!! 10-20 miles a day is a lot - respect!!

I hate driving enough to not own a motorized transport and I have a dog. That alone amounts to some nice daily mileage, whatever it is you plan on doing that day. Walking is fun.

I don't know why, I'm getting more and more reluctant to even climb into that metal box with wheels. I dislike being driven somewhere! The smell of the plastic interior doesn't help. . .

 

[Jin431]

A little update Rizky just replied and he said maryam sent him a bad batch. When he was cutting the boot the leather was fine and he isnt sure why the leather does that as soon as its worn. He probably has other customers reporting this similar issue. He has agreed to a remake. Really happy with the outcome.

This is the boot brand new when I first received them. They are indeed well made and the pattern is awesome too.

View attachment 375867

what ever happened with your Onderhouds? I also have the black Maryam horse butt, it does feel a little thinner compared to my black service boots from Truman though but other than that I haven't noticed any issues on mine.

I finally decided to order following boots made of Red Brown Oiled Shinki Horsebutt through Benzein as I really like the combination. I chose this natural single naturlar leather midsole, regular heels as pictured below and Dr. Sole Black Half Sole (same as below), natural welt color, white welt stitch, flatwelt 270° and structured toebox (not sure if unstructured would have been better).

Customer service is very friendly, supportive and fast.
Current waiting time is 4-5 months.

View attachment 375885

View attachment 375887

that's a real nice leather, I love the oiled horse butts from shinki. great pick with the side zip too, I have two pending orders (oiled camel and oiled dark brown horse shinki butt) since it's built on a last that really works well for my feet. I have 2 Chelsea and 1 dress boots from that last and going down half a size from my usual brannock size works best for me. Also you can tell them to select the thickest hides and specify how you like the grain. It's not perfect/flawlessly made like your clinch boots but it's well built. I actually find the upper stitching and double row stitchdown (big respect to the hand lasting that they do) on my Benzeins are better made than my viberg service boots.

 

[Robbie79]

what ever happened with your Onderhouds? I also have the black Maryam horse butt, it does feel a little thinner compared to my black service boots from Truman though but other than that I haven't noticed any issues on mine.



that's a real nice leather, I love the oiled horse butts from shinki. great pick with the side zip too, I have two pending orders (oiled camel and oiled dark brown horse shinki butt) since it's built on a last that really works well for my feet. I have 2 Chelsea and 1 dress boots from that last and going down half a size from my usual brannock size works best for me. Also you can tell them to select the thickest hides and specify how you like the grain. It's not perfect/flawlessly made like your clinch boots but it's well built. I actually find the upper stitching and double row stitchdown (big respect to the hand lasting that they do) on my Benzeins are better made than my viberg service boots.

Oiled camel shinki sounds also nice and I was actually deciding between the red brown and dark brown Shinki and picked the red brown (not sure why - probably a good match with my FW Caboose). I was unsure if I choose the Chelsea or the side zip boots - as I already have several Chelsea boots from Italian + French shoemakers and Red Wings, I decided to go for the side zip ones. Thanks a lot for the recommendation regarding leather thickness (I'll send him another message) and I've already emphasized that I want a grainy leather. After receipt I can also compare between them, Clinch and my Vibergs

 

[Jin431]

Oiled camel shinki sounds also nice and I was actually deciding between the red brown and dark brown Shinki and picked the red brown (not sure why - probably a good match with my FW Caboose). I was unsure if I choose the Chelsea or the side zip boots - as I already have several Chelsea boots from Italian + French shoemakers and Red Wings, I decided to go for the side zip ones. Thanks a lot for the recommendation regarding leather thickness (I'll send him another message) and I've already emphasized that I want a grainy leather. After receipt I can also compare between them, Clinch and my Vibergs

good thing you got the oiled red brown, their stock was running low and you probably got the last one. that also works that it matches with your deadleaf brown caboose. no problem at all, I was told it's about 2-2.2mm thick so it's not the thickest leather so better to select the thickest hides.

 

[matchankh]

what ever happened with your Onderhouds? I also have the black Maryam horse butt, it does feel a little thinner compared to my black service boots from Truman though but other than that I haven't noticed any issues on mine.

Grain is really low density on the left boot across the entire vamp as soon as I put them on. Not loose grain territory I think? but makes it really uneven with the right boot.

 

[Will Zach]

Grain is really low density on the left boot across the entire vamp as soon as I put them on. Not loose grain territory I think? but makes it really uneven with the right boot.

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On the last pic they don't look that different.

 

[Jin431]

Grain is really low density on the left boot across the entire vamp as soon as I put them on. Not loose grain territory I think? but makes it really uneven with the right boot.

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have you worn this pair a lot? mine doesn't look like that (yet anyways) but I haven't really put miles on my boots so that's not saying much.

I hope @dudewuttheheck or anyone can chime in and explain what could have possibly happened here.

 

[Jin431]

Truman Boots in Aubergine Horse Rump from yesterday. Really soft temper and supple horse butt, quite delightful to wear.

 

[scurvyfreedman]

Alden cigar shell cordovan with my Thedi espresso buffalo.