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Footwear to go with our jackets

TartuWolf

One Too Many
Messages
1,562
Location
Tartu, Estonia
Just found this blogpost today "European workwear boot brands" from end of 2024:
Wow, so many brands I've never heard of! Seems like we have more options in Europe than I thought!
 

red devil

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,994
Location
London
Just found this blogpost today "European workwear boot brands" from end of 2024:
Wow, so many brands I've never heard of! Seems like we have more options in Europe than I thought!
Thanks for sharing, there many interesting looking brands
 

cbez

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,010
Location
CA
Argo
1000031260.jpg
 

cbez

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,010
Location
CA
This ad inspired me to get on my kilties soap box even though no one asked.

Yet another reason they are dumb is because the facings are not sized for them and end up with a ridiculous bulge like this around the calf.

If you like the aesthetics, cool, but let's not pretend 99.999% of us need the 'protection' when we already have laces, facings, and a tongue in that area.
1000031279.jpg
 

cbez

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,010
Location
CA
I think you would be surprised what % of the PNW clientele is casual or light duty compared to the firefighters, linemen, loggers etc.
 

TLW '90

Practically Family
Messages
920
This ad inspired me to get on my kilties soap box even though no one asked.

Yet another reason they are dumb is because the facings are not sized for them and end up with a ridiculous bulge like this around the calf.

If you like the aesthetics, cool, but let's not pretend 99.999% of us need the 'protection' when we already have laces, facings, and a tongue in that area.
View attachment 689334
Who wears their pants so the whole tongue of their boots is showing?
Even if you have oversized kilties that do this, your pants should be covering it.
I think you saw a pair of boots somewhere with an oversized kiltie and are assuming that this is how they always look.
In this picture I think the boots just weren't laced lightly up at the top because for some reason this person wanted to tuck their pants into their boots which is dumb.

I have kilties on my work boots, and they have done me some good.
They catch and deflect a lot of things because I do a lot of kicking pushing and nudging.

I think you have inspired me to order another pair of kilties to add to another pair of my boots.
I might actually even try kilties on one of my pairs of Vellies.
 
Last edited:

TLW '90

Practically Family
Messages
920
I think you would be surprised what % of the PNW clientele is casual or light duty compared to the firefighters, linemen, loggers etc.
Those are not their bread & butter, they make and sell far more boots for blue collar guys who are hard on their boots than anything else.
 

Bennarion

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,486
I've been waiting for 4 months and I've got them. Now I can't decide whether to wear kiltes or not. On his left leg, he slides to the side. I like the look of shoes with kiltes
IMG_20250314_180725.jpg
IMG_20250314_182343_738.jpg
IMG_20250314_180833_054.jpg
.
 

cbez

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,010
Location
CA
Who wears their pants so the whole tongue of their boots is showing?
Even if you have oversized kilties that do this, your pants should be covering it.
I think you saw a pair of boots somewhere with an oversized kiltie and are assuming that this is how they always look.
In this picture I think the boots just weren't laced lightly up at the top because for some reason this person wanted to tuck their pants into their boots which is dumb.

I have kilties on my work boots, and they have done me some good.
They catch and deflect a lot of things because I do a lot of kicking pushing and nudging.

I think you have inspired me to order another pair of kilties to add to another pair of my boots.
I might actually even try kilties on one of my pairs of Vellies.
I have had both nicks and whites that came with kilties, and they look goofy with the kilties, because the patterns are not designed for kilties. For the people that happen to like the look cool, but imo they're more of a mancessory that some people promote as this vital thing to protect your fragile tongues, even tho I have tongues with 10+ years of heavy wear, multiple resoles, that show no damage.

Those are not their bread & butter, they make and sell far more boots for blue collar guys who are hard on their boots than anything else.
again I think you'd be surprised. look at their marketing efforts the past decade or so, how and what they promote online, all the trendy leathers etc. They're not stupid and realized there's only a limited # of wildland firefighters, loggers, and so forth, but millions of guys who can succumb to the workwear aesthetic. They know where they can expand.
 

cbez

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,010
Location
CA

TartuWolf

One Too Many
Messages
1,562
Location
Tartu, Estonia
In my mind kilties are simple.
You wear them if one of the following is true:
- Shaft is too roomy and laces go too close together.
- You are annihilating the front of your shaft and upper vamp area by trudging through destructive environment (for example logging, bushcraft, some other outdoor activities) regularly.
- You simply like the aesthetic.
- If your speedhooks or eyelets are poorly set and are really rough on your tongue (carving in holes). In this case it's better to fix the core issue, but kilties can help save the tongue in the meantime.
 

Pandemic

One Too Many
Messages
1,507
Location
In The Flat Field
Maybe it’s age or maybe a suburban lifestyle, but I just don’t feel comfortable clomping around in big workboots these days. My go-to is either the RM Williams Lachlan (now discontinued) or some custom double-sole suede chukkas from TLB Mallorca:

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IMG_3665.jpeg
 

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