tod

12 hours ago, Cold Summer said:
 

Is Viberg still such a big deal? My impression was that their popularity has dropped off a lot since the 2030 heyday of 2016-18 or so, but I could be wrong. I don’t think those are bad looking boots, and they go well especially with slim trousers and a bit more refined menswear look. But the whole tight fitting Iron Heart or Rogue Territory flannel with slim tapered jeans and Viberg 2030s feels like a very dated 2017 sort of look. 
 

I’d feel weird wearing 2030 boots with my straight jeans. On the other hand I think the 310 last is too chunky. 

I like the 310, but know what you mean. That’s why the 2045 was just right — not pointy but not all the way bumped up like the 310.  Not sure why they replaced it with the 2040.

Speaking of the 2045, here a few from what to my mind is the heyday of Viberg's semi-work boot era, back when they had just switched to the "new" Viberg.com site, with the new 310s, 2045s, and 110s (before the 2030 came about).

I briefly owned the scotch grain black shell boots pictured here (with captoe), but let them because of sizing, and have regretted it ever since...😟

Also, the smooth horsehide on the other black was a killer leather, not sure the tannery, but I don't think they've had it since.  It was thick, older style workboot horsehide.  I had a pair of very cool 310s with it, which I wore for probably over a year before (again) selling due to sizing. 😭

Got these White’s several months ago, but ionly now starting to wear them a bit. Here’s a picture when brand new, and one today.

Apologies for the CXL..🙂

On 1/11/2024 at 3:20 PM, Broark said:

I'd prefer horsehide (cxl doesn't do much for me) and I can't tell you the last time a size 11 fit my foot.
The smallest boot I wear is an 11.5 in the Viberg 2045 last which is quite full.

Curious what 2045 boots you have. I’ve always liked the shape of those, but Viberg stopped using the last several years ago.

On 10/11/2022 at 4:50 PM, youngofthesoonest said:

it wasn't until you mentioned that oakstreet were shunned that I realized that I also kind of viewed them in a negative light but I no longer remember why....was there an actual thing that happened? I remember seeing their boots everywhere for a bit during the great American Made Heritage years of the 2010s. 

On 10/11/2022 at 5:24 PM, AlientoyWorkmachine said:

AFAIK they had some significant QC issues in the early days. My trench boots I posted some time ago are still the best boots I’ve owned, no complaints. But I’m a sneakers or birks dude most days so I’m not the best ref on that. I’m a homer for chicago stuff tho so oak street using horween basically sold itself to me. 

On 10/11/2022 at 7:02 PM, Broark said:

I honestly can't remember what it was, but something they did pissed people off if I recall correctly.
Were they doing some pseudo-GYW stuff back in the day perhaps? And marketing it as true GYW? Just spitballing here...

They had their own dealer thread on another board and it became a place to nitpick QC as I recall. Mostly unfairly in my view. It was sort of the height of “work” boots coming in to fashion wear, which also meant the height of boot buyers wanting every stitch to be perfect.  That combined with the fact that all their boots at the time were natural CXL, which picks up every nick, sort of became a wave of complaints. They finally just abandoned the thread.

My Chippewas, with about six years of very regular wear.

4 hours ago, chicote said:

Thanks for this discussion up here guys ^^ this is all really enlightening to understand the differences in terminology between different animal-product processing industries.

Here are a couple photos of my flat head engineers which use a tea core chromexcel.

 

I’ve had them six months and have worn them somewhat regularly in that time. Conditioned once after a couple weeks and then left pretty well alone since then per the advice of you all here.

 

I like how the leather is aging, there’s a lot of wear on my inner left boot from my motorcycle and some wrinkling forming on the inner shafts of both boots, maybe from engine heat? Not sure. But they’re coming along nicely.

For those of you more familiar with chromexcel, at what point does this leather start to really dry out / need conditioning? I don’t want to baby these boots really but also want the leather to last, and know keeping some oil in the leather is important for that.

 

 

My experience with CXL is not so much that it dries out but gets scraped up as your boots are getting, which look great btw! I trust the leather experts who say that most of us condition our boots far more than they need to be. I would say to treat them if you want to rub away some of the scuffing, but otherwise there’s probably no need to.

Three generations of Chippewa “engineer” boots. Left to right: worn 8-10 years before transitioning to yard work / current main boots, worn about 6 years / “new” ones (via EBay) waiting in the wings to replace the current boots.

On 5/12/2022 at 7:04 PM, eeejayaich said:

Loved these since the day I got them. They probably have 700 days of wear on them. Here paired with Ooe that I got from b_F. (Which are also awesome.) 

Do tell..

On 5/3/2022 at 4:45 PM, mlwdp said:

Anybody here had their shoes resoled by Brian?  If so, can you post some pictures?

I had him resole my RDTs in 2017, and he did a great job (pics below, 5 years later). Cost was $170. Around the same time I had Baker’s resole my white’s boots, and the cost was $120, but I have to say that the bakers job was not as cleanly done as Brian and pretty sure one of the boots ended up being bigger than when I sent it to them.

Also, I once had Alden resole a pair of Indy boots for me and they completely ruined the boots. Oof.

I really like the shape of some of the Kreosote boots. But they are very expensive, and I’m a little too scared about sizing.

On 2/28/2022 at 4:17 PM, chicote said:

As an aside, anyone using any new leather conditioners they’re into? I’m about done with my bottle of saphir and looking to try something new.

 

You may already know, but Venetian shoe cream is a pretty good light treatment for CXL, will rub the scuffs out but not do much besides that.

I’m tempted to try a pair of Lofgren combat boots, but have never tried them on.  Can anyone compare sizing to RDT Coupen boots? Thanks.

Chippewas.

On 2/8/2022 at 3:32 PM, crownzip said:

My old Red Wing Iron Ranger 8113 rough outs are definitely getting better with age. With new soles and heels (thanks to the Red Wing repair department) they're better than ever.

 

FYI, looks like Jack Reacher is wearing these in the new Amazon series. Though his appear to be brand new - a failure in the costuming dept.

Sometimes it’s nice to just admire the lace marks on your boots…

3 hours ago, AlientoyWorkmachine said:

Here are my Oak Street Bootmakers Trench boots in color 8 chromexcel. I got these in 2015 and have worn them maybe 80-150 days a year since then. I think they've aged pretty nicely and have a ton of life left. I put pretty even wear on my soles and I'm not a very heavy guy so I get a lot of miles out of footwear. Also not a super into boots guy but some years back I had a commission to photograph the Horween tannery in Chicago and that experience convinced me I needed to get something made from their stuff. Had to go with a Chicago based (even though they're not assembled there) brand. I know OSB has some haters but I'd buy these again 10 out 10 times. 

 

Where are Oak Street Boots assembled?

On 9/22/2021 at 10:34 PM, JDelage said:

I'm (again) interested in the RDT Casper. I've read that one should choose anywhere from 1 to 1.5 to 2 sizes down from Brannock device size. I'd love to hear from people who might have tried them on. I'm a 10.5, C width on Brannock for what it's worth, and I generally wear size 8.5 on UK-sized shoes (E. Green, Paraboots) ... Thank you.

My Coupen boots feel about a whole size larger than my Brannock size. They are not particularly wide I would say, but long and lots of volume.

On 9/22/2021 at 9:33 AM, Duke Mantee said:

My ‘Italian’ White’s - far and away my favourite boots given the patina and the comfort now the mileage is high

 

Remind me what makes them “Italian”? And what leather? (They look great.)

On 8/27/2021 at 10:47 AM, Thanks_M8 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcb5cBemg7Y

Just saw this video of Radian Shoe Repair cutting down a pair of Iron Rangers. Looks good imo, interesting idea.

That’s pretty cool. At one point I talked to Brian about cutting a pair down just below the top eyelet, which he said would be no problem, but I never ended up doing it.