Shoes that look better with age...

[SLAB]

received my first pair of Trickers in the mail yesterday; it was apparently a MTO for the owner/employee at the bureau. brown zug grain leather and 8" high with commando soles. They fit a bit tight around the toes but think it will work out. these will be my winter boots to go. pictures coming soon.

CTB; nice pickup with those veldtschoen Trickers. I had noticed the auction (decided not to link on sufu since i assumed some people might be bidding on them), really sad they weren't a size 7-7.5

[CrashTestBrummie]

received my first pair of Trickers in the mail yesterday; it was apparently a MTO for the owner/employee at the bureau. brown zug grain leather and 8" high with commando soles. They fit a bit tight around the toes but think it will work out. these will be my winter boots to go. pictures coming soon.

CTB; nice pickup with those veldtschoen Trickers. I had noticed the auction (decided not to link on sufu since i assumed some people might be bidding on them), really sad they weren't a size 7-7.5

Look forward to seeing them, this love for Tricker's is a good thing!

The boots were linked on here but the link was quickly taken down - enough time for me to shit myself, though!

Apparently I have a couple of parcels at home, so am wishing away the rest of the afternoon!

[CrashTestBrummie]

Double post, with apologies to Paul T and all those who didn't need any more zug grain in the thread, for entirely different reasons...

Tricker's veldtschoen:

The boots have got the classic Tricker's non-brogued boot shape, which they're now calling a 'Super Boot' (the Wetherbys also came today, marked as such on the box). The leather is a lot more red than the Grasmere and Lotus, although that might have something to do with age and wear.

In between the Lotus and Grasmere:

Will be interesting to see what they look like after a clean-up...I need to find out more about these boots...

[devilish]

Those are really nice, I think I like them more than the Lotus. Good score.

[mikedbt5]

Must spread Ben but those are vey nice . Must say that its the first time I have really noticed the bellows tongue on your veldschoen boots , tres cool . However at present the Lotus would be my favourite of the two , maybe once you bring the Trickers upto your standard , no doubt a visit to Richard as well , they will look the part .

[CrashTestBrummie]

Cheers lads...

I'm feeling both pairs...I like the Lotus because they're bulletproof, as it were - you'd not guess that they've had more wear than the Grasmere in the pic above, and that they are a lot older.

The Lotus feel like a little piece of history - search 'Lotus veldtschoen' in Google Books and you get a whole heap of tantalising snippets from a lot of diverse publications over a large span of time. Seems that they were known on both sides of the Atlantic for making the country boot.

Kinda sad that a brand like that can disappear just like that...

[pomata]

I'm glad to see some true love for Tricker's here finally

[CrashTestBrummie]

I'm glad to see some true love for Tricker's here finally

Indeed

They've come up quite nicely...excuse the slightly dull camera phone pics:

[rkusmant]

nice collection CTB!

Is there any good online retailer that have good selection of veldtschoen? I know AS still mass produces those.

[Happy Hooligan]

Just got my White's SD back tonight in the mail.

I had them stretched as they were really tight, esp. on one foot.

The toes feel fine now, but I'm not sure of the "white's" fit. Should it feel like I have my foot, barefoot in a stirrup? Also does white's leather "buckle" around the arch on both sides of the foot?

I'm not sure if it's suppose to be this way or do I have an oddly built boot, or is my foot for some reason crazy?

[morse9443]

It can feel at first like you're standing on the rung of a ladder. You'll get used to it pretty quick, but it's an adjustment.

What do you mean by buckle?

[Happy Hooligan]

I thought I'd heard the "Ladder" comment before. the buckle is more seen in the first pic. The leather "folds on itself"

It's like a stirrup as it's not just the bottom of my feet but it's all around the foot but just around the arch to the top of the foot.

[edmond]

yes thats how it feels and how it should in semi dress

[smittybat]

The toes feel fine now, but I'm not sure of the "white's" fit. Should it feel like I have my foot, barefoot in a stirrup?

On one of my pairs the leather insole was really irritating one of my feet right behind the ball, it felt similar to what you're described. I ended up trimming the insole just a bit shorter and it solved that problem. Not sure if that's what you're experiencing. It might just be the "arch-ease", it can take some getting used to.

[theotherchrislewis]

Just found another image of the Natural Chromexcel mentioned a few pages back on an Alden Blucher.

[k4727]

that "buckling" around the arch, ive got it on my wolverines and my red wings, it may be a result of sizing or just the way it falls on that kinda last, im not sure

[coleslawyum]

Definitely the Arch-ease feeling. Also, you might be feeling the steel shank which is very pronounced at first. It flattens over time. The buckling that you show from the pictures, I believe it is a normal with work boots. (at least the ones I have) Since these are hand lasted, there will be variation with each boot. I have a pair of Wesco's that do this. I think when shoes are machine-lasted there is more consistency. None of my dress boots do this.

I think you might not care in a few months when you get some wear in.

[Happy Hooligan]

thanks for the input everyone... They're much better after the weeklong stretch from Bakers... Hats off to them!

[pepper davies]

Here's another picture of some natural chromexel. People used to geek out for it in the Indy boots, but I'm not sure anyone ever put down the money to get a pair. Looks like the image belongs to Davi_Chan from the HTML tag.

[mikecch]

^ That's a nice colour.

Baker's also have a one-off 6" natural CXL smoke-jumper with composite half-sole in US size 9 - was contemplating kopping, but decided to do MTO next month instead:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150192357573667&set=a.10150125489708667.284361.169429873666&type=1&ref=nf

Would love to have someone here own that pair and show us some pics!

[onehundy]

Kind of excited for the White's new engineer boots in the works. They might have horsehide as a option.

[triumph.man]

nice collection CTB!

Is there any good online retailer that have good selection of veldtschoen? I know AS still mass produces those.

In the US that is. Been looking for us retailers but can't find any

[nattomoto]

Kyle (from Baker's) and I have been emailing back and forth a lot lately. I started asking him a few questions about ordering a pair of Semi-Dress and now I am bugging him about the possible new options from White's. Today Kyle shared some pictures of new sole options he is working on with White's. He said I could post the pics here. What do you guys think?

[Happy Hooligan]

well I took them for a 20 minute walk with the dog. The left one was uncomfortable, but the right one was killing me. I have a dent in the bottom of my foot now.... That's not common with new SD's is it?

I don't think this pair is for me. I'll probably be putting them on the supermarket unless I can return them.

I'll give them another day, but I doubt they'll form to my foot.

[nattomoto]

well I took them for a 20 minute walk with the dog. The left one was uncomfortable, but the right one was killing me. I have a dent in the bottom of my foot now.... That's not common with new SD's is it?

I don't think this pair is for me. I'll probably be putting them on the supermarket unless I can return them.

I'll give them another day, but I doubt they'll form to my foot.

Give em time. Start off with an hour a day and increase from there. After a little bit, they will form to your feet. What you are describing sounds just like what I went through.

[k4727]

im having those vibrams put on my redwings GTs, i like em, but i dont like the second one

[onehundy]

well I took them for a 20 minute walk with the dog. The left one was uncomfortable, but the right one was killing me. I have a dent in the bottom of my foot now.... That's not common with new SD's is it?

I don't think this pair is for me. I'll probably be putting them on the supermarket unless I can return them.

I'll give them another day, but I doubt they'll form to my foot.

sounds like it's too tight. That happened with mine and I ended up putting them up in on the Bay. What size are they?

[ranonranonarat]

well I took them for a 20 minute walk with the dog. The left one was uncomfortable, but the right one was killing me. I have a dent in the bottom of my foot now.... That's not common with new SD's is it?

I don't think this pair is for me. I'll probably be putting them on the supermarket unless I can return them.

I'll give them another day, but I doubt they'll form to my foot.

i think its going to be hard to return them given that you already took a 20 min walk in them. what size are they?

[Happy Hooligan]

I know I took a risk walking in them, but it seems that the fit was the norm.

They're a 10 C but stretched out a bit by bakers so they're probably closer to a 10 D. (which actually fit about a size 11.)

I'll give them another try through. My wesco's were tough to break in, but it was more a stiff leather feel than a painful feeling.

[CrashTestBrummie]

nice collection CTB!

Is there any good online retailer that have good selection of veldtschoen? I know AS still mass produces those.

In the US that is. Been looking for us retailers but can't find any

I'm not sure AS will be mass producing anything for much longer, from what I've heard - think their recent troubles have meant that a lot of their standard models will be special order only. I think a lot of retailers have been running their stock down, as some sizes are becoming scarce.

Not sure about US stockists of the veldtschoen boots; I think that these are something of a British oddity but you never know. I've a feeling that these kind of boots will eventually drop off the radar, possibly sooner rather than later now that AS are having problems, so I'd jump on a pair now from wherever just in case.

A Fine Pair of Shoes, in Leamington Spa, stocks the AS veldtschoen models in (now) limited sizes and at a very good price:

http://www.afinepairofshoes.co.uk/collections/alfred-sargent-veldtschoen-collection

The Shoe Healer has a few sizes left in various models:

https://www.shoehealer.co.uk/Alfred_Sargent/Town_and_Country_Collection/

Numerous other UK-based retailers have them at full price or thereabouts, but again their stocks seem to be dwindling...