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Shoes that look better with age...


kiya

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Just glad that I never picked up the Barbour/Tokito model that he's wearing there, even though it did look bloody good on him, as I'd be getting heartily sick of the copycat accusations by now. Although they are now fetching double retail price on eBay at the moment...

I bought mine when it first came out a few years back - amazing how the price has escalated! :D

On a shoe-related note, a question for UK boot expert CTB:

What is the difference between the Grassmere and the Superboot? I'm eyeing them, both made in zug, with a commando sole, and they seem to look identical.

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curious to hear the official explanation.

what i've convinced myself of through modest research is that the burford, ripon, whetherby and grassmere are all the same boot, with different names to differentiate between the types of leather, fitting and outsole. and the super boot is still essentially the same boot, but whose name is used only for special/custom makeups.

i picked up some of the bureau super boots and if trickers quality has been on the decline, these ones certainly don't show it. perhaps trickers refuse to cut corners when dealing with one of their og collaborators..?

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Merz - I thought the same as well: stylistically, those boots look identical. It must come down to lasts, fitting, etc, as you said.

It would be a shame if Trickers quality is on the downtick. A friend recently picked up a pair of the TBS orange suede Superboots, and we discovered, as I was shooting them, that an entire row of stitching had been omitted on one boot! It was not a functional issue, purely an aesthetic one, but disappointing nonetheless. In every other regard, the boots were superb, though.

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I think it is just Black Dress, single leather sole, brass hardware.

Doesnt it look like nickel hardware? Silvery not golden in color?

I agree about the rest. And black sides of soles of course. It is a nice build. Ive been liking the entire black style more and more as a matter of fact.

Edited by denimjunky
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Doesnt it look like nickel hardware? Silvery not golden in color?

I agree about the rest. And black sides of soles of course. It is a nice build. Ive been liking the entire black style more and more as a matter of fact.

Yep, good eye. On my laptop it definitely looks like nickel. I will edit my reply to reflect your correction

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I bought mine when it first came out a few years back - amazing how the price has escalated! :D

On a shoe-related note, a question for UK boot expert CTB:

What is the difference between the Grassmere and the Superboot? I'm eyeing them, both made in zug, with a commando sole, and they seem to look identical.

curious to hear the official explanation.

what i've convinced myself of through modest research is that the burford, ripon, whetherby and grassmere are all the same boot, with different names to differentiate between the types of leather, fitting and outsole. and the super boot is still essentially the same boot, but whose name is used only for special/custom makeups.

i picked up some of the bureau super boots and if trickers quality has been on the decline, these ones certainly don't show it. perhaps trickers refuse to cut corners when dealing with one of their og collaborators..?

Merz - I thought the same as well: stylistically, those boots look identical. It must come down to lasts, fitting, etc, as you said.

It would be a shame if Trickers quality is on the downtick. A friend recently picked up a pair of the TBS orange suede Superboots, and we discovered, as I was shooting them, that an entire row of stitching had been omitted on one boot! It was not a functional issue, purely an aesthetic one, but disappointing nonetheless. In every other regard, the boots were superb, though.

I always thought that their 'super boot' designation was simply the name they gave to their non-brogued offerings on the 4497S last (their standard country last, followed by the 4444 last). They used to use it to refer to what were basically plain-toe derby boots and the variants off the back of that template - the Grasmere obviously being one of them.

You'll sometimes see the 'super boot' name written on the boxes of Burfords, Grasmeres, Ripon etc and I suspect that it's a more eye-catching term for the people who buy their collabs over the drier 'plain-toe derby boot' etc etc...

We've said before on here that Tricker's quality control might be a little flakey at time, which I think is down to their recent explosion in popularity. Having said that, I'm not sure that they've ever been as fussy as they could be with their country boots and shoes precisely because they were never designed to be dressy. It's only relatively recently that they even bothered lining their country footwear.

True vintage Tricker's kick the arse out of most other boot-makers though, just be aware that the old 'Corniche' range of brogues and country shoes was a second-tier of product of very variable quality of materials - some decent stuff in there, but hidden by a lot of mediocre-to-average stuff...

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Im not so sure about that. Black CXL is not that black all through....at least mine has a rather leather coloured edge.

dsc_0012.jpg

what model are these?

EDIT: As in yes I'm assuming that these are a CXL but what exactly does that mean? I'm new to the boot game and want to catch up.

Edited by kchuk
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Same guy, master cobbler Okuyama-san. I got those half soles from Zip Stevenson from HTC years ago. Hit him off if he still has some. These days he won't let them go cheap however. Better off looking on ebay.

No wonder the boots look more awesome from original condition. double layer leather sole looks so fine with engineer boots.
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what model are these?

EDIT: As in yes I'm assuming that these are a CXL but what exactly does that mean? I'm new to the boot game and want to catch up.

I cant tell if these are a 6" smoke jumper on semi dress last in black cxl or a semi dress. Regardless, they have a block heel, single leather sole with close trim. Antique eyelets and a toe cap

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Old collection pic.

I still have all but the Brown dress and Brown CXL (first and second, upper row)

dsc_0103.jpg

These are my current daily SDs:

dsc_0193.jpg

Yesterday I got a another pair which is Brown dress, single leather sole, cuban heel, double stitching. antique hardware. Super super standard lets say.

Got another pair coming in soon.

#8 CXL, 641 last, minilug half soles, 1/4" lowered block heel, antique hardware.

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  • sufu1 changed the title to Shoes that look better with age...

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