Advice on Engineer boots

[Pandemic]

E width. Not super wide but wide enough that standard width is usually too tight.

I would prefer sleekier shoe but I think chunky would also be ok. I will look into those brands you recommended and like you said, I wouldn't want to spend big sum of money for my first engineers.

A custom Nick’s Station Master is around $700 - made to your specs and with a good selection of leathers from their ‘heritage range’. Plus, if your an E worth they will soon offer it with the sleeker Pankhurst last. Seems like a great option for your first pair!

 

[JohanA2]

Some advice/tips from me:
1 . Engineers are an upgraded and better version of a pull on boot - the straps are not there for show/aesthetics - USE them to get a tight fit. Yes unbuckle every time you take the boots on and off, strap and cinch them up to lock in your foot.
2 . To get a good fit for engineers boots you should literally have to struggle to put them on when unbuckled. If they slip on too easily then no cinching will achieve a good lock in because too much extra material will need to tuck/bunch up when cinching. Obviously this is similar to all slip on boots. It's a very fine perfect line between it being TOO hard to slip them on and not hard enough. Although this does depend on your heel slip tolerance.
3 . Make sure you wear/have wide enough pants for engineers.
4 . Figure out how where do you want to land between chunky lugged sole structured toe engineers and dressy sleek leather sole or half sole soft toe engineers. Or somewhere in the middle.

There are quite a few brands offering engineers, some already mentioned. I'll add one more :
Willie's Leathers from Philippines
https://www.instagram.com/williesleathers/?hl=en
Main reason I'm mentioning them is that they have a Munson style (more) anatomical last with a wide toe box.
Also pretty damn good price for a custom boot in my opinion. I paid ~520$ for a CXL pair including shipping to EU.
I ordered a pair myself but had to send them back because they messed up the shaft sizing. Hoping to get them back soon after fixing/modifications.
Here's my pair that is currently back in Philippines:
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Thanks for the tips!
I already wear straight cut jeans/trousers so that should already be covered.

Those boots look great and the price seems very tempting. Another brand for my list!

 

[cbez]

The cinch/strap had a big effect on every single pair that I've had, but it is definitely limited, mainly in relation to how much leather you can bend over on the sides to actually get the strap in to work. Here's an example of the instep being way too high and the fabric folding extremely in order to get any kind of lock in. You can imagine the pressure points that this creates on the sides.
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Maybe it is just the pairs I've had, but so far it would have been impossible to do such a fold with the uppers on any of them.

The strap did somewhat hold them on the foot, you wouldn't want to try to take it off with it strapped because it would strain the belt hole. But it didn't cinch it down tight or anything.