Clarks Desert Boots Lately

[Fifty150]

Interesting that Wikipedia has a page on the desert boot. I guess a desert boot is a chukka, but not all chukkas are desert boots.

 

[milandro]

pretty much the same as in desert boots are " Polacchine" but not all Polacchine are desert boots.

It is a common shaped pair of footwear , pretty much as simple as it can get. They exist and existed in many shoe makers catalogues

 

[milandro]

To add some information here.

In order to improve the comfort of my two pairs of desert boots (ant the fitting because size 46 is too small and 47 , which I have is too big) I have acquired some superfeet insoles.

I had used cheaper silicone insoles before (2 different types) but they weren't " firm" enough to guarantee a nice fitting .

The superfeet feel a lot better. I have one pair of green ( somewhat firmer) and one pair of Orange ones.

I have to say that the comfort is highly enhanced. Granted not the cheapest of the insoles by all means and occurs you can wear them in more than a pair of shoes.

 

[Bfd70]

I use blue super feet on about 50% of my shoes. They’re great. I need the arch support.

 

[milandro]

I use blue super feet on about 50% of my shoes. They’re great. I need the arch support.

in many shoes nowadays there are built in arch supports (in fact superfeet require you to remove the insole if present) but the Desert boots are absolutely flat I have to say that I wouldn't have thought of the insoles if I didn't need to fill in the extra space due to my desert boots being 47 (because the 46 are too small and I have never found and half size )

 

[milandro]

I have a question on adding Eyelets (or grommets ) to the Clarks Desert Boots.

Their normal design has two eyelets but the foot is a bit loose in the shoe this way, adding an extra eyelet would improve on the fitting. Has anyone done that would you like to share pictures and ideas on how this feels?


I found on line someone who did this

which is precisely what I mean and for the same reasons

 

[milandro]

well, no answers to the question so I will report that I had it done (costed me only €4 for 4 grommets ) and it works perfectly , to the point that I will have my other pair of Original Desert boots done too

 

[Camille2023]

I've been thinking about getting a second pair.

 

[Yamahana]

I have a question on adding Eyelets (or grommets ) to the Clarks Desert Boots.

Their normal design has two eyelets but the foot is a bit loose in the shoe this way, adding an extra eyelet would improve on the fitting. Has anyone done that would you like to share pictures and ideas on how this feels?


I found on line someone who did this

View attachment 557946


which is precisely what I mean and for the same reasons

I did this just a few weeks ago to my Clarks Bushacre boots. Greatly improved the wearability. Just need 3/16” eyelets and eyelet/grommet setter plus a leather punch for the hole.

 

[Fifty150]

Apparently the Clarks Desert Boot is inspired by a "vellie". I was inspired by Amazon's sale prices.

 

[Fifty150]

After 1 year, I've gotten my money's worth.

 

[TLW '90]

Anybody looking for something like this who wants durability and quality needs to get a pair of Jim Green Vellies.
One great thing about them besides their awesome wide toe box is that they're a proper rough out leather and not just suede.
They also have eyelets too.

Maybe as a blue collar guy I'm just different than everybody else, but I'm not really looking for a dressy casual shoe.
For me their my warm weather beater, mowing the lawn, shooting, working on things in my garage, taking my dog for walks in the dry creek bed, fishing, trail hopping / exploring on my minibike.
They can take a beating , but they do also look a bit classy if you aren't going to beat them up.
Maybe they don't quite have the same dressy look, but they're rugged and durable while still having the overall look people are after with " desert boots ".

 

[Edward]

This sneaker fad probably spawned the disposable shoe industry.

Bingo. This indeed. Disposability is one of several key reasons I abandoned sneakers entirely for about twenty years. Last year I realised the hellheat of Summer does now at some points get too much for leather shoes, so I picked up a few pairs of Vans on sale - the original 1966 model that is a style of shoe that goes back decades before Vans made them. They are surprisingly comfortable - on a pair with a real shoe, actually. Maybe that's a product of them being a design from the pre-sneakers as standard era? I'll see how long they last. I did have another slip-on pair I inherited from the wife when she lost weight and went down a size. Not quite as nice as the lace-ups, but superb for flying in hot weather. Those have had heavy wear in Summer for about three or four years now and are still holding up well; if I can get five years out of a disposable shoe at £40, I suppose that isn't bad.

There appears to be 4 different shoes which are similar.

Desert Boot
Desert Boot 2
Bushacre 2
Bushacre 3

Desert Boot has crepe sole, and no insole.
Desert Boot 2 has a different sole, and an insole.
Bushacre 2 has a different sole, no insole.
Bushacre 3 has a different sole, and an insole.

The boot that I got for $20 was Bushacre 2. A harder rubber sole which may offer better traction. No insole. Just like the Desert Boot, there's a thin layer of material going about 2/3 down the shoe, and really nothing else. Your feet are more or less just standing on the sole without any other padding or support.

I've been looking at these just recently with a view to picking up a pair for casual wear ahead of the weather turning this year. The fact they're really disposable - seemingly no potential to replace the sole? - counts against them, but at the price, I'm still inclined to try a pair. Your breakdown of the differences is really helpful, thanks - much better than I could get out of Clarks' own website! (Oddly, the Bushacre models aren't on there). The Bushacre 3 might be worth me looking at. I'd have more faith in that rubber sole lasting on London pavements than crepe.

I don't think the design of the Desert boot has ever been patented or was ever patentable since it is such a basic design the small alteration of which makes it different.

Clark's original version from 1950 was really just their version of a long-established, traditional shoe. He was in Burmah, but the officers whose off-duty boots he admired had had them made in a bazaar in Cairo. Very traditional design, three pieces of leather plus a sole. The softer crepe sole of course didn't wear and slip on the desert sands around Cairo in the way it does on a London pavement... The fact that these were an old and traditional shoe design would rule out patentability, which requires novelty (an "inventive step" beyond the current stated of the art which wouldn't be an obvious next step to the average person competent in the art). They'd have had to have come up with something else - like a radically new production method for the crepe soles that rendered them grippy and hard wearing in a manner not previously the case. What Clarks did do, however, was to popularise them first in the Western fashion market, becoming in the process "the original", which can in itself prove as profitable as any protectable design.

After 1 year, I've gotten my money's worth.







View attachment 623286 View attachment 623289 View attachment 623288

Look like they've worn well. How are the soles doing?


Has anyone compared the Roamers brand to the Clarks?

 

[Fifty150]

Look like they've worn well. How are the soles doing?

The soles are fine.

seemingly no potential to replace the sole?

Actually, the soles are replaceable. A cobbler could cut off and sand down the worn sole, all the way to the lasting board, and simply glue on a new sole. They are a stitchdown shoe. Not welted. The vamp and upper are stitched down to a lasting board. Those stitches could be cut off. A new piece of leather could be stitched down. A new sole could be attached.


The real issue is cost. How much do you want to spend? Any resole or repair will cost more than the shoe.

​

 

[Fifty150]

I have the Bushacre 2. Keep in mind that it's a rubber sole, not a crepe sole. It should be easier to resole. The sole could be heated to delaminate the glue, then peeled. A belt sander should remove the rubber without gumming up and damaging the sanding belt. A creative cobbler could add a leather midsole. A lot of expensive possibilities.

Jim Green Boots are stitchdown construction. The vamp and uppers are stitched down to a synthetic lasting board. They have videos showing how old soles are peeled off, and new soles are glued on.