Marc mndt
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 7,320
White walls look nice but it's impossible to keep them clean. Had to take the moped to the car wash every week...what about the dirty white walls?
White walls look nice but it's impossible to keep them clean. Had to take the moped to the car wash every week...what about the dirty white walls?
Always liked the look of those black Indy boots. And not ones you see around much.
May have asked you this before....if so sorry! haha. Whats your analysis on Aero boots? Im always looking at them. From a distance I feel like they are great deal for the money...not to high....would you agree?Dainite Town Boots
About what I figured. Like I was thinking for the money probably a good ass deal. I wouldnt expect much more out of them. Thanks for the honest and detailed assessment.Hmmm...what they’re for sure in my opinion is: Solid...solid leather, solid craftsmanship, solid finish, on par with Red Wings I would say.
What they are not from my point of view is: Fancy, no high end finishing, some rough edges here and there, I would say the pix in their shop are quite honest.
What they do: Fit me very comfortable from first hour on, what is most important to me. No breaking in necessary, though they get pretty quickly a nice used optics.
For me they’re worth the money.
Legendary save.If we need jackets in this thread to keep it in outerwear, here ya go.
Some pics of me trying to match my boots with my jackets as well as possible:
BReaking in this pair of tobacco badalassi monkey boots from junkard company out of Indonesia.
View attachment 272825
View attachment 272826
Dainite Town Boots
May have asked you this before....if so sorry! haha. Whats your analysis on Aero boots? Im always looking at them. From a distance I feel like they are great deal for the money...not to high....would you agree?
Hmmm...what they’re for sure in my opinion is: Solid...solid leather, solid craftsmanship, solid finish, on par with Red Wings I would say.
What they are not from my point of view is: Fancy, no high end finishing, some rough edges here and there, I would say the pix in their shop are quite honest.
What they do: Fit me very comfortable from first hour on, what is most important to me. No breaking in necessary, though they get pretty quickly nice used optics.
For me they’re worth the money.
I guess I'm the only one with a slightly different opinion about the Jarrow boots. The leather is great, supple and thick horween cxl, no breaking in required, they are really well made (I think it is NPS that makes them). I had to replace the leather soles in mine within a year, this hasn't happened to me with ecen much cheaper shoes/boots. I wouldn't use them as workboots (William Lennons are 10 times sturdier), and for dress boots I think you can find better boots at similar price ranges.Good colour match.
Nice. It amuses me how the term monkey-boot has really stuck from the originals and onwards, yet I cannot for the life of me find an explanation for the name anywhere.... maybe it was to do with the mix of close-fit and very grippy sole design, thus giving the agilitiy of monkey feet? For years I thought it was due to the characteristic 'M' stitched on the sides of the dominant brand in the UK, but seeing pictures of period originals that seems to have been a design choice of that brand alone, not something original to the Czech boot. Their origin is a matter of dispute - not everyone buys the "WW2 Czechoslovakian army" story owing to the shift from producing Czechoslovakian-design military equipment to German-designs, though it does at least seem that Czechslovakia was indeed the source origin of the boots, at least those that made it to the UK. Over here, there were very much a sixties Mod-into-Skinhead thing, worn by punks in the late seventies and then skinheads again in the eighties. What intrigues me is how the monkey boot then travelled the Atlantic to the punk and hardcore scenes of the 80s and skate kids in the 90s; the lace-to-toe design there of course having a long pedigree with designs by Chippewa and such that - as I understand it - go back to the thirties at least.
I have a pair of CATs I got on sale years ago in a lace to toe design, and I've come to really enjoy it. I'm tempted by a pair of the 'original' Grafters monkey boots (still made in the same factory, still only GBP35) for walking the dog in the wet (those grippy, tractor-style soles....). The Chippewa lace to toe boots look amazing, though the dressier sole option from ModShoes also appeals for a dressier style for the office....
Good blog, btw, on the fashion evolution of the monkey boot from a British perspective here, even if it doesn't have much to say about their use on the UK 70s punk scene (a lot of things now thought of as skinhead overlapped with punk - boots and Harrington jackets especially): https://creaseslikeknives.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/do-the-monkey-eastern-bloc-boots-for-east-end-kids/#:~:text=In Poland, people colloquially called,they were originally made for”.&text=Alan from London, who was,Grafters monkey boots look today.
Very nice.
Fair analysis. I have the same, except mine are in brown, and leather soled. As a general rule, I find Dainite soles are a bit more hard-wearing than the leather, though with most leather soled shoes I fairly quickly have my cobbler add a rubber over-sole, just a thin, stick-on layer, to prevent excess wear. The quality comparison to the RedWings is fair. I have similar boots from William Lennon and Sanders, and RedWing Iron Rangers. The RWs are comparable quality to the Aeros, though I would say that the Aero is more of a dressier boot. I wouldn't be afraid of getting it mucky, but if I was taking the dog out for a Winter walk in the park, I reach for the RedWings rather than the Aeros. The Aeros are cracking for about town and the office; if you want a slightly more casual option, go for the Jarrow boots. The best way to put it, I think, is that whereas the RWs & the Jarrows are the sorts of boot you might wear to go and work in the factory, the Town boot is perhaps more what you'd expect the foreman to wear overseeing the floor. (That said, the Jarrows are a touch more refined than the IRs, more like RW's gentleman traveller or the Alden Indy boot in that sense.)
The Aero Town boots I have also compare favourably to my Sanders and William Lennon. THe WLs have the advantage of customisation (mine are based on their B9 ww1 Tommy boot, but in shiny black leather with a triple thickness sole, really solid), but they can take some time; the Aero is a great to-go boot, immediately ready. I'm in the process of clearing out a lot of shoes, under the Direction of a Higher Power (the wife). I did manage to amass seventy odd pairs (apart form a few hidden in the office) over the years, so now it's time to cut that way back, keep only the really good stuff, and then build up again with stuff I'll wear and less doubling. On the 'buy' list is definitely a pair of Jarrow boots in cordovan. The Jarrows are a touch chunkier by design. The really nice thing about them - knowing someone who has worn a pair long term - is how they mould to the foot. The basic shape doesn't look that special in the photos (they're actually instantly much nicer in person), but the way they evolve and develop that lovely, vintage-style heel shape and so on is very nice indeed.
I'm also always on the lookout for Aero doing a pair of nice, American-style engineer boots. Based on my experience with owning the town boots and having handled the Jarrows, I am of the opinion that Aero could produce something very nice that could match Wesco levels if specc'ed right. Course, Aero know whether they have a market for that, but I have my fingers crossed...
Good colour match.
Nice. It amuses me how the term monkey-boot has really stuck from the originals and onwards, yet I cannot for the life of me find an explanation for the name anywhere.... maybe it was to do with the mix of close-fit and very grippy sole design, thus giving the agilitiy of monkey feet? For years I thought it was due to the characteristic 'M' stitched on the sides of the dominant brand in the UK, but seeing pictures of period originals that seems to have been a design choice of that brand alone, not something original to the Czech boot. Their origin is a matter of dispute - not everyone buys the "WW2 Czechoslovakian army" story owing to the shift from producing Czechoslovakian-design military equipment to German-designs, though it does at least seem that Czechslovakia was indeed the source origin of the boots, at least those that made it to the UK. Over here, there were very much a sixties Mod-into-Skinhead thing, worn by punks in the late seventies and then skinheads again in the eighties. What intrigues me is how the monkey boot then travelled the Atlantic to the punk and hardcore scenes of the 80s and skate kids in the 90s; the lace-to-toe design there of course having a long pedigree with designs by Chippewa and such that - as I understand it - go back to the thirties at least.
I have a pair of CATs I got on sale years ago in a lace to toe design, and I've come to really enjoy it. I'm tempted by a pair of the 'original' Grafters monkey boots (still made in the same factory, still only GBP35) for walking the dog in the wet (those grippy, tractor-style soles....). The Chippewa lace to toe boots look amazing, though the dressier sole option from ModShoes also appeals for a dressier style for the office....
Good blog, btw, on the fashion evolution of the monkey boot from a British perspective here, even if it doesn't have much to say about their use on the UK 70s punk scene (a lot of things now thought of as skinhead overlapped with punk - boots and Harrington jackets especially): https://creaseslikeknives.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/do-the-monkey-eastern-bloc-boots-for-east-end-kids/#:~:text=In Poland, people colloquially called,they were originally made for”.&text=Alan from London, who was,Grafters monkey boots look today.
Very nice.
Fair analysis. I have the same, except mine are in brown, and leather soled. As a general rule, I find Dainite soles are a bit more hard-wearing than the leather, though with most leather soled shoes I fairly quickly have my cobbler add a rubber over-sole, just a thin, stick-on layer, to prevent excess wear. The quality comparison to the RedWings is fair. I have similar boots from William Lennon and Sanders, and RedWing Iron Rangers. The RWs are comparable quality to the Aeros, though I would say that the Aero is more of a dressier boot. I wouldn't be afraid of getting it mucky, but if I was taking the dog out for a Winter walk in the park, I reach for the RedWings rather than the Aeros. The Aeros are cracking for about town and the office; if you want a slightly more casual option, go for the Jarrow boots. The best way to put it, I think, is that whereas the RWs & the Jarrows are the sorts of boot you might wear to go and work in the factory, the Town boot is perhaps more what you'd expect the foreman to wear overseeing the floor. (That said, the Jarrows are a touch more refined than the IRs, more like RW's gentleman traveller or the Alden Indy boot in that sense.)
The Aero Town boots I have also compare favourably to my Sanders and William Lennon. THe WLs have the advantage of customisation (mine are based on their B9 ww1 Tommy boot, but in shiny black leather with a triple thickness sole, really solid), but they can take some time; the Aero is a great to-go boot, immediately ready. I'm in the process of clearing out a lot of shoes, under the Direction of a Higher Power (the wife). I did manage to amass seventy odd pairs (apart form a few hidden in the office) over the years, so now it's time to cut that way back, keep only the really good stuff, and then build up again with stuff I'll wear and less doubling. On the 'buy' list is definitely a pair of Jarrow boots in cordovan. The Jarrows are a touch chunkier by design. The really nice thing about them - knowing someone who has worn a pair long term - is how they mould to the foot. The basic shape doesn't look that special in the photos (they're actually instantly much nicer in person), but the way they evolve and develop that lovely, vintage-style heel shape and so on is very nice indeed.
I'm also always on the lookout for Aero doing a pair of nice, American-style engineer boots. Based on my experience with owning the town boots and having handled the Jarrows, I am of the opinion that Aero could produce something very nice that could match Wesco levels if specc'ed right. Course, Aero know whether they have a market for that, but I have my fingers crossed...
I guess I'm the only one with a slightly different opinion about the Jarrow boots. The leather is great, supple and thick horween cxl, no breaking in required, they are really well made (I think it is NPS that makes them). I had to replace the leather soles in mine within a year, this hasn't happened to me with ecen much cheaper shoes/boots. I wouldn't use them as workboots (William Lennons are 10 times sturdier), and for dress boots I think you can find better boots at similar price ranges.