Footwear to go with our jackets

[mvilla]

https://robbreport.com/style/footwear/commando-sole-history-1234785674/

"Aside from its country-weekend utility, there’s another reason why English shoemakers have long championed the style. It was developed in the 1930s by English rubber maker Itshide, who at the outbreak of WWII switched from producing toys and brushes to churning out tank treads and pieces for torpedo systems. Among its martial output was a new kind of rubber sole used for army boots, which soon earned the name “commando.”"

https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/mens-style-commando-soled-shoes-boots-loafers-derby

"Developed in the 1930s, the ‘Itshide’ Commando sole was the first of its heavy-duty kind — and was adopted by the British Army as a way to keep troops tooled-up and kitted-out for even the most hostile landscapes. Thanks to its thick, knobbly tread and oversized look, the style has fashionably forged its way into the 21st century, and today can be found on all manner of footwear, from loafers to Chelsea boots."

 

[mvilla]

As I said before, I don't understand why they're not as mentioned as Dainite or Vibram... Itshide is a legendary century old company...

 

[lina]

My understanding is that the studded Dainite/Itshide sole was made for traipsing fields in England. I imagine they’re perfect for that, but you can see why they’re not so good on concrete or, worse, linoleum floors.

 

[Drzdave58]

When it comes to footwear I've almost exclusively been wearing boots for the past decade or so. I do own a couple of loafers and derby's but those are reserved for the office. Most of my boots are 'dress boots' made by one of the many great European shoemakers, think of Crockett & Jones; Edward Green; Gaziano & Girling; Carmina; Santoni or Silvano Sasetti.

Lately I've been exploring some more casual styles like engineer boots, cowboy boots or combat boots. These American style boots are much harder to come by than dress boots here in Europe. Especially when you're looking for premium quality boots.

Of course there are European retailers like Burg & Schild, Stuff or East West apparel which stock American made boots but import fees on shoes are harsh. A pair of suede plain toe Alden's will set you back €800 while the exact same pair will cost a couple of hundred less in the US. At €800 they're simply not worth the money imo. The same money will buy you a much nicer European made dress boot.

But I don't want dress boots, I want something more casual. Well, there are Northamptonshire makers like Trickers or Cheaney which offer some more casual styles but since the UK is no longer part of the EU footwear from those makers is now subject to import fees too. Also, they don't offer American styles like Engineers or Monkey Boots.

But then there's Bright Shoemakers, a Danish footwear brand that was founded in 2015.

As you can see on their website, they offer casual style boots and shoes, some of them with a Western/cowboy twist. Bright is not actually a maker, it's a brand which means they design the shoes and have another company make them. Their footwear is "handmade at a family run shoe factory in Spain with more than 100 years of experience in artisanal shoe making". If I'm not mistaken that factory is Sendra.

I've handled boots from another European brand that has their boots produced by Sendra but I wasn't too impressed tbh. Materials and construction quality were mediocre at best. I guess brands are able to select different levels of material and construction quality even though the boots are made at the same factory.

Anyway, let's see the 'Bright shoemakers' boots I ordered, A pair of suede Jodhpur's.

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They are Goodyear welted (270 degrees), double stacked sole and have a stacked Cuban heel. As you can see the finish is really clean. When compared to dress shoes I'd say the finish is much nicer than Carmina, nicer than bench grade C&J but not as nice as handgrade C&J or Edward Greens. Which makes sense as boots from those makers are two or three times more expensive. These Bright Shoemaker Jodhpur's were 'only' €500. Which is a lot of money of course but not nearly as expensive as a pair of imported Alden's or Vibergs which are of lesser construction quality. Were they flawless? No. One of the boots had a small piece of plastic material stuck inbetween the outer sole and the upper (during construction the upper is protected by a plastic layer) but luckily it was easy to remove with a pair of tweezers. Sloppy but no biggie.

I really love the last which is a bit more sleek than these Rios Mercedes boots for instance. Perfect for the style.

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In terms of sizing, they do run big. I was advised to order my regular size which is 42 but I feel like a 41.5 would have been better. Anyway, I put in a leather insole and now they're a perfect fit. Talking about the insole...They come with a memory foam insole which felt kind of weird, bouncy when I just got them. Luckily after wearing them a handful of times the 'bounciness' is now gone so I can't really say it's a negative I guess but if I had the choice I would prefer a regular thin leather insole.

The overall verdict? I absolutely love them, have been wearing them pretty much every other day since I got them. I might order another pair in black if available. Half a size down though.

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Good looking boots. Their engineer boots look pretty nice too.

 

[Edward]

Wearing my Trickers Bourtons in reverse Kudu and Dainite today. I love the Bourtons so much I have it in different leathers and different soles. And I gave them a close look last night, and realized that the Dainite could be the same rubber compound as the Commando and the Ridgeway, just my guess. The different treads do make a difference though. I believe if the Dainite had some horizontal ridges it would have more grip in wet conditions, but the side profiles would change. The Dainite has the most "leather" like side profiles and most OTR came in this configuration. To get a different sole sometimes means doubling the cost and that's just not worth it for me. But for my custom orders I only get either double leather sole for looks or Commando soles for grip, so there is that...

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This Dainite style of sole is a definite favourite of mine. I do buy a lot of leather-soled shoes, and typically quite quickly have a thin, rubber layer glued over the front sole in order to prevent excess wear in part, though mostly as it helps somewhat if it is particularly wet underfoot. I do like however to have a couple of pairs of shoes around with a sole like this for wet days in the Winter, definitely a plus for that. Never had a problem re grip with them in regular use, though I'd quite likely somewhat prioritise having to be a little careful for the look of it if I did. Commando style soles are fine for outdoor usage, with country tweeds and such, but I find them a little on the crude side for the office. The only rubber soles that ever posed me much of a balance issue were a pair of red eva soles on some Saddle shoes when worn in the rain. A different pair with a hard-rubber, Dainite style sole - no problem.

My Iron Rangers have the older, flat profile soles; I wish I could get nice dress shoes with that material sole on them.

Cool. How do you guys get rid of the gravels in the Commando sole grooves? I mostly use pens to pry them out but some are lodged in there pretty good.

An old, British-military style knife with a Marlin Spike:

Ah damn you're right, my bad. Itshide does seem to have their own version of the dainite soles.

It's easy to get confused: one of those situations where technically Dainite and Commando are TMs that belong to specific companies, but they inevitably end up getting popularly used to refer to all soles of a particular design - c/f all vacuum cleaners get called 'Hoovers', all clear sticky tape gets called 'Sellotape' (or 'Scotchtape' in the US).

 

[Drzdave58]

Apart from 2 pairs of Wolverine 1000 miles boots, I usually wear casual shoes or sneakers (usually Paciotti, but I recently discovered a repair shop in Milan, "Maestri Ciccone", which makes very comfortable shoes, where I bought a pair of really good blue leather sneakers).
I recently pointed to the Grant Stone boots, model "Edward": does anyone have experience in those?

Grant Stone make very high quality boots for the price. I’ve had 3 pairs of boots from them, haven’t tried the Edward yet but they are the same last as the diesel and Ottawa. The only thing I don’t like is the studded soles, but they have other options. Their Edward boot in rust Kangaroo on commando look nice.

 

[Vezio]

Grant Stone make very high quality boots for the price. I’ve had 3 pairs of boots from them, haven’t tried the Edward yet but they are the same last as the diesel and Ottawa. The only thing I don’t like is the studded soles, but they have other options. Their Edward boot in rust Kangaroo on commando look nice.

Thanks a lot for your reply.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Double leather sole Tuesday

 

[Pandemic]

New TLB Mallorca custom Chukka:

 

[andyone]

Roleclub Engineer boots to relax…

 

[Canuck Panda]

Roleclub Engineer boots to relax…

Beautiful garden. The boots are pretty good too.

 

[TartuWolf]

For us EU folks mostly...
Pike Brothers just dropped some Tanker boots in their "New arrivals" section.
Very rare style of boots, would love to try these as an alternative to engineer boots.
Sent them an email to get more info about them as the website has very little.
Not a fan of the brogue cap toe though.
Not sure if that's an actually leather stacked heel either.
Finishing looks pretty clean and I like the brass hardware as well as the leather midsole + rubber half soles.
I have a few PB products and I'm quite happy with them, seems good quality for the price.

 

[Turnip]

Double soled blue and brown Dinkelacker to go with a Baracuta G4

 

[TartuWolf]

Small update regarding the Tanker boots by PB that I posted earlier. Got a response from them after asking some questions via email. The response is very meh and offer the absolute minimal in terms of extra information.
"Calf leather from Portugal, thickness depends on the leather, because it is a natural product. Made in Portugal, but we do not give out the name of our producers. They are running normal, so you can take the size you need."
Marketing person answering technical questions about a product.
Unknown maker, unknown tannery, unknown thickness. Portuguese all the way though.
I'll pass.

 

[Tom71]

Small update regarding the Tanker boots by PB that I posted earlier. Got a response from them after asking some questions via email. The response is very meh and offer the absolute minimal in terms of extra information.
"Calf leather from Portugal, thickness depends on the leather, because it is a natural product. Made in Portugal, but we do not give out the name of our producers. They are running normal, so you can take the size you need."
Marketing person answering technical questions about a product.
Unknown maker, unknown tannery, unknown thickness. Portuguese all the way though.
I'll pass.

All the rage now (for the last five years or so). Get a portuguese boot maker and sell under your own name. On the upside, quality of craftmanship is usually excellent.
When you get a chance to go to Lisbon you can find tiny shops selling such shoes without any branding at all. Once you dial in the sizing you can order anything you like directly with them for a song.

Still no reason for such a week answer re leather, tanning etc.

 

[Marc mndt]

Bought these button boots in Tokyo by a maker called Chausser.

https://chausser-shop.net/

High quality, reasonable pricing. Cool style.

 

[Marc mndt]

Interested to see what Clinch you got! I wanted a pair, shop was closed. I'm just gonna keep thinking they probably wouldn't have had my size in stock anyways.

I think you're right about that, they probably wouldn't have had any stock at all. They're not like a shoe store with items on display that are available for sale. They're more like an experience store, showing a couple of samples.

Last Wednesday they announced on Instagram that they would release a limited size run of Conrad boots, only available in store. They were released on Saturday but since we we're traveling to Tokyo on Monday I asked them whether they could keep a pair aside for me. Their reply :

Sorry
I can't keep
I accept many offer

Thank you

Brass

We traveled to Tokyo a day early so I stopped by their store on Sunday. They had exactly one pair left, my size. The guy brought them down together with a print out of our email conversation. I guess they actually did keep them aside for me after all.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

@Marc mndt the Clinch look nice. They do designs well. The button boots are super cool though. Very unique. I dig them.

 

[Edward]

@Marc mndt Those button boots are something else again. So rare to see these true to the original style, without a side-zip. Glorious.

 

[Marc mndt]

@Marc mndt Those button boots are something else again. So rare to see these true to the original style, without a side-zip. Glorious.

Good eye. I've been wanting a pair of button boots for some time but most of them come with a zipper because buttoning them is somewhat cumbersome. But I strongly dislike zippers on boots.