Custom White's Boots ... Thoughts?

[Patek]

Sorry, fixed it.

Thanks! I think I will stay with vintage. I know brogue is technically less formal than plain, it is more associated with dress shoes in the US and these bad boys certainly are not dress shoes.

 

[Perfectcircles]

Yup. Haven't heard of desert sand either.
I will reach out and see what can be done.

still sharp looking though imo, but I get the pain

Oof.

A few people have complained that the Distressed leather darkens too much. I’d love to see if these darken to where Distressed starts out.

Sharp looking boots, but I understand the frustration of not getting what you ordered.

As others have said, those actually look killer, but that doesn't mean much if they don't meet your needs/desires. I would love to see how they'd look if you converted them to waxed flesh. Would probably darken them to something resembling distressed RO.

That is 100% Desert Sand, not Distressed. I have looked at this leather for a long time and have almost pulled the trigger like 100 times; this leather look awesome and does not disappoint. And cue my FOMO. That said, these are for sure not what you ordered, so reach out to them and let them square you away with a Distressed RO pair.

I've been on this thread for like a year, visited every site imaginable and have never heard of Desert Sand RO. I dig it, but I'd understand if it was not what you ordered.

 

[TH3515]

Received my white's. Ordered distressed RO but got this.

Much lighter than I expected.
Says Desert Sand RO on the box.

View attachment 1376622 View attachment 1376623

Seems like someone misread your order somewhere in the process, which is frustrating of course. That said, the Desert Sand is lovely. My favorite roughout colour in White's current selection.

 

[discomute]

Received my white's. Ordered distressed RO but got this.

Much lighter than I expected.
Says Desert Sand RO on the box.

View attachment 1376622 View attachment 1376623

Definitely wrong, I'm sure they'll replace it, just don't wear them outside or at all. Maybe just a try on to ensure correct size but they will fix it.

What’s everyone’s thoughts on brown smooth leather for semi dress boots? Does it work or do you think it’s more suited to smokejumpers?
I know they’re quite different but I’m trying to decide between brown smooth and going full heavy-duty or brown chromexcel for something more sleek.

Well it really depends on what you want the semi dress for. Brown smooth isn't ideal in semi dress situations but it isn't terrible. If it's what you like don't let us stand in your way.

If you are looking for options brown dress is one but beware it is an entirely different colour, it is very dark and will look black in low light.

Horsehide is the darling of these forums but comes with $200 premium

I would not recommend CXL as discussed a page back from your original post.

Another massively underrated leather is french calf. It is stronger than most companies french calf (but still not a work leather) and just lovely for dressy situations. I think the premium is $40 or $60.

I'm always complaining on here about wanting the dress leathers in more colours than black and extremely dark brown. But most people don't mind CXL. If you take my advice and avoid it, there really isn't a dressy leather without a premium tag in a normal shade of brown.

 

[wordfool]

welp, I just completed the trifecta -- ordered dark brown WF MP boots to go with my brown dress SDs (being broken in) and black dress BHs (being built now). OK, I'm done stimulating the economy and buying boots for a while now. I'll probably have to sell off some under-utilized Red Wings and Fryes to make space!

I'm still torn between dark brown WF and black WF. I'm generally more of a black boot person, but the few pics I've seen suggest the dull, dirty gray tones of worn black WF can look pretty ugly and I can't picture how re-waxing gray will it get back to black. If anyone has any pics of a nice black WF patina, please LMK and I might change my order. For now, I'm going on this photo of Truman WF boots (black WF on the right, java on the left):

 

[discomute]

My advice here is pure opinion and very little weight should be given to it:

Black shoes are one of the hardest to match. Dark brown one of the easiest. Having lovely black dress BH's imho is all you'd need in the black category. Furthermore, brown dress is quite dark.

Given you've locked in black dress and brown dress, deciding between black WF and brown WF is a no brainer for me. Brown would give you a much vaster range of options when it comes to matching certain colours, for example beige chinos.

 

[miggyramone]

^it all depends na persons wardrobe. If you wear a lot of black, grey, and reds - black boots are much easier to match then brown boots.

For my wardrobe - burgundy is the most versatile. I wear a lot of black and blue - burgundy does great with both those.

 

[wordfool]

Yeah, I wear a lot of black and dark gray, but I also wear a lot of earth tones (olives, dark greens, dark browns) and dark denim, so TBH either black or brown boots will work with my wardrobe. Bright or light colors rarely make an appearance on me. I guess @discomute is probably right in that dark brown is ultimately the slightly more flexible of the two (especially if black WF starts to fade to gray because shades of gray can be much harder to match). Burgundy is not something I could pull off, mentally at least!

 

[linafelt]

Hey, anyone have pics they can post of black boots with brass eyelets? I used to just always assume silver/nickel with black leather, but have recently started liking the occasional gold/brass I’ve seen. Be interested in seeing more examples before my next order. Thanks!

 

[ThreeLions]

Hey, anyone have pics they can post of black boots with brass eyelets? I used to just always assume silver/nickel with black leather, but have recently started liking the occasional gold/brass I’ve seen. Be interested in seeing more examples before my next order. Thanks!

Here you go:

I wear these every day to work.

 

[linafelt]

Here you go:

I wear these every day to work.

Great!

 

[LostInTheFunhouse]

Definitely wrong, I'm sure they'll replace it, just don't wear them outside or at all. Maybe just a try on to ensure correct size but they will fix it.



Well it really depends on what you want the semi dress for. Brown smooth isn't ideal in semi dress situations but it isn't terrible. If it's what you like don't let us stand in your way.

If you are looking for options brown dress is one but beware it is an entirely different colour, it is very dark and will look black in low light.

Horsehide is the darling of these forums but comes with $200 premium

I would not recommend CXL as discussed a page back from your original post.

Another massively underrated leather is french calf. It is stronger than most companies french calf (but still not a work leather) and just lovely for dressy situations. I think the premium is $40 or $60.

I'm always complaining on here about wanting the dress leathers in more colours than black and extremely dark brown. But most people don't mind CXL. If you take my advice and avoid it, there really isn't a dressy leather without a premium tag in a normal shade of brown.

Thank you for your detailed response and to everyone for their advice. I have to say you’re selling me on the Horsehide! I was drawn to it from various pictures but hadn’t read much discussion so it’s interesting to hear.

I see that Horsehide is only available on the ‘Classic 461’ last, I’ve read that the toe is slightly upturned but is there any other differences to note? I’m looking to keep the boot as slim as possible so hoping the 461 isn’t much wider than the Standard last? Seems to be quite hard to find info on the differences.

 

[ThreeLions]

A couple of people have asked recently about how Distressed RO looks as it ages and also how Honey Vibrams age.

Here's my go to kick around work boots. The ones I'd wear if I had to crawl under the car to change the oil or to do yard work in. They don't get babied, but that's why I got them in rough-out. You really can't scratch them.

These get washed with saddle soap and treated with Obenauf's Oil once or twice a year. I haven't ever treated them with Obenauf's HDLP as I don't want them to look like waxed flesh, which I dislike.

The above photos were taken today and NOT after a cleaning. This is how they look for "Normal" everyday wear.

 

[linafelt]

Thank you for your detailed response and to everyone for their advice. I have to say you’re selling me on the Horsehide! I was drawn to it from various pictures but hadn’t read much discussion so it’s interesting to hear.

I see that Horsehide is only available on the ‘Classic 461’ last, I’ve read that the toe is slightly upturned but is there any other differences to note? I’m looking to keep the boot as slim as possible so hoping the 461 isn’t much wider than the Standard last? Seems to be quite hard to find info on the differences.

I find the C461 to be much narrower than the SD, probably comparable to the SJ in width (which I also find narrow).

 

[Patek]

Sorry for the colorful language, but after four White's boots, one Viberg, and two Thursdays among other things this month, this is a bit how I feel.