Custom White's Boots ... Thoughts?

[paulraphael]

Blundstone sizing is weird -- they don’t come in true half sizes and instead the half sizes are wider. I wear Blunnies in an 11 and they’re pretty loose on my skinny feet (tons of space over the top of my foot and around my heel) but they are about right in toe width — as a runner my toes are probably wider relative to the rest of my feet, especially my heel.

What size/brand of athletic shoe do you wear?

Kyle sized me at 10.5C on the 55 last, which sounded about right after years of suffering heel slippage in 10.5D boots (mainly Red Wing and Frye), and they fit me well with plenty of toe room and very secure mid foot. Minor heel slippage on my smaller foot has pretty much gone away after a half dozen outings.

I wear 11.5 in running shoes (mainly Mizuno, which have a relatively narrow heel fit) and my Brannock size is 11.5 (bordering 12 on one foot) with width usually hitting D, depending on socks. It’s not so much that my foot is narrow (especially not the forefoot) but that it’s low volume (mainly height and ankles) and I have “flexible arches”, which doesn’t help. A Brannock device is not going to pick up things like that. So foot measurement is by no means an exact science because feet are all so weirdly unique.

I wear a 12.5 in a Brooks Ghost running shoe. These are a good fit out of the box, with a medium-thickness Sole insole for arch support.

My La Sportiva Mutant trail running shoes are 46.5. These are a very snug, technical fit, with a somewhat narrow last. I had to use a shoe stretcher to widen the toe box significantly. I use these with a thin Sole insole.

My Adidas skateboard-style shoes are size 12. Also with Sole insoles of various thicknesses. These are just for casual use. Fit is comfortable, maybe a bit loose in the width.

Kyle has me in 11C w/instep adjustment and 11B.

 

[discomute]

Addidas are a great fit on my feet and I'm 10C on the 55

I'm sure no one is a as stupid as me but - you did use a proper dressmaker tape measure to measure width right?

 

[paulraphael]

Addidas are a great fit on my feet and I'm 10C on the 55

I'm sure no one is a as stupid as me but - you did use a proper dressmaker tape measure to measure width right?

Yeah, I used a dressmaker's tape and remeasured a few times on different days. If I screwed anything up it would be the outlines.

I'm leaning toward putting my order on hold and seeing if Baker's will send me a fitting pair. It would be worth it to pay the shipping for this.

 

[Sledge42]

Yeah, I used a dressmaker's tape and remeasured a few times on different days. If I screwed anything up it would be the outlines.

I'm leaning toward putting my order on hold and seeing if Baker's will send me a fitting pair. It would be worth it to pay the shipping for this.

I also used a dressmaker's tape and got all those measurements correct, it was my tracing that was all over the place.
Kyle can tell on your dressmaker dimensions if anything is off. Of course their is a chance of oddity, but if you get a measurement around your foot, both feet are generally the same or very close. He has a trained eye to say- that doesn't quite match up to normal proportions.

On my tracings, he said "Ok I see a 13 on one foot and an 11.5" on the other- is that correct? (This is the polite way of him asking me probably if I have had any kind of injury or deformity) Turns out- I just suck at tracing my own feet and in hindsight should have enlisted my spouse to trace them! Buuuuut she didn't know I was ordering boots and it all worked out with Kyle's help!

 

[Rymanocerous]

Turns out- I just suck at tracing my own feet and in hindsight should have enlisted my spouse to trace them! Buuuuut she didn't know I was ordering boots and it all worked out with Kyle's help!

Just tell your wife its a new fetish your trying out. Probably won't be a lot of follow up questions to that either.

 

[paulraphael]

I also used a dressmaker's tape and got all those measurements correct, it was my tracing that was all over the place.
Kyle can tell on your dressmaker dimensions if anything is off. Of course their is a chance of oddity, but if you get a measurement around your foot, both feet are generally the same or very close. He has a trained eye to say- that doesn't quite match up to normal proportions.

On my tracings, he said "Ok I see a 13 on one foot and an 11.5" on the other- is that correct? (This is the polite way of him asking me probably if I have had any kind of injury or deformity) Turns out- I just suck at tracing my own feet and in hindsight should have enlisted my spouse to trace them! Buuuuut she didn't know I was ordering boots and it all worked out with Kyle's help!

That's better than, "so I see that you're half platypus, half goat, is that correct?"

 

[wordfool]

I wear a 12.5 in a Brooks Ghost running shoe. These are a good fit out of the box, with a medium-thickness Sole insole for arch support.

My La Sportiva Mutant trail running shoes are 46.5. These are a very snug, technical fit, with a somewhat narrow last. I had to use a shoe stretcher to widen the toe box significantly. I use these with a thin Sole insole.

My Adidas skateboard-style shoes are size 12. Also with Sole insoles of various thicknesses. These are just for casual use. Fit is comfortable, maybe a bit loose in the width.

Did you send all that info to Kyle?

The fact you have a thicker support insole in the Brooks perhaps suggests your foot is narrower or lower volume that you thought. I wear a 12 in Vans and they fit well, but Vans are known for being a pretty narrow fit. In my Mizunos I just use the stock insole -- I used to use a custom-molded insole but found it was no more comfortable than stock and caused a bit of toe rub on the sides of the toebox.

 

[barbellhacks]

I hope my shell order comes out better...

I kinda think they put the A+ team on shell-duty.

I'm quite pleased with the level of finish on all 4 of my pairs of Whites. But the level of finish on my shell pair is ridiculously high.

Gratuitous boot-Appreciation:

 

[paulraphael]

Did you send all that info to Kyle?

The fact you have a thicker support insole in the Brooks perhaps suggests your foot is narrower or lower volume that you thought. I wear a 12 in Vans and they fit well, but Vans are known for being a pretty narrow fit. In my Mizunos I just use the stock insole -- I used to use a custom-molded insole but found it was no more comfortable than stock and caused a bit of toe rub on the sides of the toebox.

That's a good point, and I should have shared that information.

I just spoke to Baker's and we'll probably put the order on hold and have them send me a try-on pair in whatever size/model makes the most sense to Kyle.

 

[Legal Eagles]

I kinda think they put the A+ team on shell-duty.

If I ordered shell, I would expect @sambam to be on the floor actually building my boots!

I am sure that shell goes to the most experienced bootmakers... I am sure @sambam can regale us with how difficult it is to last the shell boots... especially ones with toe caps (and have them come out looking good) given the lack of stretch in the material.

 

[ghdvfddzgzdzg]

(I know Viberg is not perfect, but they are better... which is why Eric's question was posed that way.)

The Viberg thread is full of QC complaints, though not stitching related. The toecaps in that thread, my lord.

Do White's boots run wide for the nominal width?

Kyle finally reviewed my tracings and believes I need an 11-B on the left and an 11-C on the right. I've always thought I had medium to wide feet. My most common fit problem is the toe box being too narrow.

Does this seem strange?

Yeah someone at Whites this week looked at my measurements and told me I'd be a 8.5A in a pair of 55-last SDs. I was surprised since I was somewhere in the range of 9C or 9B the last time I got measured on a Brannock (several years ago, admittedly.) Fyi 8.5D Alden Barrie is comfortable for me but far more volume than i need, except in the toebox, where it's not bad, but i wonder about having a little more room for pinky toe spread.

By the way, unlike what y'all are saying about Kyle, where he wants to know all sorts of info, the lady I talked to at Whites has no interest at all in sizing comparisons. She said something like, it's a different last, it doesn't translate. A friend of mine is also getting sized for some Whites and he had the same experience w her.

 

[wordfool]

Can you post a pic with them laced up and on the foot? Top down, left and right?

Here you go.... not the best pic because I used the super chunky leather laces to improve visibility, but you get the idea. The misaligned eyelets (left boot in the pic) basically cause the first few lace crosses to not be centered and choke up a bit, which might not be a big deal or it might cause pressure points on top of my foot. I tried to center them as much as possible before taking the pic. The bottom eyelets are definitely out of line, and the result is all the other eyelets on one side of that boot are much closer together than on the other side before everything gets back in line at the hooks.

 

[Jimk4003]

Her you go.... not the best pic because I used the super chunky leather laces to improve visibility, but you get the idea. The misaligned eyelets (left boot in the pic) basically cause the first few lace crosses to not be centered and choke up a bit, which might not be a big deal or it might cause pressure points on top of my foot. I tried to center them as much as possible before taking the pic. The bottom eyelets are definitely out of line, and the result is all the other eyelets on one side of that boot are much closer together than on the other side before everything gets back in line at the hooks.

View attachment 1400993

I would say it's up to you; between the stitching issue on the uppers, the puckering on the toes, and the misaligned eyelets, you're definitely well within your rights to redress under warranty. Any one of those issues could lead to a pair of boots being relegated to seconds, even with cheaper brands.

I wouldn't be particularly happy with that level of finishing on a full price boot, but they're your boots, and obviously it's your call.

 

[wordfool]

I would say it's up to you; between the stitching issue on the uppers, the puckering on the toes, and the misaligned eyelets, you're definitely well within your rights to redress under warranty. Any one of those issues could lead to a pair of boots being relegated to seconds, even with cheaper brands.

I wouldn't be particularly happy with that level of finishing on a full price boot, but they're your boots, and obviously it's your call.

Yeah, the eyelets issue is probably the tipping point for me. The other two issues really don't bother me because they really are only minor cosmetic things largely out of sight, but having to look down and see (and maybe feel) skewed laces and misaligned eyelets every day definitely would.

 

[Jimk4003]

Yeah, the eyelets issue is probably the tipping point for me. The other two issues really don't bother me because they really are only minor cosmetic things largely out of sight, but having to look down and see (and maybe feel) skewed laces and misaligned eyelets every day definitely would.

Yeah, it's something you can't unsee when it's there every time you look down; moreso if you can feel it too. I'm sure White's won't have an issue remaking them, particularly when it's not the only issue with the pair.

Good luck!