We had friend from Oregon we called Beaver.
One day he emailed us with some friendly advice: 'don’t Google ‘pic of beaver’
1 Like
I know my size in other brands, particularly AE. I ordered based on their recommendation of that size. They fit perfectly. I usually don’t buy shoes (or hats) that I don’t try on, just to personal of a fit, but took a chance because I really liked these. Worked out well. You can exchange, but it’s obviously more complicated than buying here in the US. It’s not without risk, though my experience was spot on.
Nice to know, cheers!
…and yeah, how the hell can you buy a hat that you haven’t tried on?
The fact this thread isn’t titled “New Boot Goofin” is a travesty against humanity.
1 Like
For boots I highly recommend R M Williams, an Australian outfit of, in my opinion, excellent quality. They’re not cheap, but they’re not outrageously expensive, either, again, in my opinion.
I like the Craftsmen but there are any number of styles. You can order them online, but I would really recommend that anyone interested find a place to try them on. In my experience they run a little narrow. There are a couple of R M Williams shops, I know there’s one in New York, and Bloomingdale’s also carries them, so maybe try the Bloomingdale’s in Blanco.
You’ll want to purchase them from Australia, though, because the current exchange rate is highly favorable.
1 Like
I"ve been wanting a pair of Beatle boots for a long time. Might have to pull the trigger on that, but I honestly don’t know where I’d wear them.
After I’m done shopping at Bloomingdales, how much time should I reserve for a tour of the Trump Tower lobby?
I’ve got several local-ish custom options, I’ll figure it out from here.
I was literally going to respond with R.M. Williams but Chuck beat me to it. I don’t think the quality is quite as high as it was when I (briefly) lived in Sydney twenty years ago. Still fantastic boots, though, that over deliver for the price and their customer service is fantastic. I can also attest to Chuck’s point that they do run narrow.
Not sure if you can order directly from Aussie. I ordered a pair of Gardener boots a couple of years ago and had to go through the USA site.
ETA - I have a pair of Trickers Chelsea boots. They’re beautiful but I rarely wear them because they’re even wider than my Blundstones.
2 Likes
Blundstone quality has gone from being great to being worse than terrible which is why I did not recommend them. As a matter of fact, I’ve been meaning to email the head of Blundstone US and demand that he re-sole the ~four pairs I have whose soles just suddenly fell off / fell apart.
1 Like
Blundstone moved production from Aussie to Vietnam (iirrc) fifteen years ago. The present quality is nowhere close to what it was before the move. They’re still the boot of choice in the wine industry (Redbacks are too damn narrow) and I can usually get a pretty good deal on them such that the pricing is more akin to what it was I first started working in production (i.e. ~ $100/pair). And if I keep the leather properly oiled, I can usually get two Harvests out of 'em, which is actually saying something.
1 Like
I’ve never had any issue with the leather, it’s that the soles simply and suddenly disintegrate, which is not really what I’m looking for in footwear, and it invariably happens at the worst possible moment, for example at the airport.
Yikes, never had an issue like that with my Blunnies. For me, the leather upper is the problem area, especially during Harvest, because of how much water they’re constantly exposed to.
I have two pairs and wear them five days a week (swapping each day), which goes to seven days a week during Harvest. Weirdly, I’ve never had an issue with the soles falling apart on any pair of Blundstones. I’m also wearing 550’s or 585’s (work boots). Don’t know if that’s what you’ve worn in the past, but I’ve read that each range of Blunnies is built differently - i.e. a massive design flaw.
I was going to recommend Rossi’s until I found out they moved most of their production to Indonesia and experienced a similar precipitous drop in quality.
Side note, I’ll need to replace one of my pairs of Blunnies by Harvest. This thread inspired me to check out Mongrel Boots. They’re family owned and have been made in Aussie since 1930.
1 Like
Totally non-footwear related, but what do yall in Cali use for pest control? I’ve heard some not so great stories from my uncle who used to work at [redacted] outside Fredericksburg. I’m assuming the different climates have something to do with the prevalence of bugs and the need to mitigate them.
You can respond in a more appropriate thread if you want.
Happily the search for these boots led me to some usable shoes that I thought had gone awol in the move, so I’ve got that going for me.
Jesus, man.
What surfaces have you been walking on?
The sun. He lives in Las Vegas.
2 Likes
I’ve done that to numerous boots while burning giant brushpiles
A friend of mine had the uppers on a pair of North Face snow boots disintegrate after just a couple of years of very light use
He put them on one day, looked down and instead of looking at the black rubber he was looking at his socks.
I swear that sounds like some Monty Python catch phrase.
2 Likes