White's Boots
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For some reason I have started obsessing about getting some SD's with a double midsole, a Vibram 430 sole, and a plain cap toe in full black semi dress leather, with natural edging. My obsessions never end well for my bank balance
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Smoke Jumpers (6", brown dress and rough out mix) or SD's ( black dress, cap toe) as my everyday work boot?
I work in an engineering/ electronics factory, so a steel toe is not essential, but I am on my feet most of the day.
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My current line up, from left to right:
semi-dress water buffalo, farmer rancher horween chromexcel, smokejumper brown, smokejumper red dog/distressed.
The brown SJ's in 9,5 EE (F) with brown leather lining and composition sole are for sale.
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Beautiful collection, I've just talked myself into two new pairs of Whites
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Devil Dog, that is a nice set-up you got going. i like 2 & 3 the best. 1 & 4 both kind of creep me out.
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Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't too hard to talk yourself into buying a couple of pairs, Mega?
The real question is how long it took you to convince Minitron that you need two new pairs of White's.:)
Monday, I'm with you on the two tone pair, but what bugs you about #1?
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mega, please consider getting a pair of White's 6" Bounty Hunters One Tone: Distressed
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The cordovan Whites at Baker's are off the wall, but not $949 worth of off the wall. A $500 up-charge on that leather seems a bit excessive when compared to Alden. Granted, Alden probably gets better supply quantities to push the price down.
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To be fair, I'm back down to one pair now. The first pair was a second hand pair that I was looking at, and I just got an answer back from the seller that talked me out of it.
Monday, those are nice, and the Bounty Hunter is heavily under consideration. I'm just finding it hard to look past a cap toed Semi Dress in black dress leather, double leather mid-sole, mini vib lug sole…...truly a thing of beauty.
I toyed with the idea of Shark Leather ,just to be different, but it actually doesn't look great in my opinion.
NCA, how much are your Smoke Jumpers for sale at? (May regret asking that)
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@dave: I agree about the Chromexcel boots from White's being way overpriced, but I got mine through their "outlet" on ebay, so the price was much better. On the other hand I cannot say Alden's tanker boots are a good alternative. While I am quite satisfied with the quality of their formal footwear (hell, I married in them!), I tried twice to get good Tanker's but found them to be of minor quality.
That said, not all the White's I have owned have been flawless and they are generally less attentive to details, than, say Wesco.
However, I love mine and am only selling that one pair because it's slightly too roomy for me. -
Some older ones, from left to right:
Farmer/Rancher red dog unlined, Smokejumper, lined, brown oiled smooth leather (same as above) and Packers, also brown.
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Some details of the aforementioned Semi-Dress in water buffalo, lined, double leather sole and 90-degree heel.
Those get the most use of the bunch, but the chromexcels are catching up.
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As for the two-tone boots, which are certainly not everyone's cup of tea, here is what inspired them (VintageEddieee* and some others take credit)
*http://vintage-edieee.blogspot.com/2008/08/whites-smoke-jumpers-edmond-custom.html
It looks like he had them re-soled at Okuyama San of Hukurokuju recently and you can see how they age:
http://vintage-edieee.blogspot.com/2010/12/beat-up-whites-smoke-jumper-okuyama-san.htmlA good overview of White's that are on the streets of Tokyo (and elsewhere) can be found on the above mentioned cobbler's site:
http://hukurokuju.com/blog/category/whites/ -
Mega, you have too much black footwear. you need a nice alternative that will still mesh with your comfort zone. i think the boot i showed you is the way to go. it will age nicely a certainly darken up, they are very visually pleasing & from the looks of them will be a dream to wear in all sorts of weather.
nicecrackaction way to make your presence felt, & thanks for the photos of your great boots. i await your introduction post
** i just like to sell what i think is a dope product, unfortunately i won't be getting a pair of boots for a minute since my line up is packed & my bench is full of allstars waiting for playing time
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Monday, it looks like I have a pair of brown Smoke Jumpers on their way to me from NCA now to balance up with the black SD's. I am seriously considering Bounty Hunters, but now our new friend has satisfied my immediate craving, I might hang in until later in the year and do something a little special, in terms of a custom build.
I also have to remember to send my faithful SD's for a resole in Feb/ March.
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New Smoke Jumpers on their way to me
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That distressed leather is nice. If I hadn't just plunked down for the brown HH, I definitely would have gone for those.
@nicecrackaction I was just going by the base price of Alden's which is comparable to a base price of White's with no modifications. They both start at ~450 with cordovan costing about 200-250 more. I think the extra 250 is a function of supply and demand rather than relative quality.
