ADDICT BOOTS Japan
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I always have a great time. This will be my third year, and I’ve dragged my wife along every year. She’s a trooper.
Ben’s a cool dude, although he’s always so busy at these events that I never get much time to hang out with him. But I’ve met so many great people over the years.
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I spoke with the team at ADDICT regarding the CL and ST lasts. They launch these at different times of the year, and the ST last will be available when we place our next order around March 2027.
For context, the ST last features a slightly more voluminous toe area and a roomier fit around the foot and instep, resulting in a more standard fit. Please note that the bottom shape of both the ST and CL lasts share the same design.
If you think the ST last will work better for your needs, it will be an option for us in the future.
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So I've been breaking in my ST versions for just over two weeks now. They are coming along very nicely, the first few days were definitely uncomfortable, bordering on slightly painful due to the size I chose (see the above posts for details). I will post some more photos probably in another fortnight or so to give a better visual comparison
The major difference in fit I can tell so far between the ST and CL lasts is definitely the more room around the toes and the toe box height, as well as a little more room in the ball of the foot and the instep. Although I think the instep increase is so marginal I'd say it's negligible (in my pair anyway) but the toe box space is definitely there.
I think the more important difference to me is the leather; the horsehide ST leather is much more forgiving and has formed and stretched much more and much faster than the CL. The shaft is a lot softer and flexes and moves with me when I walk. It hasn't collapsed any more than my CL pair but I surprisingly much prefer the firmness of the CL Horsebutt leather.
I think I have about another few days of wear and the ST pair will feel as broken in as the CL pair which have a few months of much, much harder wear put into them.I think if you have a foot shape that isn't very friendly/similar to the shape of Addict's lasts then the ST last is definitely going to be the more forgiving and easier pair to break in.
I'm very eager to pick up a pair of the brown horsebutt so I can have three pairs of Addicts and call it a day. Now that I have experienced both, I do love the ST last and I do think its an amazing boot, but I would opt for the CL last with the horsebutt leather any day.
I am still unsure if I could go down a full size with the CL's, I doubt it. Perhaps when I am in Japan in January I will get the chance to try them on. I have no regrets going half a size down with the CL pair I have and I'm quite looking forward to wearing them again soon and alternating between the two lasts once I've done some more breaking in and tests with this ST pair.
I look forward to reading other people's experiences and seeing the patina!
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I have the addict western zips (black teacore horsehide) CL last have about a year of wear on them and love them. They fit perfectly, without the insert, and the leather is super soft.
Speculating on the BTO Roper coming out soon; figure I’d order the same size in the ST last and if it has wiggle room I’ll throw in the inserts this time. For reference I wear 10E or 10.5D in Wesco engineers, 10 in Lofgren Wabash (although the instep is a bit big on those) and 10.5 in chuck 70s. I’ve been trying to dial my size in on The Flat Head short engineer having already retuned a size 10 - so if the 9.5 in the mail doesn’t work the Roper is likely my next purchase.
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I talked to the Addict guys for a bit at the Stitchdown Expo. I was hoping they’d have some boots on different lasts to try on, but they pretty much just had a bunch of the side zips on the ST last. was hoping they’d at least have an engineer to try on. I didn’t really expect the Roper since they just released it, although they did have a few sizes, just not mine.
Unfortunately, they didn’t bring any CL last boots to try on, so there was no way to compare the CL versus ST lasts. I guess it makes sense, though. They’d have to ship a tremendous number of boxes to have that many different boots available for people to try on.
Although I did sell my side zips stitch down Collabs recently just not a side zip guy anymore. I may order the roper in that same leather.. or maybe wait for the IH engineer drop. The ropers are a year out.
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@northsouthdenimguy damn. That AD-10 has some wear on it ! From the looks of your pictures an my own CL last western zips I can tell you the toe box (almond / narrowish round) vs the ST (much more round) is at least a visual difference. Did the Ropers look distinct from the engineers near the bottom of the boot? Or just the top detailing? Jealous you go to go to the show.
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@Tom-Longarms Cant wait to see the patina yours develop!
I''ll have to post an update on my pairs when I get time this weekend.
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@AskAxel looking forward to see yours!
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As far as I could tell, the Roper is basically the ST side zip with a taller shaft and no zipper. I actually prefer the taller boot, especially the way it looks with denim versus the shorter side zip, so I’m really debating pulling the trigger on a pair.
There was a bit of a language barrier. I thought they said a year for the Roper, but he may have just meant next year. Somebody else mentioned they thought it might be spring. My side zips from last year took about eight months, so I’m not really sure what the timeline is on these.
Boot Camp was pretty cool overall, very similar to last year. I’d love to see them continue to grow and bring in clothing brands and more women’s stuff. IH needs a booth
