Nick
Danner is an enormously popular boot company. Based in Oregon, they were founded by Charles Danner in 1932 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin — the same place that Chippewa boots was launched — but they moved to Oregon a few years later and eventually became best known for their hiking shoes. But as far as more … Read more
Despite the very New Zealand name, Kiwi was actually launched in Australia in 1906 (by a man with a New Zealand wife) and it’s since become phenomenally popular. In the US and UK it has two thirds of the market share and in Malaysia, the word ‘kiwi’ has even become part of the Malay language, … Read more
Heavy ass denim. That’s the specialty of the cult Japanese denim brand Iron Heart. After 20 years of working in Japan’s garment industry, Shinichi Haraki established the brand in 2003 and today it’s headquartered in Hachioji, just outside of Tokyo. Iron Heart specializes in smooth, heavyweight denim that has its roots in Japanese motorcycle culture, … Read more
Beckett Simonon is a pretty unusual footwear company in that everything is made to order. They don’t carry inventory. The idea is that this makes for a more ethical company: having inventory, they say, increases waste, energy, and fuel consumption, but it also means their shoes are really inexpensive because they don’t need extra warehouse … Read more
Leather Honey is the number one selling leather conditioner on Amazon right now. If you are searching for leather conditioner or even, yes, boot conditioner, Leather Honey comes at the top of the list. That may be surprising to some of my fellow fans of Goodyear welted boots, because the conditioners that most of us … Read more
There’s a new Dragon boot in town. American bootmaker Taft has kicked their Dragon 1.0 to the curb — see my original Dragon review here — and upgraded to the Dragon 2.0. Founded in 2013 by Kory and Mallory Stevens, Taft has become extraordinarily successful — they were worth $15 million in 2017 — by … Read more
Believe it or not, stretch selvedge is a thing. I took a trip to New York’s denim mecca Blue in Green to see what kind of unusual offerings they had this season, and I was treated to this unique, almost sea green colored denim from the secretive Japanese brand Oni. Meaning “demon” or “ogre,” Oni … Read more
This is it: the ultimate showdown between two flagship cap toe boots from two very different companies. In one corner, we have Red Wing, founded in 1905 and arguably the most popular heritage boot company in the US, with the Iron Ranger. The challenger is newcomer Thursday Boot Company, founded in 2014, and their critically … Read more
Is mink oil the fountain of youth for your boots? I decided to pick some up to see if they could work on some four-year-old Thursday boots. Now, these boots have never been conditioned and a lot of the damage, like deep gashes in the leather, is beyond repair. (They’re not mine; I borrowed them … Read more
Helm is an Austin-based shoe company that has become a fixture of the city’s boot scene. Well known for their trademark white stripe in the midsole, their shoes pull off a rare feat of being distinctive but traditional, with silhouettes that work in a ton of different outfits and environments. I’ve reviewed their flagship Muller … Read more