Goral Sharman Review | The Premium Doc Marten?

Some time ago, I learned about Goral, a small shoemaker in Sheffield, England, that makes resoleable sneakers with high-end leathers from tanneries like Horween, Maryam, and CF Stead. Their new project? The Sharman, a more luxurious version of Dr. Marten’s combat boots.

(OK, to be clear: they don’t use the word “Doc Martens” in their marketing, but it doesn’t take an advanced degree to work out what this boot’s tagline, “The DM Killer,” is referring to.)

The premium components used to make these luxury “Docs” cost maybe double that of the Made-in-England (MIE) Dr. Martens, and the MIEs are the premium versions of the more popular go-to Doc, the 1460. So, let’s see if the Sharman’s high-end materials and construction justify their price.

Goral Sharman Pros and Cons

Pros

• Premium leather from Horween, America’s most celebrated tannery
• Leather lined
• Durable construction; lots of quality leather, cork, and even wool underfoot
• Stylish, versatile, and more “grown up” than most combat boots
• Roomy, comfortable fit

Cons

• Heavier, less flexible, less shock absorbent, and less glossy than Doc Martens
• Ordering: shipping to the US is 30USD and you may need to wait a few weeks for the boots to be made
• Hybrid Blake stitch/cup sole construction is hard to resole; you’ll probably have to send it back to the factory when the time comes

Goral Overview

The brand originated in Poland, where the Goral family started handcrafting shoes from a small workshop in the mid-1930s. It was a true family business, with everyone from adults to children learning the craft together.

As it grew, Goral added more skilled craftsmen to their team, and what was once a tiny family shop became a well-established factory and was passed down from generation to generation.

In 2005 Bogdan Goral, the third-generation leader of the family and business, moved the factory to Sheffield in the UK in hopes of greener pastures. The town has a rich history of manufacturing, especially steel, and since making the move, the Goral brand has been thriving and even moved to a larger manufacturing facility.

How I Reviewed The Boots

I’m a guy who’s in boots for most of the day: not only do I work as a sheet welder, but I love the comfort and stability of boots over sneakers and exclusively wear them off the clock as well.

So I have expertise, here: not only do I know what it takes for a boot to be a good work boot, I know how to look at a boot as a casual boot for the everyday guy as well.

I’m judging the Sharman as a casual boot, not a work boot, but as I do with any of my boot reviews, I’m assessing the durability, leather quality, comfort, and aesthetics.

I also put the Sharman through a huge test in which I walked 30,000 steps in a single day.

Goral Sharman Design and Aesthetics

• Chunky combat boot look
• Leather is lustrous, neither matte nor glossy
• Grippy lug sole

Much like a Doc Marten, the Goral Sharman maintains that chunky combat boot-esque appearance (albeit with a slightly lower profile toe) that became an iconic look associated with skinheads, punk rock, rebel culture, and the grunge style of the 90s.

Made with Chromexcel leather from Chicago’s Horween, the upper has eight rows of eyelets, waxed cotton laces, and a pull loop to helps tone down the chunky lug sole on the Sharman boots. While they don’t have Doc Marten’s signature bright yellow stitching, Goral gave the Sharman a distinctive look for the outsole with their own unique cup sole, which we’ll get to in a bit.

Goral Sharman Leather Quality

• Horween Chromexcel Leather
• 4 Colorways, Black, Natural, Dark Brown, Forest Green
• 2.2mm Thick Upper Leather
• 1.2-1.4mm Thick full-grain leather liner
• Italian calf leather liner on removable insole

Designed to be a premium offering, Goral made sure to use the most unimpeachable choice for a boot’s upper leather: Chromexcel. The go-to for any high quality boot, including Viberg’s $900 icons, this leather is sourced from Chicago’s Horween, one of the best tanneries in the world. Since it’s actually good quality leather, it doesn’t have the artificially high gloss of Docs, but Chromexcel has an ideal balance of lustrous and matte. Chromexcel has an excellent pull-up, meaning the color varies throughout it for a nice dynamic look, and while you won’t get that effect with this black leather you will on the Sharman’s other colorways.

The leather thickness is a hardy 2.2mm (typical of heritage work boots), and the leather liner is a calfskin that’s 1.2 to 1.4 mm. So you’re looking at about 3.5mm of leather between the liner and the outside world.

Goral even went as far as to put a leather liner on the removable insole.

Goral Sharman Construction

• Blake Stitch
• Sidewall stitched cup sole
• Leather lasting board
• A thick layer of sheet cork
• Steel shank

They developed their own construction method called a “Goral Blake Stitch.” Many companies use a Blake stitch construction, particularly on dressier or less work-focused boots. Many sneaker brands use a cup sole attached with a side wall stitch. But nobody really combines the two the way Goral does.

Goral’s Leather Lasting Board

Goral noticed a problem when resoleing sidewall stitched footwear: the shoes lose their shape during the process.

To fix this, Goral uses a leather-lasting board to last their boots and sneakers, which they stitch to the upper. When a cobbler removes the cup sole — so named because it curves up onto the upper instead of just being stitched to its bottom — the boots retain their shape.

Their thermoplastic rubber cup sole attaches to the bottom of the boot and to the sidewall, and then the soles are stitched to the upper.

Between the leather-lasting board and the outsole is a thick layer of sheet cork, some compressed cardboard, a shank, and a fiberboard layer. These are materials that conform to the shape of your foot over time, and eventually they’ll be so imprinted with your individual foot’s contours that they’ll feel practically custom made.

Goral’s Blake Stitching

Sure, the Sharman can be resoled, but there is a catch. The use of a cup sole makes it hard to replace it with any old sole; you’ll almost certainly need one of Goral’s own soles, or a different brand’s cup sole — and that might be hard for your average cobbler to source.

Your cobbler might like the challenge, but understand that you’ll need a preliminary meeting with them before they accept the operation.

How to Get Gorals Resoled

All of this is to say that if you want these resoled, you’ll need to mail them back to the UK factory. Goral told us that they were aiming to set up a US resoler by Q4 in 2024. 

If you’re sending it back to Goral, you’ll also have to think about the costs: Goral charges £70 (~90USD) for a resole, amd this doesn’t include shipping. The last time I shipped a pair of boots to a friend in the UK it cost about $100. (Boots aren’t light.)

If you’re not in the UK, Goral’s website says you might need to pay for return shipping. So the whole operation will set you back nearly $200, maybe more if you’re paying for shipping both ways.

So while they can be resoled, it’ll likely be an expensive hassle. It’s not as simple as your average Blake stitch resole.

Goral Sharman Sizing And Fit

• Taller, wider toe box
• Wide widths available
• No half sizes, though 
• Size up to the nearest full size
• Accommodates high insteps
• Make sure you’re looking at the right sizing for you (UK or US)

The Sharman is built on Goral’s G5 last, which they describe as having a taller and wider toe box than their sneakers and built with all-day comfort in mind. (This usually means it’s made roomy to accommodate for all the moving your toes will do inside this less-stretchy-than-a-sneaker upper.)

The Sharman’s toe box is indeed quite roomy and should accommodate someone with a wider foot, but they do also sell this boot in wide widths that I would say are appropriate for EE and EEE widths. In either case, the forefoot is fairly relaxed and accommodates high insteps well.

While they launched with UK sizing, they now use both US and UK sizing on their site, a very helpful touch that’s rare for European brands.

But Goral doesn’t offer half sizes. If you are a half size, they recommend going up to the next full size.

Goral Sharman Comfort

• Soft, removable footbed
• Roomy forefoot and toe box allow for a more natural toe splay
• Tall Commando sole may feel awkward for some customers

Goral positions the Sharman as and “Every Day” boot. I believe an “Every Day” boot should have all-day comfort, and I was pleased with the Sharman. The toe box is taller and very roomy, allowing your toes to wiggle freely and not feel squished or cramped.

The footbed is very thick, soft, and squishy. The height of the lug sole, while desired by the average combat boot shopper, makes the boots feel a little clunky for me.

The arch support isn’t great, but note that the shank provides extra stability to the boot and that the insole and cork molds to your foot over months, so the arch will feel more firm with time.

After getting the boots broken in, I put them to the test: I wore them on a day trip with my wife to Disney World and hit all four parks in a single day, totaling a whopping thirty thousand steps. Alas, my feet were definitely feeling it about halfway through the day.

Like I said, I’m not really used to this chunkier sole: if you’re a longtime aficionado of combat boots, you probably won’t find them as awkward as I did.

Price & Value

The Sharman is listed at $445 when writing this on Goral’s website. I know $445 is a lot, but I personally think they are worth it based on the materials used to make the boot, the level of craftsmanship that went into making them, and especially the fact that they’re made in England. (Labor is, by far, the biggest cost in a boot’s production.)

I think the price is justified in my experience with other higher-end expensive boots.

The value takes a hit, though, if you live in the US, where you’ll have to pay an extra $30 for shipping.

For me, the value you get with a resoleable boot is a bit impacted by the costly international shipping required to resole the Sharman with its original sole.

What I Liked

• Goral has lovely colorway options. You can choose something unique like the Forest Green Chromexcel rather than only offering black.
• I also like the unique construction design, the soft insole, and the spacious design of the boots.

What I Didn’t Like.

• I don’t like how expensive the resoling operation will be
• I also didn’t care for the ultra chunky sole, and they don’t absorb shock as well as Docs, if that’s what drew you to this kind of boot

The Verdict

If you like big, chunky boots like the Dr Marten but want something a little more premium and built to a higher standard, then you should try the Sharman. As someone more used to service boots and work boots, the chunky sole of this combat boot wasn’t my favorite experience. But if you’re used to walking a lot in something like a Dr Martens 1460, then the Sharman shouldn’t be an issue.