John Lofgren’s boots—all made in Sendai, Japan in a small workshop—have long been renowned for their military-inspired patterns, leathers, and construction. And while his new wingtip boots that just opened up for pre-order at Standard & Strange have a bit of that in their DNA, it’s pretty cool to see Lofgren take a classy turn.
Beautiful brogueing wrapping the Italian vachetta leather panels, an appropriately robust “lion’s paw” medallion, French binding, eight eyelets all the way up, and big branded-but-classy woven pull-tabs—it all works.
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They’re 360-degree Goodyear welted on Lofgren’s new 150 last (S&S recommends you take the same size as other Lofgrens—.5 down from Brannock), which matches well with the rugged formality of the boots. Soles are Vibram Eton 2055, Vibram’s answer to Dainite.
That vachetta comes in two shades, and while the rich burgundy is beautiful out of the box, my money’s on the lighter camel color being the long-term winner after the patina gets rolling. Just some damn cool boots.
Lofgren has made a guts-out simple stitchdown desert boot for years, with the lore being that he based them on his pop’s favorites back in the 50’s. But the new olive color of Japanese suede is an absolute showstopper, and works perfectly with the light crepe sole. Tobacco suede is the other new colorway…but I’ve honestly had too much trouble pulling my eyes away from the olive to give that one much heartfelt consideration.
I’m often confused as to why it’s harder to find a perfect round-toe, casual chukka than it should be. For me, at least, most tend to be too pointy in the toe. Not this one. It’s beautifully bulky and the no-frills pattern is perfectly balanced.
Bravo all around.