I love it when a boot company makes a shoe, and really nails it. They certainly don’t every time! But when they do, the end product is just totally different than what you find from a shoemaker that makes, well, shoes. The perfect recipe: dress-up-able but not dressy. Benefits from being worn with abandon. Probably a little heavy! And not just a boot that forgot to add additional leather running up your legs.
Let’s just say Truman Boot Co. nailed these good.
While you can certainly switch them out for something thinner (and which actually enjoys staying tied), there’s something great about a shoe-shoe that can hold its own against thick leather laces; this one definitely can.
Meanwhile, the perforated toe cap sprinkles on the class, and the raw leather midsole contrasts wonderfully with the aubergine horse rump leather upper from Guidi tannery in Pescia, Italy—which Truman claims will break in good and easily. (Fun fact: aubergine is the British word for eggplant. Which sounds funny, until you realize eggplant is a completely weird and misleading word itself. Makes for an awful nice color though!)
The normally-a-bootmaker hand-builds its very small-batch wares entirely in Boulder, Colorado and still manages to sell them between $400 and $550, depending on the leather—these clock in at $380. While I’ve never owned a pair (yet…), it’s hard to find a bad word said about any Truman boot’s build and overall quality.
This is exactly the kind of brand that Stitchdown recommends—and while that price range is out of reach for some, if you can swing it, Truman Boot Co. offers one of the best values out there for truly unique boots (and shoes!) that you’re not going to see on too many other feet.