Those familiar with Japan’s Y’2 Leather will likely trumpet the brands’ leather jackets—made in luxurious suede, steerhide, and horsehide, with their own takes on classic jacket patterns such as the Type 2, double rider, and car coat. But they’re called “Y’2 Leather,” not “Y’2 Jackets,” so of course they delve into other leather products as well—namely, footwear.
Standard & Strange has just stocked up on these Y’2 Leather Engineers in Olive Eco Horse, and their sharp looks belie how friggin’ TOUGH they are. This Eco Horse leather is the same as what’s found on this Y’2 car coat, and it’s some of the heaviest leather they use—definitely one of the heaviest leathers S&S has ever carried
Eco Horse is a 1.8-2.0 mm horsehide that has been combination-tanned and shrunken by around 20% of its original size to increase its thickness and weight. Although the leather is tanned with a heavy oil content, it’s still tremendously stiff, and will require more than a bit patience for break-in, but the end result is worth the work. Eco Horse is designed to replicate horsehide made during the 1930s, with the intent of obtaining some heavy rolls in the leather as it wears in.
Beyond the leather, the details here are all hallmark facets of a vintage engineer boot: brass roller buckles, leather straps lined for durability, fully lined interiors, a 270 flat welt, and a logger heel. The whole package is bottomed with a low-profile Vibram 705 half sole and heel.
We were also quite captivated by the slanted shaft openings. According to Standard & Strange, “Slanted shaft openings were popular with Harley Davidson motorcycle riders in the 1940s, as the bikes frequently leaked oil and the slanted openings reduced the amount of oil that would leak into the riders’ boots. As Japanese motorcycles exploded in popularity in the US market during the 1970s, many engineer boot manufacturers dropped the slanted shaft openings, as oil pooling into the riders’ boots was no longer a concern, and boot manufacturers were able to save production costs.”
So that’s pretty cool!…Wait, shit, we’ve just been informed this is a Gen Fact. Dammit. They sure look good though!
Standard & Strange notes that the instep on these boots is higher and quite forgiving compared to the other engineers they sell from Wesco, John Lofgren, and Clinch; very friendly to those of you with high-volume feet. Sizing advice for these engineers is to go one whole size down from Brannock size if you’ve got a D-width measurement.
For a Japanese-made horsehide engineer built with high-quality materials and construction like this makeup, we’d expect it to carry a much higher price, but at $900, for what you’re getting…really pretty nice.
