If Wegman’s sheet cakes and heated critique of certain news outlets for under-covering boots had you nervous, don’t worry: our roundup is safe, its comfortable, and like every Friday, it’s full of new boots. (If none of that stuff about the Wegmans made sense to you, follow us on Threads! It’s the wild west and we’ve got boots to match.)
This week we’ve got tumbled shell at Viberg, tea-core ready patina at Oak Street, some great Meermins, and plenty more.
Shoes ‘n’ boots from weeks gone by can be found here.
[Ed Note: while we never choose anything specifically because of them, some of these recommendations contain affiliate links—the price is the same for you, but Stitchdown gets a small commission if you make a purchase. It’s essential to keeping the site alive, so we really, really appreciate it.]
Viberg 2040 Service Boot in Natural Tumbled Shell Cordovan: $1620
It’s not the easiest these days, but from time to time, Viberg gets their hands on something pretty fun from Horween. This week, it’s tumbled shell utterly replete with texture, deployed on a 2040-last Service Boot with a brogued cap toe,and Ridgeway sole paired with Viberg’s double row stitchdown construction. They’re available in natural…
Viberg 2040 Service Boot in Black Tumbled Shell Cordovan: $1620
…and our pick of the two, a more subtly tumbled black shell. Sizes very limited on both!
Oak Street Bootmakers Cap Toe Field Boot in Brown Overdyed Natural Veg Tan: $536
A few minutes away from Horween, Chicago’s own Oak Street Bootmakers is also experimenting with leather this week. They’ve released their Field Boot in an overdyed natural veg tan from Italy’s Tempesti tannery—whose address is on Via del Cuoio, which basically translates to “Leather Street”. FINE WORK.
For this article, Tempesti adds a very, very thin layer of overdye to the Camello Tannage, the result of which is a leather that will handsomely show wear quite quickly. This model features a cap toe and a 360-degree Goodyear welt (a flat welt for those of you who’ve been reading up), as well as a Dainite sole.
Makers HSB-04 in Black Guidi Horsebutt: $860
Makers Shoes recently announced their lineup for the year including what is, to the best of our knowledge, their first engineer boot. The Tokyo brand’s footwear draws heavily from traditional styling while pushing the envelope in the details. Unfortunately, they’re exceedingly hard to find outside of Japan. Fortunately, DC4, a retailer in Berlin, have two models in stock. The first is the HSB-04 Engineer, a sleek, Goodyear welted engineer with an atypical Vibram Neo Plane sole…
Makers GD-04 in Black Guidi Horsebutt: $806
…the second, also in Black Guidi Horsebutt, is the nine-eyelet, two-speedhook GD-04, nicknamed the “Workout blucher”. It shares the sole choice and components of the HSB-04, but trades out the flat welt for split reverse on a 6″ lace up boot with a cap toe. Because if you aren’t wearing brouged cap toes to your Jazzercize sessions…are you really into boots?
Meermin Dress Hikers in Brown Thibet: $265 (Pre-order)
Meermin continues to do laudable work in making the world of quality shoes and boots more affordable. With the introduction of a new last purpose-built for these snazzy hikers. If you want to go even deeper, we’ve got a whole breakdown for you. Otherwise I’ll just point out that they’re accepting preorders through next Wednesday (7/12) in a bunch of different leathers, including the grain-happy Brown Thibet…
Meermin Dress Hikers in Black Calf: $265 (Pre-order)
…Black calf…
Meermin Dress Hikers in Green Thibet: $265 (Pre-order)
…and for those looking to blend in on their hikes, Green Thibet.
Zerrows Sabot Sandal in Natural Chromexcel: $343
With Viberg producing slippers and just about everyone making some sort of loafer, we’re left with a hole in the leisure footwear market: clogs! The Zerrows Sabot sandal is a clog-style slipper made with natural Chromexcel on a veg tanned insole and rubber outsole. They’re also built using a 360-degree stitchdown construction to keep your toes safe from gophers (outdoors) and your children (indoors). We’re fans of the natural, but the shades on offer run the Chromexel gamut. They’re back in stock at East West Apparel…
Zerrows Slit Sandals in Olive Chromexcel: $337
…along with the Slit Sandal for those of you who didn’t wear your crocs in Sport Mode as a kid, which maintains otherwise identical specs but eliminates the vestigial heel counter and the strap of the Sabot. You can get these in Navy Chromexcel, as well as this Olive.
Stitchdown x Alden Madison “Otis” Indy in Brown Calfskin: $685 (Preorder ends 7/7)
Ok we’ll finally shut up about these after this, but LAST CHANCE to pre-order what we legitimately believe in our heart of hearts will be an Indy classic that will prove far more satisfying than chilled monkey brains (haven’t seen the new movie yet, sorry…). Dark brown calf, double waterlock sole, all the goods.