 I'm no cowboy. I wear slim jeans. Those are two strong reasons why I shouldn't buy these. But I did. Stay and find out why I like them. G'day. If you're new here, my name is Tech and welcome to my channel, Bootlossophy. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands I live and work on, the Wajik people of the Perth region in Western Australia. You may have seen my foray into Western boots a couple of years ago in the Soto round toe cowboy boot. You can watch it up here. But apart from that, the only other Western style boot I had was in my late teens, early 20s, when I picked up a pair in Spain and wore the crap out of it in London where I was living at the time. I really like the cowboy boot style, but I'm never sure I can cut it, especially in the south of Australia, where nobody wears these boots. And even when I go to cattle country in the north, which I do quite often for my work, I feel like a bit of a poser if I pull these on and sit next to a real ringer and a ring is what we call an Aussie cowboy. Nevertheless, I got these hoping that the lower block heel could let me pass them off as pretty normal boots. So clearly these are Western style boots, but they're roper boots, so called because the lower block heel allows the cowboys who rope cattle to be able to jump off their horses, rope the cattle and run better if they had big Cuban heels. These are called the Kimberley Classic High Boots from Aussie brand Ringers Western. The Kimberley is a region in northwest of Western Australia, from Broom in the west to the Northern Territory border in the north. In this large tract of cattle stations, what we call ranches, the young ringers would wear these, not so much while they're mustering, but for going out at night and to ride in rodeos. Yes, we have those. They're on a leather outsole, 270 degree Goodyear welter. As I said, a block heel with a round almond toe and a shaft that's 10 and a half inches from the top of the heel. This Kimberley model has a collar at the top of the shaft that's less scalloped and almost cut straight across, which I really like. There's also no fancy stitching across either the vamp of the boot nor up the shaft or the side of the shaft. All the stitching that you see is structural. I like the simplicity of this boot, the straight edge of the collar, the lack of fancy stitching because to me, I'd like to wear it as an everyday, let's not show off kind of way. And with the dark brown suede, it is very low key. And so we come to the section of my review where I talk about what outfits you might wear the boots with. Viewers have told me often they really appreciate this part of the review. But with these boots, I'm a little nervous because I am not going to take photos of myself in boot cut jeans and a Western plaid shirt and a cowboy hat. In fact, let's quickly get into what I have been wearing them with on the occasions that I wear these boots and then we'll move on. I've been wearing them at work in a suit to juxtapose the high low type of dressing where I have a suit, a chambray shirt, waxed flesh belt and this pair of boots. I feel a relaxed formality can be quite interesting. I also wear them with all kinds of jeans but my favourites so far have been black relaxed cut jeans and in the winter something like an old suede coat to match the texture of these suede boots. And here's the thing, when you wear these boots, you need quite loose pants. Your jeans would have to be relaxed fits or straight cuts, not slim jeans and certainly no tapered fits. Why? You just can't get your pants over the shaft of the boots without looking like you'd stretch the tight balloon over a big thick cricket bat. And if that conjures up naughty images in your mind, shame on you. In fact, I find that even with looser-legged jeans, you need to have jeans that are full break. All my pants and jeans are tailored so they break right on top of my instep. They don't quite work with Western boots because at that length they're just a bit too short and whenever you sit down and stand up again you always have to shake your pants down the shaft of the boots because they get caught at the top of the shaft. It doesn't help that they're only 10 and a half inches tall. My Soto boots are 12 inches and you'd be surprised how much an extra inch and a half to two inches means that your pants don't hang at the top when you sit. An extra inch always helps, right? Okay, stay focused. The Kimberley Roper boots are from Australian Western gear brand Ringers Western. The name might be a clue as to what they sell. The company was started in 2016. The founder and CEO Andrew McDonnell was the manager of El Questro, a working cattle station in the Kimberley that also had a holiday resort homestead stay facility. It's reputed that the company started around a campfire after a day's mustering. The idea that was discussed was to fill a gap of decent work shirts for Ringers at a good price. Mr McDonnell and the company eventually moved to Queensland and now services customers all over Australia through their website and through unrelated Western outfitters' retail shops. I'll put a link to their website below. They started making boots in Mexico in 2020 and importing them back into Australia. The boots are made in Leon. Hello, Leon. We meet again, even with an Australian brand. According to their website, they spent years researching and sampling boots and decided on the quality produced by factories in Leon that met the quality, durability and price standards that they wanted. As my regular subscribed viewers will know, hint, subscribe, Leon in Mexico is well known for leather and footwear production and it's probably the most recognised centre of boot production in the Americas other than perhaps the Pacific Northwest. Today, apart from a crazy wide collection of men's and women's boots from Western boots to Chelsea's, they also offer all types of Western workwear and hats. With that, let's take a look at the construction. The Kimberley boots they're called are built on a leather outsole using a 270 degree Goodyear welt construction method. Check out my Goodyear welt 101 video up here. What that means is that a leather welt is sewn around the front portion of the boot where the inside edge is sewn to the insole and uppers on the inside and the outside edge is sewn to the outsole. The heel portion is then glued and nailed to the insole. This style of construction means that it's reasonably water resistant and recraftable and the slope down the back of the boot is sleek avoiding the shelf that can be caused by a welt at the back. On the leather outsole, a Ringer's Western logo imprint is pressed and burned into it I think but it has no lemon wood pegs that you sometimes see on Western boots. Now I am not an expert on Western boots so I don't know what that means structurally other than the fact that it's probably not authentically the way Western boots have always been made. I suspect there may not be any real structural issue and it's more like the poron or cork argument in service boots. Talking about poron, yep this has a leather lined poron insole and a leather midsole. The cavity caused by the welt going around the edge is filled with cork and there is a steel shank inserted into that layer. The shank runs between the heel and the ball of the foot offering support under the arch as well as stability over rough ground. The cork filler despite the poron insole gives extra comfort. The whole inside of the boot is glove leather lined and extremely comfortable. The uppers are made from suede, a source undisclosed but I suspect from a Leon tannery because it is very similar in feel and nappiness to other boots I have with Mexican suede. It's not very thick, it's less than 2mm in the shaft and I assume throughout the boot which I can't measure. With the lining it's just a little over 2mm thick. The weight though of the leather offers suppleness and comfort. The uppers look like they're stitched together really well. All the stitch lines are clean, parallel and consistent. I haven't found any missed or loose threads yet. The stitching on the welt is finely done, discreet and pretty even as well. There is either a decorative stitched joint or there really are maybe two halves of the boot the front and the back but this stitch here is rolled like two pieces rolled to a fine edge before being sewn together. Now that's a really nice touch. The toe box is unstructured but the heel counter, it's an internal one, is firm and it feels like a elastic. The top of the shaft as I said at the beginning has only a gentle curve instead of like others a really deep cut scullet. The two pull loops of the same suede are on either side of each boot and useful which I'll tell you about when I talk fit. Overall I think the construction is amongst the better ones of boots in this price range. As for carrying for this mokka suede, no different from carrying for any suede except that maybe you won't mind it getting roughed up and shiny where it becomes apparent. That sort of patina on this dark mokka can be very attractive. Carrying for suede, get yourself a suede brush. That's a stiff brush sometimes made from copper bristles that you use to brush dirt off the nap and then brush it the other way to re-raise the nap. If you want you can use a product like Terago's Nano Protector Spray to put a waterproof mist on top of the suede but like I say in this boot maybe you want it to wear and show water spots and oil and grease and burnish with scuffing in the wearing. When it does need conditioning, which in my experience with suede is hardly ever, you can use a spray-on conditioner made by Terago or its big brother Sophia, more expensive. In this case I think less is more. Let's talk sizing. On the Ringers Western website you can size yourself in either US sizes, Australian sizes which is UK or European sizes. Whichever, these sizes are a half down from your Brannock. So I'm a US 8.5 and the Brannock device which equates to a UK or Australian 7.5. This pair is in US 8D or Aussie 7D and they fit pretty well. Ringers Western offer these in US sizes 5 to 13 with half widths up to 10.5 which is pretty good. They also offer D width and wide double E width which is really good for a small brand. In my half down from true sizing, they're actually a little roomy but I don't believe a full size down would be big enough. Maybe a full size down and a width up but I'm not game enough to try. I have inserted a thin foam insole and that has made the fit feel a little more bespoke. With that in my toes are a good thumbs width of the tip and feel like they fill the almond shaped toe box without being too squeezy at the tip. The waist and instep are snug which I guess like a Chelsea boot you need in a no laces western boot. The heel is a little slippy but I understand in cowboy boots you're meant to get an inch or two heel slip and that's normal. They don't feel like they're going to fling off when I walk. Another hint that I got the right size is in the act of putting them on and thank goodness for the pull loops. My feet go in easily then when they have to turn the corner they get a bit snugged up and I have to use the pull loops and with some not all that gentle pulling they pop in and then feel like a really good fit. Comfort wise the thin poroninsole is as expected good enough shock absorption. My foam insert just makes it even better. The leather sole 5mm thick is thin enough in comparison to rubber just like the dressy soles of the RM Williams leather sole craftsman that you do feel that you communicate very well with whatever is under your feet. Now that's not a bad feeling don't get me wrong. Just after all kinds of commando soles and thick P&W multi-leather bottoming it's an interesting feel. The suede is supple and it feels like it protects as well as comfortably wraps your feet. There are no sore spots or hot spots and even after a whole day of wearing them they're still comfortable. On a long walk they do feel a little sloppy with that heel slip but I don't think these were meant for long hikes without your horse. So in terms of value these cost 350 AUD or that's about 210 or 20 USD which I think is a pretty good price. They're not a name quality brand like Tikovis but if you compare them with similar brands like Tony Lamas, Ariat, Justin and the like they're in that same price range. Now I'm not an expert as I said before make sure you hear me on that. So I don't really know if those brands have matching qualities or better qualities but just from my internet research they sound pretty similar. So not being an expert they look like pretty good value to me. Those who know better let me know in the comments below. And that's it from me. I do feel a little strange wearing cowboy boots but in this dark mocha and with no decorative stitching and on its low heel I think I can just about get away with it as if it was a normal boot. If only I had the right jeans to wear them with. Anyway I hope you liked the review and liked it enough to click on like please do. If you're not yet subscribed go on click on the subscribe button and YouTube will bring all my reviews to you when I upload them. Until the next time take care and see you soon.