 On YouTube, we boot reviewers tend to focus on American heritage brands. But speaking as an Australian, good quality boots come from all over the world and coming from different countries do tend to reflect the design styles and values of their home countries. When I started my boot journey, I really liked the look of the American heritage service boot styles and my first quality Goodyear weltered boot was the Thursday captain. But very early on, I discovered the Italian boot maker with a very different DNA, AstorFlex. G'day, welcome to Bootlossophy, how you going? If we haven't met, my name is Tech. I live and work on Wadjet Country and I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, their leaders past, present and emerging. Today, I'm talking Italian. Well, not literally. I'm talking AstorFlex, the Italian boot maker coming out of Northern Italy from, I believe, the province of Mantova. Shakespearean tragic amongst you should note that their factory is near Verona, wherefore art thou. When I started my boot collecting journey properly, it was during the pandemic and as I scrolled boot sites, I discovered U.S. service boots. Since then, much of my channel has covered American heritage brands and frankly, that's mostly where I lean, just from the aesthetic. But that's not to deny that other countries make excellent quality boots. Boots coming out of Northampton in England are in Williams out of Australia. Today's Japanese boot makers and of course, Bandung in Indonesia. So it's no surprise that Southern Europe and specifically Italy in this case has a long tradition going back to the Middle Ages of working with leather and making boots. However, we tend to see Italian boots as the high fashion articles from Gucci, Prada, Valentino, Ferragamo. These are high fashion and not really my style. But like the U.S. with its dressy brands like Ellen Edmonds, Alden and Cole Han, there are American rugged casual boot counterparts. And so in Italy, which has a tradition not only of fashion dressy boots, but also of more working class casual and work boots for farmers, shepherds and country laborers. Estor Flex is the hush puppy to their Gucci. While I can't say that Estor Flex is in my top five favorite boot brands, they are definitely in my top 10. So I thought I'd review why and go over my Italian journey. Let me say before I start that I'm not sponsored, not paid to say nice things in this video, but I will leave an affiliate link to the website below. I'll get 5 or 6% if you buy using that link to help defray the costs of running this channel. First, the company. Estor Flex has a history that dates back to the early 19th century. Founded in 1810 in the small town of Castel Dario in northern Italy in the heart of Italy's shoemaking region, Estor Flex began as a family shoemaking workshop. Ownership by the same family is now in its sixth generation. From that small family workshop, it grew into being the town's factory growing over the war years and has gained recognition, particularly in Europe, for its dedication to crafting high quality, artisanal handmade footwear. Since the late 20th century, Estor Flex has focused on a sustainable approach to footwear production. With a focus on environmental responsibility, the company has transitioned to using eco-friendly materials and production processes. This commitment to sustainability not only aligns with contemporary consumer values, but also pays homage to the brand's heritage as a traditional artisanal craftsmanship has always been inherently sustainable. Today, Estor Flex is a prime example of a heritage brand that successfully marries tradition and innovation, continuing to produce footwear that's not only stylish and durable, but also eco-conscious. Estor Flex made a really wide number of styles and from what I've seen, no one retailer or at least web-based retailer carries anything near their full complement of styles, except maybe Hutbury, which has a pretty good partnership with them, but even so, still carry an incomplete selection. I understand that in Europe, they wholesale to brick-and-mortar retailers who presumably also carry only selected models. They make boat shoes and loafer styles, at least five styles of chucka boots, including mock-toe versions, several styles of Chelsea boots and four or five lace-up ankle boots. There are commonalities. First, all the boot names end with flex, like bit flex, dowel flex, boot flex, brown flex, and nymph flex. It's a clever branding theme. Second, they all use very casual leathers. Swades, oil newbuck, oily matte pull-up leathers. Third, they all have a natural crepe rubber outsole, comfortable, squishy, and grippy. Fourth, they are all stitched-down construction, where the uppers are lasted and then flared out and then stitched directly to the midsole. I have to date four pairs of AstroFlex boots. The first, which I bought in May 2021, is the sand-colored suede boot flex. Then I got the brown flex chucka and then later the bit flex Chelsea. I recently got the dowel flex ankle boot, but I don't have it anymore. I moved it on to my friend Nick in New Zealand who was able to convince me that he would get more use out of them than me. Now, let me quickly go through each of these that I've got in front of me. The boot flex was an early purchase in my boot journey. I think this was like the third or fourth boot I bought. You can catch my detailed review up here. You can see that it reflects the service boot aesthetic that I was in at the time. It's a little over six inches and is plain-toe. And while it's obviously suede, it has the look of a military rough-out boondocker or a jump boot. I like the fine detail of the blind eyelets, the simple stitch down around the boot and the use of a leather midsole that it stitches down to. This was not my first try of the natural crepe rubber sole. Years and years ago, I had a pair of Clark's original desert boots like the original original that obviously features that outsole. I'd always found it very comfortable and grippy, maybe a little slippery on wet tiles, but otherwise very good. These felt very much like how I remembered the experience. Crepe rubber is a natural rubber almost straight off the tap on the tree. It's processed with some acid to cure and then run through rollers called crepe ears to produce sheets of this stuff. Industrially, they are shipped to processors who chip and then vulcanize the raw rubber and make it into other rubber products. Or as in this case, they just use the sheets and cut them into outsole. Characteristically, they are squishy and grippy in most circumstances, reasonably durable because they are elastic rubber, but really ugly after a while because they pick up all kinds of dirt. This is a clean one, this is an old one. I've been wearing these boot flex boots as a weekend comfy boot when we go out grocery shopping or meeting friends for lunch. They are so soft and light that you forget you have them on. You don't often see the boot flex much on websites anymore. They seem to have been mainly superseded by the dowel flex ankle boot that I'll talk about later, but they do come on from time to time. When they do, they sell for about $130 USD. The next Aztor Flex boot I got in my collection is the Brown Flex Chuckaboot. Wearing the boot flex, I remembered my old Clark's desert boots and I got an itch so I had to scratch it. This Brown Flex is a chuckaboot following the same traditions as the desert boot. It's low cut, just up to the ankle basically. Only a couple of eyelets, stitch down construction as well, crepe rubber sole. These are in an oiled new buck which shows a fantastic colour variation in the pull-up as you wear them. I'm loving the creases on the vamps because when I walk, they really move the colour around. Again, the comfort is under the foot. The crepe sole, the leather midsole, the stitch down offering more flexibility at the ball than a Goodyear welt is a foam-backed leather insole liner. The leather I find does need some break-in and I don't feel I've got there yet. That may be because also it's fully leather lined. The low cut nature of the boot does push into my ankle and the Achilles tendon especially and I'm not really comfortable with this boot yet. As a result, I haven't been wearing these as much as I should and that causes its own vicious circle because every time I put them on I'm reminded that they haven't broken in yet and they still stiff around the collar and then I don't pick them up next time. Having said that though, they are a great summer boot despite the four lining and they go well with relaxed bleached jeans. I sometimes wear them with shorts and sockless even, perfect for the summertime. They're priced at around a couple of hundred US dollars. Pretty much in the same ballpark as Clark's Desert Boots Huckbury often do put them up for sale so that would be a good pickup if you get them then. Next in my collection came the Bitflex one of their Chelsea boot designs they have several. Being Australian I love my Chelsea boots for our lifestyle so easy to pick up and pull on whatever the weather, whatever the occasion. These are so comfortable I wear them almost exclusively at home. When I get home from work and I change out of my heavier service boots that I tend to wear at work or even out of a pair of our own Williams I will pull these on. The soft suede and crepe rubber sole and the comfortable last makes them so easy to lounge in to do cooking in, do the washing up and even wandering to the pub for a quick beer every now and then. I think the suede is the same as the hide that's used on the Bootflex. It's pretty much the same colour and it feels the same sort of rough nap. The suede used by Astaflex isn't the Chelsea-stead variety which have a much smoother almost velvety nap. In this case they use Italian tan suede which feels more country-fied and rugged. The nap feels a bit longer and almost has the same feeling as rough out. It's a pretty tough suede. I fell off the curb in these boots once. No I wasn't coming back from the pub. The boots clipped the edge of the curb and slipped down them but there wasn't a scratch. There are a couple of distinctions from my other Chelsea boots. Obviously the outsole but also the stitched-down construction that is unusual in a Chelsea. The goring panels are also different. They seem to have a wider sort of honeycomb weave and look different because of that and also feel more give when you pull them on. Now in that there may be an issue for later. I don't know if that means there'll be less forgiving of stretching and we'll more quickly get flabby with use. We'll have to see. As with all Chelsea boots you need a pull loop even two of your Australian. However this particular pull loop like the one on the boot flex is tiny. I can hardly get my little finger into it. When I pull these on I generally just grab the loop and rather than try to push my finger into it I pull it on. Otherwise it's an easy on easy off boot and really comfortable and so super light. They list at 250 US. I think that's maybe 50 bucks more than I'd expect in my opinion and I try to snag a pair when there's one on on for sale. The last pair I got was the dowel flex ankle boot. As I said I don't have it anymore and I sent it to my mate Nick in New Zealand. You can however watch my review up here. What I really liked about the boot was that it was a comfortable light ankle boot but I won't go on. You can watch the original review. Unfortunately it was too much like a service boot in design. I think if you wanted a light comfy ankle boot for going about your business the dowel flex is perfect but I do have a huge number of service boots in my collection and I just wasn't going to get the use for them preferring the distinctiveness of the boot flex in this collection. Nick convinced me that he would get more loving use out of them and so off they went. So that's my Italian Astor Flex journey over the last couple of years. Why do I like them? Why do I say that the brand is in my top 10? Well for a start you know they are characteristically aesthetically quite different from my American service boots. Their Chelsea boots are different from my Aussie Blannies and RMs. As European as they are they are visually and characteristically a mile apart from my Northampton country in Brogue boots. So as a style they offer a distinction to my various outfits. I also like the comfort. The generous round toe lasts squishy crepe and soft suede are selling points to me when I pull off heavier and more structured boots to relax at home. They are incredibly comfortable even without the best arch support inside these boots. Those are the extrinsic factors. More intrinsically I like the idea that they have an Italian tradition about them. I like the idea that a century ago an Italian shepherd wore something like this to herd his flock and that's different from an American logger or an English country shooting party boot. I like how they make me feel relaxed uncaring about my boots forgetting I have boots on. I also like their focus on sustainability. Now I'm not want to talk I try my best but I'm really not want to talk. So I admire those who really put their money where their mouth is about eco sustainability. So there you go my Italian journey. If you like this video can I please ask you to do me a favor and click on like and also tell me what you think. Do you like these sort of round up type of videos? If so I can do one about my say English journey sometime in the future. Until then you guys take care and I'll see you soon.