 G'day, how you're going? Welcome back to Bootlossophy and if we haven't met, my name is Tech. I'd like to first acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which I live and work, the Wajik people of Nungabuja. And today I'm going to tell you about how my Jim Green African Rangers have worn in the last three months. These are my African Rangers from South African Bootmaker Jim Green. I bought these in August 2022 and in case you're watching this sometime way in the future, it's now November 2022. You can watch my unboxing and initial impressions review up here. And that's probably an interesting video to go back to after this one to see if any of my impressions have changed. I haven't actually bothered to rewatch it because I didn't want my memories to colour what I think now. So let me know if you see any change. So let's start with what I see. It's hard to categorise the African Ranger. It's not quite a work boot. It's short, but it's not quite a chukka boot. It has a wage sole and is pretty round and wide at the toes, but it's not quite a hiking boot. In fact, this is a very distinct aesthetic, especially with this very wide double e-width round toe shape. It is a rugged looking boot though, and maybe we can best get to understand it once we know what it was made for. In parts of Africa, some species of animals are being hunted and poached to extinction. Rhinos, for example, are being killed and left to rot only for their horn. Elephants are still being hunted for their ivory tusks and horrible things like using their feet as trash cans. In order to counter this, South Africa and some other eastern and central African countries have game and animal defence rangers that patrol and manage wildlife reserves and national parks. I'm assuming it'll be obvious to you that these rangers do not earn a ton of money and do a hard job in the bush, often wearing poor and unsuitable footwear for the conditions. 50% of rangers don't have access to enough boots and bush gear. Over 40% of rangers have to buy their own boots. Jim Green designed the African Ranger for these rangers. As a company, Jim Green values the future of their wilderness areas, so they got together with the Game Rangers Association of Africa and put out a survey to rangers working across Africa to say what they needed in footwear. And from that, they designed the African Ranger, or what they call the boot designed by rangers for rangers. While the boot is designed for comfort, durability and an affordable price, Jim Green also do a bit and donate a pair to a ranger for every 10 pairs sold. Last month they reached a milestone of 1200 boots allocated for rangers, so well done Jim Green. So with that being said, you can now see that this is what I think I'd call an ankle field boot designed for the African bush. A tough low ankle boot with a wide round toe box capable of walking on sand, undergrowth and rocky terrain as much as for walking into pubs, workshops and working in your garden. Before we go on, let me admit to change the laces from the green ones they came with to these red ones from my cobbler because I think they actually look better not necessarily because of any quality issues with their own green laces. This is where I segue into saying that they are clearly casual boots and talk to you about what you can wear them with. I'm not going to do that. You'd have to be blind or listening to this without watching the video because these are clearly bush slash work boots, full stop. What do you wear them with? What do you want to wear going up bush? And I imagine to the horror of my American viewers in Australia as I imagine they would in South Africa. That includes shorts. They are a different aesthetic. In fact when I released my unboxing video I got a few comments that the big round toe was ugly. I don't think so. If I want to go out on date night, sure I'd choose something else. Going into a professional office, even if it were casual Friday, I'd choose something else. But if I were hiking in the bush or going to dig a hole or working in a workshop or on a construction site why wouldn't I wear these if they're comfy, which they are, and they're tough, which they are. They are fit for purpose. My masculinity is a little more secure than wearing that look silly in big round toe boots. So let's turn to look at the South African family company that make these. Jim Green is a three generation old family business which started as Crouch Footwear in 1987. Eventually Jim Green Footwear was then spun off in 1992 with the vision of making tough boots that are made to last over wear and time. Jim Green quickly developed a reputation amongst local communities and eventually becoming a household name across South Africa. The Crouch family still own Jim Green with third generation Gareth Crouch and his brothers working in the company now. Jim Green is actually the name of a frog that lives in the KwaZulu Natal region where the company is situated. Apparently it's a favorite snack of local river fish. So Jim Green the boot company used the logo of the frog as their company logo. Jim Green boots are handcrafted locally in South Africa and all components are also locally sourced. It's very important to them to support their local economy by supporting the local supply chain. The factory in Peter Maritzburg in the KwaZulu Natal province is one of the last ones in the country still paying their workers 100% of the legal wage rate. After the government relaxed the rate due to the economy many other businesses started paying at reduced rates. Walking the talk seems to be part of their vision and values because they continue to give year-end bonuses to their workers depending on the company results and a few years ago they even gave their workforce a 10% stake in the company. I haven't spoken to any of their workers obviously but as a management practice this is not only generous but it really seals the deal in developing teamwork and a series of belonging. Over and top all of this they haven't skimped on production and they make their boots in the same way they were made from the very beginning at ongoing value driven prices. From what I can see this company is as big in its goals as Africa itself. Let's dive into how these boots are made and as usual I'll start at the bottom and move on up. Oh by the way you might also be interested in subscribing to Jim Green's own YouTube channel. There are some great videos there about how the rangers operate in the bush as well as pretty cool how it's made videos. So okay let's start with the outsole. It's a proprietary wedge sole designed to provide a grippy surface with these deep ridges. It's a rubber compound sole and the feel of it is soft not unlike a Vibram Christie sole but in a brownish gray so less prone to discoloration and more suited to red mud and sand. The softness of the rubber and the flatness of the sole is designed to keep the rangers' footfalls quiet as they walk through and patrol the African bush. The outsole is glued on to a leatherboard midsole and I think it's a combination mid and insole. Not being welted there's no need for a cavity filler inside so the steel shank is glued on between the wedge sole and the midsole. As an assider shank is a thin piece of hard material usually steel that gets inserted under the arch. It gives you support under the arch. I've never really understood why wedge sole boots need a shank. There you are. The uppers are sewn on to the midsole using the stitch down method of construction. In stitch down construction the uppers are flared out all around the boot and sewn directly to the leatherboard midsole-insole combination double stitched in this case with a 2.2mm braided nylon cord. This along with the fully gusseted tongue makes for a dust free construction method and to an extent water resistant as well. Stitch down method having the uppers flared out means that water and mud should be pushed over and off the boot. There's not a lot of exposure to wading through water I wouldn't have thought for the rangers so despite the leatherboard midsole and the shortness of the boot it is fit for purpose. And of course stitch down boots can be resold by some cobblers. Not all cobblers have the skill or equipment to remove the stitch down stitching and then replace the stole by re-stitching into the original soles in the uppers. The way the uppers are designed and put together is worth talking about. There are numerous pieces of leather here. There's the two quarter pieces. Then there's this vamp piece that attaches to the quarters and goes all the way to form the toe box. Then there's the real toe cap that is glued and sewn on top of the vamp piece at the toe box. The heel counter cover come back stay with the full flat pull tab is sewn on at the heel. At the back of it is the Jim Green frog logo. The collar is made of a double layer of leather with padding in between. The hardware is reinforced by two layers of leather and sewn onto the quarter pieces and then the fully gusseted tongue is sewn onto the quarters and the vamp. The tongue is wide and generous and folds as you tie the laces to kind of give you some comfort from the facings. There's a lot of leather pieces making up this quite complex design. This leather is their own crazy horse leather. A full grain leather that's lightly buffed and then wax and oiled. Basically a wax newbuck. Crazy horse is bovine not horse and it's called crazy horse only because it was widely used as leather for saddles and horse tack being soft but durable. Apart from the tongue the leather is slightly over two mil thick so it's quite sturdy weight. Not to mention the double layers you get the toe box, the heel and the lace edgings. The toe box and heel counters are stiffened with something like a celastic stiffener. Celastic is a textile that's impregnated with cellulose nitrate and can be heat activated to be moulded to a shape you want. When cool it forms a stiff shell. The inside of the boot is unlined including in the toe box area so in fact if you peer in you can see the underside of the celastic stiffener at the toe. It looks and feels like starch canvas. Directly inside on the footbed is a leather board that the uppers are stitched down into. Jim Green provides the boots with their own light rubber removable padded insole which provides a little extra arch support. It's not going to win any prizes but it's comfortable enough. If you want you can always remove them and put in your own comfort insole. The hardware is not like the hardest metal but they are sturdy. I can't bend the speed hooks trying moderately hard and they feel secure. They are backed by washers which is crazy when you consider the price so they're not going to tear into your tongues. Overall I think quality is as good as you get for what this boot is. Simple, no nonsense, focus and comfort durability and affordability. Crazy horse leather is basically a wax new buck. This means that the surface is relatively unprotected so if you want to be careful of the presentation of this leather if it gets spilled on clean the surface of the leather immediately with a slightly damp cloth but don't use any chemical based cleaners or alcohol. On the other hand it is a rugged leather so you don't have to be paranoid about it. It should be able to hold up to getting wet for reasonable periods of time and is rugged enough to hold up to some abuse. In fact if you want patina this is the leather for you. If it does get wet just dry it out naturally. If it gets too dusty brush the dirt off and wipe it with a slightly damp cloth. If it gets lightly scratched you can use a dry cloth to rub over the scratch and moving the oils in the leather will help to smooth out some scuffs. If it gets really dirty and dry you can use saddle soap and you can use a natural conditioner that's more of a cream or a balm. Try to avoid chemicals or avoid one that's too oily or waxy so avoid something like Venetian shoe cream. I have used Light Smear Big 4 on another crazy horse pair of boots and while that initially darkened the leather it dries back up. I'd also recommend RM Williams' leather dressing or conditioner cream. All in all though not only is crazy horse a tough rugged leather so is this boot so my advice is go easy on the conditioning. Just brush, keep it clean when it gets dirty don't worry too much about scuffs and marks and love the patina that develops. Now let's turn to sizing, fit and comfort. South Africa being a Commonwealth country like Australia uses UK sizing numbers like Australia. So my UK Brannock size is a 7.5 in an average width. In US sizing numbers all you do is go up one number so my 7.5 UK is equivalent to a US 8.5. In this they run true to size so these are 7.5. They actually fit me quite well. When I first got them I thought they might have been a half size small because I felt some pressure at the tip of my big toe. I think now that I've been wearing them for three months I think they really are the right size. The pressure I felt and to some extent still feel on my big toe is I think down to the really firm structure of the toe cap. Being a real toe cap meaning two pieces of thick leather at the toe plus the stiffener inside that means that I feel that pressure at the top of my toes it doesn't bend that much. Pressing down on the toes though I feel that I got a little bit less than the thumbs width between my toe and the tip of the boot which is fine for length. But what it is until it breaks in the toe is so stiff that it doesn't quite flex with the bending of my toes when I walk. So the right size but as comfy as they are underfoot the rugged leather does need some breaking in. The initial spots are the aforementioned toe area and to some extent the corners of the collar. When the laces are tied up to the top they're basically made of four thicknesses of leather. That corner did cut into my ankle. To start with I just laced them only up to the first eyelet until the leather warmed up and softened. In the last three months I've worn these quite regularly as regularly as 70 pairs of boots in rotation will allow because I wanted to break them in properly being pretty tough leather. I wear them every weekend if not all day in the weekend we go for our weekly one to two hour hikes in the bush reserves near where we live or always when I'm digging in the garden or working at my bench in the garage. During the week I wear them two or three evenings a week after work and during the day maybe once every week or at least once every fortnight. The only thing is I've missed what I wanted to wear them for. When I travel to the Kimberley region of north-western Australia or to the Savannah bush of the north of the Northern Territory working with Aboriginal communities on their cattle stations or in their Savannah burning carbon projects I thought these would be perfect for that sandy, pinned-down desert and black soil plains mud and grit but unfortunately with COVID still around and those communities being more at risk I haven't been able to work up there. Nevertheless I think I've been able to give them a good workout and I can say that these are only about half broken in. The collar and the uppers are definitely softer but that toe box is still making me conscious of that toe box being there. If I were to really break these in I think after about two weeks where they would have warmed up but the toe box would still need work for another two or three weeks of constant and perhaps more rugged wear than I've been able to put them through. Maybe I'll bring them back out to show you next year and we'll see how much better they are then. Jim Green don't sell in Australia but they do have a US website for Americans. In Australia I go to their South African website which is all the W's Jim Green footwear or one word .co.za I'll put a link below. On their South African website they sell for just under 2,000 rand which is about 170 to 180 Aussie dollars a plus postage. They're more expensive if bought from Amazon at about 290 Aussie dollars but I think that's because you get the price converted through US dollars so it's a double conversion. Direct from South Africa if you get the exchange right that's value for money, no doubt about it. Just some full disclosure though Gareth let me buy this pair for half price but I did pay the full postage. I've made it clear that my reviews would be at full and honest objectivity so I hope you can see that I've given you all the good and the bad. You know, I can't really compare the boots and their price for anything else they kind of stand in a class of their own but taking what they are stitched down, tough, made for African rangers simple and no nonsense casual work or hiking boot under 200 Aussie dollars is pretty amazing. The construction is perhaps not built like some heritage boots I'll give you that. They do use leather board. The midsole is a midsole insole combination there's no lining in the toe box you can even feel directly the stiffener material the removable insole is not top notch foam but consider the price and what these were designed for they were not made for working on construction sites they were made for walking out bush on sand and rocks and they were made to provide durability and comfort at an affordable price where it matters there's a double layer of over 2mm thick leather I have no doubt these will last if you're not an African ranger if you make these to do some light manual work with them they're fine if you get these like I did to go bush in deserts savanna and the low brush in northern Australia they're more than fine if you buy these to wear casually like tough chuckers they'd be great so all in all quite a few pros for what they are not many cons and that's the wrap up folks I'm going to have quite a few more boot review videos coming up to Christmas I'm finally going to review some of my Truman boots as well as my White's MP boots and some other interesting brands coming up so if you don't want to miss them make sure you click on the subscribe at the bottom and of course if you like this video please click on the like and help me grow my channel by getting this video suggested to more boot crazy people out there thanks for that and take care and I'll see you again soon bye