 G'day. How are you going? Welcome to my channel Boot Lossophy and if you're new here My name is Tech coming to you from Wajik country in Western, Australia Nungabuja, and I recognize the traditional custodians Today, I'm announcing and showing off my collab boot with Bandung Artisan boot makers Fortis Boots So this is the Fortis Boots boot loss of the collaboration boot that we're calling the Strider I'm a fan of the Tolkien trilogy Lord of the Rings and if you are you recognize the reference to Strider as Aragorn's name when he was a ranger in the north. I Decided on the name the Strider Not only because of Lord of the Rings, but also because I designed an upland style walking boot Harkening back to the American heritage styles of upland hunting boots Let me describe the design and construction and then keep watching to the end I'll tell you how you can order this in two slightly different styles Or if you're dying to order you can go to the contents list below in the description and skip straight to how to contact Fortis and order section As you can see, it's a taller eight inch plain toe boot with a Rumi round toe box built on a wedge sole That should make it an extremely supportive and comfortable boot to go out walking Hiking and I think a comfortable outdoor work boot If you subscribe to my channel, and if not why not Subscribe now heck click on the like button as well. Why don't you if you have been following my channel? You know that I've recently put my toe into Indonesian boot scenes or more specifically Bandung Indonesian boot scene and got a pair of rough out Santalam service boots before I discovered the new boot maker Sunny Ramdani who started Fortis boots in 2020 just before the pandemic hit I Recently reviewed his Dakar lasted round toe service boot Which I found so comfortable and well-made and at such a great price that I got the idea of designing a collab boot with Sunny My idea of a boot that I wanted to collaborate on was an upland style Like the ones made by whites and nicks and Truman at least those that I know of I Just like the outdoorsy tall look and the use of a wedge sole struck me as being totally comfortable indoors or outdoors and Would work for me in the regular walks and hikes that my wife and I like to do in the bush in our national parks around here But those Pacific Northwest boots They're a bit beyond my price range when new around 520 to 670 nearly 700 US dollars and with the recent exchange rate changes They land here in Australia at well over a thousand Aussie bucks These are 290 US dollars plus postage So for under three hundred dollars an amazing bargain considering it's not short of good materials or in quality construction Agreed those PNW boots have amazing build quality But even compared against other boots at the under three hundred US dollar range. What would you get? Everything other than Thursdays have moved over that three hundred dollar mark since COVID and they're not handmade But this isn't a review. I mean after all as Objective as I promise to remain. I mean I designed this boot. So I can't say that I'm totally disinterested Right. So what I'll do in this video is to just show you the facts and I'll let you review those facts for yourself But first, let's get a few disclaimers out of the way I did pay for these boots. These were not free Fortress is a very small artisan boot maker with sunny and three craftsmen who do everything So I really didn't feel it right to cage my way toward a free pair of boots that cost him money to make Cost him wages costing the purchase of materials However, as a collab boot one that I designed I will get a small kickback for everyone that he sells It's going to work out at less than seven percent like six and a half percent or something. It's not going to help me retire Let's just get that straight. I am not involved with Fortress financially in any way I'm not an investor or a partner inside in Sonny's brand. I I don't get involved in the ordering the customer service or the delivery which Fortress handles with You know more and more experience as they grow Now let's quickly go through Fortress boots history Then I'll show you the construction method and materials and then I'll talk about the price and options and finally How to get in touch with them to make your order? Fortress was started by Sonny in 2020 So it's a very young company when I asked Sonny how he learned his craft He told me that the the bandung environment was thick with leather craftsmen and boot makers And leather workers in the Dutch tradition He learned and then decided to open his own company And if you're into boots, particularly American style heritage boots You'd have to be hidden under a rock these last couple of years not to have noticed the entry into the market of Bandung based Indonesian boot brands in the last few years Compare the quality and price with similar handmade makers from the US like Roll Club or from Japan Europe even China and There really is no comparison Pretty much the same quality of construction and attention to detail at 50 to 75 percent less in price Of course Fortress hit some immediate problems when they opened Covid hit Lockdowns and the availability of supplies became a thing as we all know The international shutdowns meant a lack of tourists going to have a look at the boots and even as they got orders through their exposure on Instagram Local lockdowns meant that their workers couldn't get to work and when they could Local leather and other suppliers didn't have a reliable supply chain that he didn't give up and that he kept his business going and kept his crew together at such a critical start of his business is a Testament to his tenacity and to his vision You know, I'm a sucker for the vision of a bootmaker You can check out Fortress boots on the Instagram account. That's Fortress dot boots IDN They have a variety of lasts that make various sleek and round toe Plain toe cap toe service boot models As well as mock toes monkey boots hiking boots and engineer boots They use a variety of leathers from local tannages that look, you know, pretty good to me for what you pay as well as imported leathers from tanning tanning companies like Halloween, but Alassi in Italy, Shinki in Japan amongst a lot of others Fortress works on an MTO model. They make your boots when you order them and there are no ready-made boots At least not for now The wait list is currently around 10 to 12 weeks, which is primarily down to the queue first come first made basis As well as sometimes delays in getting materials and parts Due to a still recovering supply chain, particularly they use internationally sourced materials However, the actual time to make a boot is around four or five days They are all handmade Okay, some people will say if you use a stitcher a sewing machine to stitch the uppers together, it's not handmade I totally disagree if you saw the computer controlled stitching machines in large boot manufacturers like say Timberland You would know when it's not handmade Despite using sewing machines a human head and hand bends over the machine and guides it and controls the stitch and the speed The bottoming is definitely hands-sewn all in their workshop often sitting on the ground with family and kids playing all around This is an artisan workspace I'm going to upload a how it's made video straight after this where the making of these boots is tracked right all the way through Watch out for it after you watch this video Okay, so now let's tackle the materials and the construction The fortice boot locifi stride a boot is constructed using belt scorn construction a traditional Dutch origin form of construction It's kind of like stitch down, but with a welt Stitch down construction turns out the uppers and then stitches the uppers down into the midsole Take a look at a Clark's desert boot for example, and you see exactly what I mean Velt scorn on the other hand also turns out the uppers But stitches them onto a welt then a second stitch goes through the welt into the midsole If they're being stitched through to the outsole that second stitch will also go through that as well You can see that the front part of the boot with the uppers leather turned out and stitched down The rest of the boot all the way around the back is turned in and Stitch on the inside of the boot through to the welt Then the outside edge of the welt is stitched into the midsole as well And that's why you see the stitches all the way around the boot But there are two stitch lines in the front of the boot that's one stitch for the belt scorn stitch down and one stitch for the Rapid stitch around the welt oh By the way, the midsole is a tough veg tan leather This belt scorn construction is meant to be very water resistant because the uppers Flow water off the welt and no stitches go through from inside the boot to the outside of the boot It's even a bit better than stitch down because of the extra barrier of the welt In this strider boot the welt scorn and all the sole stitching is hand stitched I lead you to decide on the neatness and stitching quality that you see here The outsole like most upland style hunting boots is a wedge sole and like most wage soles It's adhered to the midsole rather than sewn now. This is quite a safe method of attaching the outsole something you see in the construction of Red-wing wage soles other wage sole boots and even some studded soles where the rubber composition is too soft To take a stitch. Well, it might tear. I Chose the Vibram 2021 wage sole because it's super comfortable Totally supports the arch on any kind of flat or rough terrain and I think it looks kind of cool The groove bottom provides I think a good grip Now while I'm on the sole Take a look at the edges Now if you've seen the videos of how wage soles are completed most handmade Bootmakers even those PNW bootmakers most cobblers will glue the sole on and then sand the edges on a sanding wheel to trim them These guys shave the edges They use a sharp knife and you can't even feel them, but I'm telling you smooth as a baby's bottom Inside the boot is a veg tan leather filler that fills the cavity that's caused by the welt More often than not in other boots You'll see a cork cavity filler except in many PNW boots where they use veg tan leather just like the strider a Steel shank is embedded into the leather midsole filler to give arch support and longitudinal stability On top of that is a veg tan insole To which the welt is attached and on top of that is a comfort leather Sockliner insole which has a pretty cool print on it Moving on upwards the uppers are stitched around Fortis's proprietary Dacar last It is a roomy round toe last with a reasonable volume in the toe box and for my feet The heel and waist are reasonably locked in The uppers are a rough out that means it's a full grain hide flipped over so that the rough Flesh side is on the outside Rough outs are more capable of withstanding cuts and abrasions moving through rocky terrain Because of the fibrous nature of the flesh side. It's not suede. Suede is a split leather This is full grain leather that's been flipped over This is going to take the punishment that would leave nicks and scars on smooth grain side out leather and actually tear suede I chose an Indonesian tan leather a local burgundy pull-up I chose a local leather because I wanted to help them try to keep as much of the company chain as local as possible two reasons We like our boots to be genuine and we talk about helping bootmakers keep the supply chain Local for the sake of the local economy. So Money where the mouth is not some jingoistic nationalistic chest banging second It keeps bootmaking as low-carbon neutral as possible Look, it's it's probably a drop in the carbon ocean, but think global act local, right? so The standard collab strider boot will be in this burgundy pull-up rough out But if you want you can specify another leather, but the cost might be different depending on what that leather is When Sunny sent me some photos of the boots being made I actually panic because it looked pink But that was under the fluorescent lights of his workshop. I'm hoping that you can see in these lights That it's a great burgundy color. Just what I was specking when I saw the sample Look, this is not a bad leather. It's about two mils thick. So that's about standard for boots The smooth side of this local pull-up is used regularly by other Bandung boot makers Including in their collabs with American and European brands and retailers The uppers on this example are lined in the vamp and the heel, but not up the up the shaft When you order yours, I think they will be fully lined with a very soft lambskin lining even up the shaft When you take a look at the how it's made video, you see that they glue the lining to the celastic toe puff And then the celastic to the uppers leather before they last the boot. So yeah, the toe puff is celastic It's a thermoplastic that gives it shape without being a super tough structure The heel counter is also celastic covered by an external one-piece pocket and backstay While the toe structure is fairly soft The heel counter is firm enough to grip your heels and prevent any movement and heel slip The backstay incorporates a pull loop made of the same leather, which I think is useful if not essential in a taller boot The stitching on the uppers It's really well done in my opinion. It's not perfect But as the human hand guides the machine, it may never be perfect in any handmade boot. I Chose the single contrasting white stitch in this model Amongst the triple stitching in the quarters and the heel backstay There is a second model, which I'll talk about later where Sunny has made all three stitches in the contrasting white And when I talk about how to order later, I'll show you some pictures of the strider 2 model As I've said, it's an upland style 8-inch shaft So the hardware comprises five antique brass eyelets three speed hooks and then a loggers 9th eyelet at the top the semi-gusseted tongue is a local rough-out tan leather and It's unlined. It just has the the grain side on the top. It's gusseted up to the fifth eyelet Which will help with water resistance and also stop tongue slip. I Need to show you that there is a logo on the outside of the shaft of the boot It's it's not easy to see because it's dark on the dark leather It's a Fortis boots and boot loss of the collab logo that's laser embossed into the leather Pretty cool really how they do it. Now, let's talk about sizing and how they fit Indonesian bootmakers use European sizing numbers. So for example a US 8 is equal to a UK 7 Which is equal to an European 41 Now generally bandung bootmakers are true to size and Fortis is no exception I measure a US 8 and a half D on the Brannock device US bootmakers are usually sized a half down from Brannock. So that makes me wear US size 8 in almost all of my boots But Fortis is true to size and they don't do half sizes So I would usually order a 41.5 which equates to a US 8.5 Which is my Brannock size, but because Fortis goes true to size without half sizes I wear a Fortis 42. I go a half size up from true Look, this just gives you an idea of sizing discussions that you'll have with Fortis Because when you order you'll be asked by Sunny to measure your feet and He will tell you what size is best for your feet in his last I'll tell you about how to do that when I talk about ordering As for fit and comfort they fit me well in the 42 The toe box being a roomy round toe is very roomy and the height of the last means that it Fits up to quite high volume feet The sole construction and the leather in it means that this is this felt comfortable straight out of the box under my feet The sizing and the materials meant that I didn't have any hot spots. I certainly didn't crunch my toes on my feet They are just so comfortable, especially in this Vibram 2021 sole. It's like walking on clouds Okay, the arch support is nothing like my whites MP or my nicks Robert boot. I mean those things have an entire Cow's worth of leather built in under the arch These are not as comfortable as my Alden indies despite the notorious leather board used by Alden But that comes with all of Alden's historic orthopedic shoemaking experience However, these strider boots are as comfortable under my arches as any of my grandstones or park herds or red wings or wolverines They will certainly do me for hiking or standing around all day. I'm pretty sure So how much are they? Fortis is pricing them at 290 US dollars plus postage at under 300 US dollars roughly 460 Aussie dollars. I think that's a pretty fair price for a handmade to order boot. I Won't make price and value comparisons again I designed these and I may be biased in my views no matter how objective I try to be So you can look at other handmade MTO boots yourself and make up your own mind on value There are two models of the strider. The ones that I've been showing you are the strider one or the main model Fortis will also make to make to order the strider two and I will show you some vision of it here as I'm talking This strider two has the same bones as a strider one, but it's a shorter Just slightly over six inch boot. It has a doctor's soul wedge sole It's good year welter with a Norwegian stitch Combined with chain stitching and a storm welt it has all contrast stitching including the box stitch at the corner of the quarters The hardware uses brighter shinier gold-colored brass hideware in a five plus two plus one configuration the standard price for both strider one and Strider two is us $290 plus postage if you want a different leather for the uppers Perhaps in a Halloween leather or a better lassi Pueblo or something like that Then when you order you can discuss that with Sunny and he'll give you a quote for your choice The way to order is to contact Fortis either by direct messaging to the Instagram account or by using WhatsApp As I said earlier the Instagram handle is Fortis dot boots IDN I've put the link in the description below There what's at number is plus six two eight nine seven eight oh seven four five nine three. That's the plus symbol six two eight nine seven eight oh seven Four five nine three, and I'm putting that up on screen, and I'll also put down in the description below So what you do is you contact Fortis, and they'll give you a quote and ask for your measurements My advice is to get someone to help you draw and outline around both your feet while you're standing and wearing your usual socks With your weight evenly on both your feet then you take a tape measure and place it along the length of both the drawings and Then across the widest part of both the drawings and take pictures when you're doing that Fortis has some limited ability to modify their lasts if you have strange needs So ask if you think you need something that's adjusted here and there. They just might be able to do it When you order you'll be asked to pay 50 of the cost and 50 of the postage When you order Fortis now uses PayPal to send an invoice to you When the boots are ready you'll be asked to pay the second 50 percent And then Fortis will send them to you with a tracking number I believe that by the time you order they'll be using DHL as their main courier Just some emphasis. I don't have anything to do with ordering and delivery So any queries, please go to Fortis. They're the suppliers not me If you're contacting them in English, please do expect some difficulty in communication English is not their first language. So please be patient and be clear and succinct in what you want Well, there you are. It's my first attempt at a collab. So I'm a little nervous as well as excited As for Fortis, a lot is at stake because this will expose them to an international audience Personally, I I love this Strider design even if I say so myself It is pretty unique. It is comfortable It's handmade to order and it's a crazy affordable price for me If you're in the market for an MTO handmade boot like this I hope you consider supporting Fortis. They are a plucky little newcomer small business And I love supporting the small business of the world Don't forget to check out the next video I'm uploading which is a how it's made video Showing them making me this particular pair of boots Anyway, don't forget to click on the like and the subscribe. Take care and I'll see you soon