 You know, when I started this channel, I was driven by my newfound passion about wearing quality heritage style boots. As my passion grew, so did my collection. Starting as a total noob though, I used my professional research skills to learn more about heritage style boots, and as that grew, I bought more and more high-end premium makers boots. However, I never forgot what a thrill it was when I opened my first box of boots. I know there are people like that out there. So let's start again. G'day, how are you going? Welcome to Bootlossophy. If you're new here, my name is Tech, and I usually first start my videos with an Australian cultural protocol that's exercised by our broadcasters, governments, and national companies at the request of our indigenous peoples to pay respect to our first peoples in a statement that's called the Acknowledgement of Country. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands that I live and work on, and here in Perth, Western Australia, I acknowledge the Wajik people. This video is the start of a four-part series that I'll be putting out for people new to the world of quality heritage style boots. If you subscribe to my channel, you'll have seen that I and my reviews have gradually moved toward higher-end boots. I've recently been reviewing boots made in the US-specific northwest, like Whites and Weiberg, costing $600 to $800 US. Even at the lower ranges, I've done a lot of parkers boots, for example, now in the high US 300s to the mid $400 range. Yet when I started the channel, I was a newbie, so I reviewed a lot of entry-level and lower mid-price range boots. In those days, I saw a gatekeeper mentality in boot forums and YouTube, people who had put down legitimate newbie questions on social media. I think you've seen them. They'd be ridiculed and just told to wear them and stop complaining. So one of the things I want Bootlossophy to be is accessible to people in the middle of that bell curve from people who are starting on their boot journey right up to open-minded and helpful collectors. In this series called New to Quality Boots, I'm going to talk mainly to people new to quality, good year-welted boots. I'm going to assume that someone has seen a boot on social media and is really interested in that design but is shocked at the prices when they eventually visit the websites. Perhaps they've owned a pair of Timberlands before or another cement construction mall store boot and they're surprised that these heritage-style boots that we love can start at at least $100 more than the boots they used to buy and that's a lot of money for some people. I want to know that there are easy entry points. So this might be a bit frustrating for my regular viewers who ask for more and more high-level brand reviews that I can't even afford but stick with me. And being the generous community that I know you are, help out the new people and their questions in the comments. This first video in this series is about service boots. Like these, which are one of the most popular lace-up ankle boot designs going. This is Weiberg's service boot, probably the best example of the design. As you can see this modern variation of an old Weiberg model has been sleeked up from the blunt-nosed army models that they came from so that they are versatile as a semi-dressy casual boot. That might also be worn for some light manual work because they're tough enough. Service boots are designed like military boots that the American and British soldiers wore during the First and Second World Wars, hence service boots. Like this boot, service boots typically have a reasonably plain pattern without a lot of decoration. They may have a toe cap like this pair of white MP boots or plain toe like the Weiberg. But they will all have a low-block heel, very simple stitching, derby or derby or open-style type lacing with combinations of eyelets and speed hooks in order to lace them up. So you may be attracted to this design but the Weiberg's cost $800 USD, the white MPs around $600 USD, not entry-level boots. This is the Parkhurst Richmond boot, another service boot, but still costs around the mid-$400 USD range. Maybe as a first boot of this type you don't want to spend even that much. What's a viable alternative so that you can try them out in your lifestyle and see if you're actually going to love them? This is Thursday Boot Company's Captain Boot. It costs US$199 USD and for that price is definitely one of the best entry-level service boots that you can get. I'll put a link in the description below to their website and also links to the other brands that I mentioned. And let me be clear, I am not sponsored by Thursday and this pair of captains was bought by me on Amazon a couple of years ago, in fact this was one of my first heritage-style purchases. This is how I began my journey, so I feel the tale can be repeated. The captain is an excellent entry into quality Goodyear welted boots but goes well beyond just an introduction. It's comfortable and breaks in well and the rugged service boot pattern has been made more sophisticated so it's like a totally versatile boot for any outfit. When people criticise it for whatever they see as its shortcomings, they forget what value Thursday brings you for the price and forget to see it in the context of right tool for the right job. But more of that later. First, know that Thursday Boot Company is a relatively new company making quality stitched boots. They started in 2014 as a direct-to-consumer brand selling through their website and one New York store. If you're outside the US, your first foray into Thursdays is either through their website or maybe through their Amazon store. I have actually done a full review of the captain up there and you may want to watch that after this because this video is not intended to be a full review of the captain and its construction but a discussion about why you should start your journey here. The majority of Thursdays boots sell for under 200 US dollars and the most expensive are about 50 dollars more. So if you're moving from Timberland boots at about the same price, the price won't necessarily shock you but the value I think will surprise you. One of the key differences between boots at that price range, Timberland included, or even more expensive fashion brands, the difference between them and stitched boots like captains is the method of construction. The mall store and fashion forward boots while looking the business are usually cemented, meaning their soles are cemented to the uppers even though they may have a false stitch around the edge of the outsole. This makes for a less durable construction method than a sewn construction like Goodyear welt stitching. What is Goodyear welt stitching? Goodyear welt construction is considered to be a durable and high standard method of making boots. A thin strip of leather called the welt is stitched around the edge of the boot to the insole and the uppers and then the outsole are glued and then stitched to the welt using a totally separate stitch. In this way, no stitch holes go through from the outside to the inside which creates a certain level of water resistance. Goodyear welted boots are also recraftable, meaning that if you wear out your outsole, a good cobbler can simply unpick the stitches, peel back the worn outsole and then glue and stitch on a new one, resulting in a boot that can last you for years. With cement construction boots, I know to my cost, not only might they tear in rough use once worn out, the outsole can't easily be replaced or at least durably replaced. So despite the price, the construction is gold standard, just like those higher end service boots. Then, why are they so cheap in comparison to Weiburgs and Weitz or even Parkhursts and say Oak Street boot makers? All make, these are all makers admit to high end service boots. What's the difference? Well, there are a number of reasons, but some of the main ones are where they're made and what they're made from. Now let's take the first. The first day captains are made in Mexico, where labor costs per unit are less than in leading OECD nations. The other brands that I mentioned are made in places like the United States, Canada and Spain. These are high ranking OECD countries, so labor costs are relatively high. The captains are made in Leon, Mexico. Don't think Mexican sweatshop please. Their partner factories are vetted and audited for labor practices. Leon itself has rapidly become one of the quality shoemaking capitals of the world and their local tanneries produce reasonably high quality leathers. It is true that the materials are of a lower grade than the almost totally leather materials used on and inside the brands that I mentioned, but they are acceptable materials and they are chosen to meet a price point for a purpose. For example, the leather is from Thursday's Leon tannery and not the famous chrome excel from a Halloween tannery in Chicago, but it is a good full grain leather, not some lesser grade split or corrected, so-called genuine leather. Thursday has put together a business model where they source the right labor, put the right amount of quality in the materials and in the construction methods, match their QC processes into value and incorporate a direct-to-consumer distribution system, which is a bit cheaper, in order to produce a product where the price matches the value. But as I said, you do get what you pay for. It's just like cars, right? When you drive your Hyundai hatchback, do not compare it to your neighbor's Mercedes saloon. You did not pay what he did for his Mercedes, so you're getting the value that you paid for. But hey, a Hyundai in and of itself is a good car, right? Nor should you buy a pair of captains and immediately take them to a construction site. When you buy a $10 wooden mallet, you do not use it to take down a brick wall. Right tool at the right price for the right job. So, starting at the right price as an entry-level boot, what else makes them a viable alternative? First of all, the extraneous factors. They do look good. The last or the mold on which the boots are molded around when they're made is a sleek down version of a military boot. So, the toe box is not clunky and the profile is reasonably dressy while the almond-shaped toe caps offer some grunge military look to them appropriate for that style. This means that they are versatile. You can wear them with jeans and rugged casual outfits or you can brush them up and wear them with chinos or even wall pads, a button-up shirt and a sports coat or blazer. A versatile boot that you can wear in many different ways means better value as you can wear it more often. Then there is the comfort factor. Thursday are damned if they do and damned if they don't in this regard. I mentioned that they don't use all leather materials in their sole construction. On the high-end boots, the insole is probably a thick, natural, veg-tanned leather, as is the midsole. The heel counter, which is inserted into the heel pocket, which stabilizes your heel, is probably made of leather. In Thursday boots, they use man-made materials like foam and poron memory foam, midsole and insole, and plastic heel counters. These give you immediate comfort out of the box but in time, over the years, those materials may break down and start to feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, being new to boots and coming from fashionable shoes or sneakers, you may appreciate the similar comfort factor of a Thursday boot when you first put it on. The high-end boots with all their leather and natural cork will require some form of break-in because of the density of those materials. Thick leather insole and midsole have to be trained to bend where your feet bend and until then, you can feel like you're fighting against them. Being fully leather-lined, where some of the higher-end boots are not, you may like the entry into comfortable boots as you slip them on instead of the more rugged feel of unlined boots with thicker uppers. So in terms of breaking them in, your journey, if these are your first heritage construction-style boots, will be a lot more comfortable. This means that you get used to what quality boots should feel like and you get used to the feel of the welt and the break-in. Then, if you like the Minyo lifestyle, you can gradually move on to other mid-range service boots. But you do need to remember the price-to-value ratio. Yes, Thursday captains are a great price and you get good value for them, but it is the value represented by a $200 U.S. boot, as compared to the value provided by a U.S. 400 or U.S. 600 or U.S. $800 boot. So what are the cons? Well, as durably made as they are for the price, they are not as durable as some of these higher-end boots with better leather and other materials, and some of them with handcrafted construction by people highly skilled in making them and in problem-solving while making them. That might mean, for example, that the chances for poor stitching may be higher at this price range. This may mean that the rubber outsole wears out and fractures a little bit faster. That's what I mean by the price-value ratio. Be aware of that. And when you're ready, buy a boot at a higher price and with a higher-value ratio. Before I finish, let me talk about two aspects of buying and owning quality boots, sizing and caring for the leather. First off, sizing. If you're new to heritage-style boots, this is a vexatious issue, and it does depend on where you are. If you buy U.K., Canadian, European, or Australian brands, they tend to make their boots true to size. If you buy U.S. brands, they tend to run large. Let me explain what I mean. If you bought shoes at a store, you would have had to stand on a device with the sliding levers called a Brannock device. This measures your size, length, and width, and this is called your true size. Your sneaker size approximates, and I stress that approximates your true size. U.S. boots tend to run large by a half size. So, for example, I am true to size at U.S. eight and a half, but most U.S. boots that fit me are size eight, a half size down. Now, don't get confused. They measure the same length. It's just that the makers call that length that they make an eight instead of an eight and a half. Do not ask me why. That's one of the mysteries of the universe that as a boot lover, you will have to accept and live with. The Thursday captain boots obey this universal mythic law. As I said, I measure a true size of eight and a half in the U.S. terms, but a Thursday sized eight captain is the size I wear. So find your true size and then get a half down. Next, let me talk about leather care. If you've been on, say, boot forums in social media, you know that this is one of the most loved topics of conversation of boot collectors. What do you use to condition your boots and how do you do it? Let me just say the boot care products can range from super expensive to reasonable. So let's stick with reasonable for the moment. With this Thursday chrome tanned smooth leather, you will need to condition or freshen the leather from time to time. And you may want to apply a polish for shine. Conditioning leather is recommended because unlike heavily corrected and treated fashion footwear, the leathers used in quality heritage boots are full grain leathers that can dry out over time. Think of this as applying moisturizer to your skin after you've been in the sun. With this type of leather, I recommend a mid-priced conditioner called Venetian shoe cream. And I'd get it in a neutral rather than a color. When the leather is looking as if it lacks luster at least every three to six months, depending on where, apply a little Venetian shoe cream with a rag or your fingers and massage it into the leather reasonably sparingly. Allow it to dry to a haze and then brush it off with a good horse hair shoe brush to help it spread around and absorb. If you wish, you can also apply a little shoe cream containing a little more wax, this time in a color to match the leather. You can use a brand like Turago, another mid-priced brand. And with this particular Thursday brown leather, you can use either brown or maroon as it has hints of burgundy in the leather. Normally with this type of leather, you would be very sparing with the hard wax polish, you know, like the Kiwis, because too much hard wax could cover the natural pores in the leather and stop the absorption of future conditioning efforts. However, if you like your boots shiny, you can put a sparing coat of hard wax polish after the shoe cream, again allowing it to haze over and then brush it to a shine. One important aspect of boot care is the brushing. It is recommended that you brush the dust off after everywhere, I don't. But I do brush often, even without conditioning or polish because it is kind of important to brush that dust off. Gritty dirt and dust that you pick up in normal everyday wear, is your leather's enemy. And it's important to keep it off or it can eventually accumulate scratch and damage the leather over time apart from drying it out. So in summary, if you've been attracted to the service boot aesthetic but are surprised at the investment you have to make, the Thursday captain makes for a very viable alternative. Someone commented in one of my captain shorts that they bought captains as their first pair of boots and a couple of years later, they bought red wings and regretted buying the captains that they should have bought the red wings first up. Well my question is this, how would you have known? A pair of red wing iron rangers, I like them, don't get me wrong, apart from being a different style with a chunkier toe box and a healthy toe spring that's arguably not as versatile as a captain, an iron ranger costs 350 US, a whole 150 more than the captains. Starting the journey a couple of years ago, would you have spent an extra 150 first up if this was your first buy? So even for him saying he wished even he started with the captains as an entry boot first off. Once you've got a pair, you can decide if you like the style and the feel of heritage style boots. Like you might decide now and go back to probably the most immediately comfortable cement construction boots. So be it. But you might catch the bug and go on from there. Indeed the red wing iron rangers are a good second step up if you like the style. Or you can go even a little higher into Truman boots or Grant Stone or Parkhurst in the service boots style. Or you can catch the bug and eventually have 100 pairs of boots. The point is you have to start somewhere and learn and hopefully not spend too much at first. Anyway, I hope you like this intro to entry level service boots. Don't forget to click on like and if you haven't already, please subscribe. Look for the links below to the websites of the different brands and have a look at them. Take care and until next time, you stay safe and I'll see you soon.