 Hi, how are you going? I'm Tech. Welcome to my channel Bootlossophy, where I talk about boots and all about boots. Today, I'm going to do an interim review of these diesel boots from Grant Stone in Horween's English Tan Essex Leather. I have a video showing the unboxing of these boots up here if you want to watch them fresh out of the box. I've had them for about four months now so it's time to do an interim wear review to see how they've worn and to look a bit more closely at these boots. This is Grant Stone's diesel boot in Horween Tan's Essex Leather in a colour called English Tan. Horween is an American Tanry situated in Chicago. Horween was founded in 1905 as a family-owned company and it remains in the same family's hands. In fact, I believe they're into the fifth generation running the company. Horween tans a variety of leathers using a variety of tanning methods from combination chrome tanning to veg tanning. Their most famous leather is probably Chrome XL, which is the original pull-up leather, so-called because it's pumped so full of oils and waxes in the tanning process that you can run a finger under the leather and pull up a stretch of marks as the oils and waxes move around. Now, for the American audience, Horween also makes official football leather, that's American gridiron football, as well as baseball glove leather. This Essex Leather is part of their veg tan range. The tanning process for Essex uses the same tanning extracts as the one that Horween uses for their famous shell cordovan tannages. In tanning Essex Leather, the procedure puts the hides through a fat-lickering process that enriches the leather with oils that give the leather a longer life, as well as the ability to age well and look well as it ages. Bearing in mind it's quite a new product from Horween, the Essex Leather, there are no 10-year-old boots out there to check the patina with, but boots such as these are certainly showing promise in that good-looking aged category. Essex is a full-grain leather that feels soft under the hand, despite the veg tan, which usually produces a stiffer leather, and I've heard of it described as a rich leather. It's hand-glazed and given an aniline finish at the end of the procedure. It ends up being very supple yet tough, and despite the fat-lickers, doesn't feel oily to the touch like some red-winged oil-tanned leathers. Just off-script for a moment, the same Essex procedure can continue, where the hides undergo a process to include waxes in the tanning, which produces Horween's Dublin leather. The English tan colour is not natural. Natural Essex has a much paler colour. The website photos look paler, as if this were a natural Essex, but in real life it's definitely an orangy tan colour. As you can see, a diesel boot design is a service boot design, the shape looking like military books from the world wars, which is very much the fashion nowadays. The service boot shape can suit a dressy look, as well as a more heritage-style tough outdoorsy look. It's a plain-toe design, and the flat-welped, more of that later, and the simple panels around, the vamp and the quarters, make this a very unfussy, elegant-looking design. The light colour stands out for sure, and as the Essex leather ages, I think it'll patina well, and both of them will combine to make this a very casual boot. Well, I did wear it with a suit when it was new, by dressing it down with a casual shirt. I think eventually, as the leather ages, you won't be able to wear it with a suit, even if you dress down the suit. Because of the sleek design of the diesel boot, though, I think it can be worn with any smart casual outfit, definitely denim jeans, either dark or light, both would work. Anything in the brown shades would work, khakis or brown slim pants, and black jeans would definitely bring out that tan. Now, before I go into the construction of these boots, for those of you who don't know about the maker, I'll talk a little about Grant Stone. Grant Stone was founded in 2016 by Wyatt Gilmore and Josh Lang as a direct-to-consumer company. This means that they sell their boots online. However, recently, I believe they've started to offer their boots in some standard and strange physical stores in the US. Grant Stone boots are made in China, following a long-term relationship that the Gilmore family has had with the owners of the factory in Xiamen, in China. In fact, Wyatt Gilmore himself worked in the factory for eight years before starting Grant Stone, and the factory had a lot to do with helping him in the prototyping of Grant Stone boots and shoes. Now, before we go on, there are a lot of reasons why people may not want to buy made in China. I'm not going to enter into a political debate here, but one of the reasons people say that the reason they won't buy made in China is because of the poor quality of Chinese-made products. I'll deal with that objection here, because after all, the quality of this boot is part of any fair review, right? If you are firmly of the belief that anything made in China is of poor quality, Grant Stone proves you wrong. Grant Stone boots are made from leathers from quality tanneries from all over the world, Hohen in Chicago, where this is from, Charles F. Stead in Leeds, England, Bedelassie tannery from Italy, tannery d'Anonnais from France. Their lining is full-grain leather, bovine leather from Milwaukee, veg tanned leather insoles, welten midsole from Massachusetts, real cork fill in the midsole, and a triple rib steel shack. So in terms of materials, high-quality materials. In the factory where Grant Stone team visit and inspect from time to time, they follow quality control procedures and processes, including a QC inspection of the finished products. When shipments arrive at Grant Stone in Michigan, they are inspected and feedback is given to the factory to provide a system of continuous improvement. When each order is fulfilled, one of the team in Michigan inspects each and every boot going out and gives them a polish and brushing. So in terms of quality control, pretty well sorted. The summary is that the quality control of Grant Stone boots is pretty much near perfect. Leather selection or clicking is really good, so no creases or loose grain appear out of the box. The stitching is immaculate. Everything is sewn on or riveted on or nailed on exactly as it should. The quality of the welting, for example, is such that you can't even see where the two ends of the welt join. In order to instill quality in a product, wherever it's made, it usually involves two things. One, making sure the specs are clearly stated, along with any performance measurements spelt out. Second, imposing a step-by-step quality control and inspection process that everyone follows religiously and that actively looks for problems to solve. Grant Stone do both well. Like other reviews before me, I think Grant Stone punch well above their price range. Okay, now let's take a look at how these boots are put together. I'll start from the bottom up. The outsole and the heel top lift is rubber. This is Grant Stone's proprietary outsole, but as you can see, it is clearly modelled after the studded day night outsole from England. The style is a good compromise between a dressy, thin sole like a leather sole and a grippy studded or lugged sole. As you can see, the design sits low and from the side, you can't really tell there are studs, so it suits the dressier type of service boot design. In this case, I think the rubber composite is marginally softer than the original day night rubber. This means it feels better from a shock absorption point of view and maybe it may wear out a bit sooner, don't know yet. But if it does wear out, it's easy to re-sole. That's because the diesel is put together using the Goodyear welt in the form of construction. That is, a strip of leather called the welt goes around the circumference of the boot and is first sewn to the turned-in uppers through the inside edge of the welt. Then, the midsole and outsole are sewn as a unit to the outside edge of the welt, and here you can see the Goodyear welt stitching at the edge of the welt and it goes through the outsole, as you can see here. Just to be technical, this is called a 360-degree Goodyear welt because it goes all the way around the boot, as opposed to a 270-degree Goodyear welt that goes three quarters of the way around from here to here. Also technically, this is called a flat welt. That is, the welt isn't turned up against the side of the uppers, but lies flat against the uppers in the sole. A Goodyear welt is prized because it's not only water resistant, there's a layer between the outside and the inside, but it also makes the boot re-soleable because once the outsole wears out, you can just undo the stitches and replace the outsole without disturbing and possibly tearing the uppers. Another nod to traditional boot-making, inside the cavity caused by the thick welt that goes all the way around, there's a cork filling. This leather cork and leather insole approach to boot-making is the gold standard of boot-making because of the way that the sole can mould with the shape of your foot as it imprints on the natural materials under pressure. Inside the boot, I mentioned the leather insole. There's also a leather and foam heel pad just to cover the nails and so on under the heel and also to improve shock absorption. Embedded in the cork filling is a triple ribbed steel shack. The shack gives the boot stability and also helps with arch support. Moving up to the uppers, the stitching is a combination of triple double and single stitching. It's triple stitched at the quarters, often a stress point. The heel backstays that are covering the leather heel counter are double stitched. This has a two-piece backstay which I think gives the boot a simple complexity. It looks complicated, but at the same time is elegant and simple. The leather heel counter, a firm piece of leather that gives the heel a structure is becoming unheard of in modern boot-making because it's often replaced by thermoplastic or something similar, you know, a synthetic material that saves cost. At the front, the toe is also formed to stay in shape by the use of a leather layer between the lining and the uppers. This stops the toes losing shape and looking squashed. The diesel has brass eyelets, a combination of four eyelets and three speed hooks, which is proportionately, I think, very pleasing for a six-inch boot. To me, it's also the perfect combination for undoing the boot when you just undo the speed hooks and pull the lower eyelets apart. The tongue is semi-gusted, up to the third eyelet. This helps with tongue slippage as well as water resistance. Grandstone provides two pairs of laces, a flat wax cotton pair and these leather laces. Grandstone laces are long, long enough to go around the shaft which is not my favourite, so I have cut these shorter just enough to allow a double knot. The top of the shaft is unfinished. That is, it's the raw edge of the leather uppers and the lining. Some boots have a rolled edge but I find that unnecessary really. The thickness of the uppers and the lining together are over four millimetres thick. The Essex leather used, I think is about two and a half to nearly three millimetres on its own. Now that's a very decent thickness for what is comparatively a light boot weighing around 780 grams per boot. The whole boot, all the way in the vamp and up the shaft and even the back of the tongue are lined with a really soft supple lining leather from cows in Milwaukee. It really gives the boot a luxurious feel when you put them on. I much prefer leather lined shafts. Often I find with unlined shafts the flesh underside of the uppers leather I will catch my socks when I push my feet in and it bunches up my socks uncomfortably until I've walked around for a bit. The whole construction just feels like a good combination of plushness and toughness. It's really well put together. As you can see there is some development of patina in the uppers. While I've owned these for about four months they haven't had four months worth of wear. The problem is I have a crap load of boots that I have to recycle through. So in reality I think I've only worn these maybe 30 to 35 times and sometimes not for a full day. So that's why this is an interim review and I do intend on filming another review of how they wear in about six months time. These are one of my favorite boots and maybe at that time I'll have worn them a proportionate amount of more times. That's my roundabout way of telling you that the leather hasn't seen the patina I'd hoped to get. I guess firstly it's only been about four months. Secondly I haven't worn them hard. I mean there are scuffs and so on at the heels from driving and in the toes and sides just from walking around but I haven't taken them on hikes or to walk around a workshop or anything like that. Also this isn't natural Essex so it has a dye in it and Grant's don't apply canuba wax before they send it out to both protect the leather from looking aged too quickly. Yet even so I think you can see the potential for patina in this Essex leather this leather is starting to roll and crease and with each movement it's showing some variation in color. It's spotting where I've been in the rain and I think where I spilled something in the kitchen on it. I'm really loving the subtleties of this leather and looking forward to its development which brings me to leather care. I haven't done anything to it yet other than to give them a good brush now and then. I'm not a huge believer in conditioning anything that moves certainly not after maybe 30 or so wares. Grant's don't sell Venetian Saphir and pure polished products on their website. Those of you who have seen my other reviews will probably know that for smooth leathers my go-to product is neutral Venetian shoe cream. I find that VSC nourishes smooth leather as well and gives them a reasonable sheen when brushed and buffed. I find this leather quite a thirsty leather from my experience in the rain. It stains quite appreciably when wet. The water seems to get absorbed but then it dries off as if nothing happened. So I would not apply any boot oils or mink oils of this leather in my opinion. They might darken it. If dirty I wouldn't even saddle soap them I'd be too worried that it would be absorbed and change the texture and color too much. If dirty I'd just brush them and then wipe them with a damp cloth wait for them to dry and then hit them with a coated two Venetian shoe cream as you felt you had to. Conditioning it less will also I think bring on the patina a bit more. I think I'll hit them with some VSC in a few months so that by the next longer term review I'll be able to tell you what happened. Let's now turn to the sizing and break-in. The diesel boot is made in Grant Stone's Leo Last. The last is a foot shaped mold that's used to stretch the uppers to form the shape of the boot. I find Grant Stone's Leo Last to really suit my feet. I find it snug around the heel, narrow at the waist with a good deal of almost old and quality orthopedic support around the arch. And then it opens up at the ball of the foot and it's pretty generous at the rounded toes. I feel zero pinching at the ball of the foot where I sometimes feel it with more fashion-conscious sleeker lasts. I also like the feeling that I can wiggle my toes with no pinching at the little or big toes. I say rounded toes but they're not visually blocky. Neither from the top nor from the side do they look like chunky clown shoes. In fact they look quite sleek and elegant. You can guess from that that I was comfortable in these boots as soon as I put them on. There was no break-in except a very minor day or two when I had to relax the sole so that they flexed with my feet flexed. The pliable supple uppers, the flexible sole arrangement, the feel of the leather and the cork and rubber under my feet, these are one of the most comfortable boots I own. Interestingly I find them more comfortable than my other pairs of diesel boots with double leather mid and leather out soles. The soles and those are pretty tough. The grandstone version of the day-night sole is soft enough and also grippy enough. I've been through rain on wet pavements and brick paving and I've trailed wet boots through a shopping center with the obligatory wax flooring. I haven't had any slippery moments. In fact less so than on original day-nights. I think because the rubber on these are a touch softer. In terms of sizing, my true size, as measured by a Brannock device, is a US 8 and a half in D width. Like almost all US bootmakers, grandstone runs large so I fit the 8D, a half size down from true. I'd compare the Fit and 8D as very similar to my Parker's boots in their 602 last or the old and 403 in the True Balance last. Compared to my Thursdays in 8, the Thursdays are slimmer at the ball of the foot and I had to stretch them out a bit during the braking period before those felt as comfortable as these. As against red wings, the Iron Ranger and the 875 last, these feel more supportive in this same size. Turning to value, I bought these for US $324 at a discount that's no longer available. The listed price was $360. Even at 360 I would have said they were definitely worth the price and value. I mean, go through the pros. Top quality uppers and other materials. Really good quality control. Comfortable, sturdily made, feels tough but wears comfortable. Not one thing. No loose stitching, no bad creasing. Not one thing has gone wrong. The design of the last suits me perfectly. The last suits my feet. I'd pay more just for that. When I compare these with the boots in the same mid $300 price range, some of which I just mentioned when I compare its sizing, I think these are better value than many. When I compare these with boots selling above $400, the Ellen Edmonds, the Aldens, the Oak Street Bootmakers, they compare just as well if not better. When it gets down to it, I think these would be worth another $100 at least. But let's not tell them that, shall we? I'm going to buy more Grant Stones and I want the price to stay the same. Okay, so there you go. I hope you like my interim review of these Grant Stone diesel boots in Tan Essex. I really like these boots. Well made, fits me well. And I look forward to how this Essex leather from Halloween is going to age. If you like my review, help me out. Click on the like button below. And if you haven't already, click on subscribe as well. I'm going to keep bringing you more boot reviews of different makes and styles. So subscribe and be notified of my uploads when they happen. Take care and I'll see you soon.