 G'day, how you going? Welcome to Bootlossophy. My name is Tech and I'm coming to you from Wajik Country in Western Australia and I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this ancient land. Today, I'm taking a look at the Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill service boot in Brown Chrome Excel. This is the Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill. It's clearly a service boot, so called because they are based on the boots issued to soldiers in the Second World War and built in the usual pattern, six inch height, derby lace up, low heels. In this case, it has a plain toe. It's made up in Brown Chrome Excel and it on a low profile day night rubber sole. The Higgins Mill is not an oldie like the Red Wing Iron Ranger or the Wolverine Thousand Mile Boot. Allen Edmonds first offered them up in the 2010s to plug their gap in the then burgeoning service boot category in footwear. I have already reviewed a pair of these in Loden Suede built on a soft commando lugged sole, so if you want to check that one out, the link is up there. This one though is the standard makeup, more dress boot than work or tough service boot. As such, I think you can wear them on dressy occasions and even with a suit, particularly if they're cleaned up, polished darker and shiny. Certainly you could wear them as business casual and I have already nominated them as my number one choice for business casual in the video about business casual boots that you can see up there. As business casual, I'd pair them with light or dark chinos with a button up shirt and a blazer or a sports coat. As a more relaxed casual, there'd be no problems in wearing them underneath dark wash jeans, maybe black jeans or even brown five pocket pants. You can wear them with light wash jeans and maybe a t-shirt but in my view, I think you're pushing it because they look pretty dressy. Let's talk quickly about Ellen Edmonds. Ellen Edmonds is a mid to high end shoe manufacturing and footwear retailing company. It was founded in 1922 in Wisconsin by Ebert Allen and Ralph Spiegel and it was originally called the Allen Spiegel Shoe Company. In 1946, a new partner came in called William Edmonds. He joined the company and the Ellen Edmonds Shoe Corporation was born. The company had grown steadily all that time and during World War II, the company supplied footwear to the US Army and the US Navy. Apparently this gave them a loyal following among returning troops. They're probably as well known for their Oxford dress shoes like park avenues and strands as they are for their boots. In 2006, Hedge Fund Goldner Horn bought a majority of the company, about 90% of it and then in 2013, they were in turn bought out by another private equity hedge fund called Brentwood and then three years later in 2016, Ellen Edmonds was sold to listed public company Calera's Inc for $256 million. I always gulp when I mention that sum. Calera's is a huge company with a market cap of over $1 billion. While they still use the tagline Hand Crafter in Port Washington, Wisconsin, some of their footwear are made outside the US if that matters to you. Now how are they constructed? They are a 360 degree good year well to boot. This means that a thin strip of leather called a welt runs around the perimeter of the boot and the uppers are turned in and sewn to the inside edge of the welt. The midsole, which in this case is also leather, is then sewn to the outside edge of the welt and through that to the rubber outsole. Good year welt construction is more water resistant and is eminently re-solable when the sole wears out. I've done a video on the good year welt form of construction and if you want all the details and the advantages associated you can click on the tag above. In this case it's a split reverse welt. A split reverse welt is where a flat welt is partly split and part of the split is flanged upwards to be pushed against the outside of the boot in order to increase water resistance. The sole to which the welt is attached by being stitched to the leather midsole is a rubber studded outsole made by the UK company Dayknight. Dayknight have been making these soles since they invented the pattern in the 1890s and were initially designed to replace the expensive leather sole while maintaining the low dressy profile and adding a bit more grip. Now everyone has their version of the original Dayknight sole these days and you'll see those versions done by Thursday and Grant Stone as their proprietary versions but also companies like Itzhide another UK company also make them as well as Italian company Vibram they make a version that they call the Eaton. Here's an interesting tidbit about Dayknight some people pronounce it Dayknight they came up with that name because their mills or factories ran day and night so Dayknight get it. Inside the boot the welt going around the edge of the boot creates a cavity in the middle this is filled with cork and that's topped by a leather insole. Inside that cork filling is a shank and it's most probably a wooden shank but I've heard others say that when their cobbler cracked open their Higgins mill boot that they found versions with no shank or with a fiberglass shank. Bit of a mystery. A shank bridges the gap between the heel and the ball of the foot giving you support in that gap under the arch. I can't believe there's no shank even if some have said that but a wooden or a fiberglass shank it's not necessarily a problem even though they have been known to break. The usual shank is a steel one but unless you really abuse your boots I find a fiberglass one works just as well. So the sandwich of rubber leather cork and leather again is a pretty sturdy construction under your feet and that combination is meant to give you good long-term comfort as the layers of natural material shape to your feet after ongoing wear. So moving on up. The uppers are made from brown chrome excel. Chrome excel is the most famous product of the already famous five generation old Chicago tanning company Horween leather company. While Horween makes other leathers including those for American footballs I think everyone will recognize chrome excel. It's a combination tan leather that goes through 89 count them 89 separate processes some of them entirely by hand over a period of 28 days and the process moves the leather over all five floors of the tannery. The base tannage is a chrome tan and later during the 28 day process it is re-tanned with bark extracts. The chrome tanning makes it soft supple and durable all the veg re-tanning makes it feel tough and allows a lovely patina to develop. After re-tanning it's hot stuff using steamed mills to impregnate the hide with a blend of oils and waxes. It's a secret blend and it includes food grade beef tello and cosmetic grade beeswax as well as marine oils. The final step is hand finishing the hide with coats of aniline dye and needs for oil. The hot stuffing process is what makes the hide a crude that pull-up effect due to the displacement of the oils impregnated in it during the process. Chrome excel is air dried to finish which allows the fibers to shrink back into itself which decreases the yield but gives the leather a tougher characteristic and a very tight break. This leather is lighter a little under two mils thick so while tough it feels quite supple. It's backed up by a soft I think lambskin lining all over glove from the vamp to the shaft. It's a plain-toe boot so the pattern is actually quite simple a vamp piece two quarter pieces at the tongue and a single piece backs they covering the seam at the back. That doesn't feel like there's any stiffener at the toes it's very soft but there is a stiffener and I think it feels like solastic a thermoplastic in the heel used as the heel counter. It's an internal heel counter and it's covered inside by the F4 said lambskin lining. The inside feels quite luxurious. The tongue is a suede tongue just to give it a different texture and color and it works. It's an ungusseted tongue and unlike other ungusseted tongues it doesn't seem to fall into the slippage category of tongue annoyances. It stays firmly in place. The stitching is well executed and to reinforce that this is indeed a dressy boot it's mainly single stitching. The swoop stitch along the quarters should be mentioned. It's a visually clear signal amongst other plain-toe service boots that this is the Higgins bill. The laces go through five eyelets and three speed hooks a very comfortable way to lace up the boot being a mixture that allows reasonably fast lacing. The edges of the lace facings and the top of the collar are rolled and again just emphasizes that dressy outlook to this boot. Overall the quality control is really really good as suits the reputation of Ellen Edmonds and their more famous dressy shoes. These guys are what floor shime should have stayed as solid quality build. The chrome excel which despite its beauty and versatility has a reputation for being a little unpredictable at the chrome excel lottery where some parts of the leather can see the grain separate from the rest of the hide and look really grainy like loose skin. In this case similar to the careful and perfect stitching the selection of the leather is really really good. The creases are very tight and crystalline in structure rather than deep rolling wrinkles. As for caring for this chrome excel you know there's not a lot to it. The leather is prone to getting scuffed and could easily get scratched if you're wearing it in the wild but this example has withstood everyday use very well. Being so full of oils and waxes it's got a tendency to self heal any any abrasion. If there are any scuffs a rub with your thumb to warm up the leather and to move the oils and waxes inside will easily rub up the scuff. Where it is a little deeper conditioning it with my go-to for smooth leathers vanishing shoe cream should easily fix any more unsightly marks. It also polishes up reasonably well not parade gloss by any means but it will show a nice dressy sheen. The key though is to brush after nearly everywhere dare I say after everywhere. I know it can be tedious to brush it after everywhere but brushing it at least every weekend or maybe after three or four ways will keep the leather moist and will spread the oils inside around the leather. You will not believe what a vigorous brushing without any conditioners will just do to the leather to just bring up the glow. Now to sizing. If you follow my channel you'll be sick to death of me telling you that I measure a US 8.5 on the brand-new device but I usually wear an 8D in most of my heritage boots. Well these are an 8E. What possessed me to buy a wide pair you ask? Two things both not necessarily things that you should follow. First these popped up on eBay just as I was looking for a pair of brown chrome XL Higgins mill for $380 Australian dollars which was and now that is a good price. Second I've been reading in some reddit threads that the Higgins mill ran a little narrow so I thought I'd take a chance. Well it's not that they don't fit the length is perfect and the width I don't really mind but you see I do like the balls of my feet and my toes to have a little room. That's why as much as I love my Thursday captains in 8 they are snug at the ball and at the toes. That's why my favorite lasts are Grant Stone's Leo last and Parkhurst's 602 last. Both of those are combination lasts that are narrow probably you know even a C width at the heel and then they open up at the ball of the feet to an E width and they round it at the toes. However the E width in these they just have touched too wide so I put in an orthotic insole that you can buy at a pharmacy and that ate up the extra volume so while it sort of deadens the original feel of the leather under my feet it snugs up the boot just right. What's my advice? Don't experiment. With my 8.5D Brannock I'd have been very happy with an 8D in the Higgins mill so I think I'd say to you size a half down. As for comfort yeah a little unfair these are used pairs but they were very lightly used and with hardly anywhere at the heel and no imprint inside the boots. To be fair I think the welted sole had been broken in so I experienced no stiff heel slip when I first put them on. The rubber sole and the heel top lifts, the flexible chrome excel, the fully lined uppers all this just meant that they like putting on a pair of slippers. As I just told you I got these on eBay for 380 Aussie. That's about 240 US dollars very lightly used. When new they sell for 475 US dollars as their list price on the website. That means they compare with boots like Wolverine and Frye. They compare well with Alden Indies at US 600 dollars. Their price compares badly with grants like Grant Stone and Parkhurst and Beckett Simonon as well as European brands like Miermin or Grenson. I'm looking at dressier pairs here so I'm not looking at Red Wing. All in all at high 400s. I'm not sure I'd buy them at that price just as I'm not sure I'd buy Wolverine 1000 mile boots at that price. I think those brands that produce boots in the mid 300 to mid 400 range can give the Higgins Mill a good run for its money. However Higgins Mill do have apparently ongoing and frequent sales and almost every time I go on their website these are on sale for around 350 US dollars. Now at that price yeah they're definitely worth that for value. Would I buy them new? At 350 definitely. So there you have it the Ellen Edmonds Higgins Mill is an impressive boot. It uses good materials top class leather and it's really well put together. If it's important to you it's an American boot that's still made in America. It's very versatile although at the dressy end of your outfits. On the negative side unless you get it when it's on sale I'm just not sure it's worth the list price of nearly 500 US dollars. Also on the negative side and this is a little strange after what I've told you about what a pretty boot it is. It is a little lacking in soul no pun intended. As a plain-toe service boot it competes in looks anyway we say the Thursday president and other plain-toe service boots without adding any pizzazz. Sure there is that swoosh stitch but after all it's just a plain-toe boot. Some people might say a little boring. Anyway the aesthetics is a very subjective thing and I'll leave that up to you to decide. Hey if you like this review don't forget to help me out by clicking on like and if you haven't subscribed already click on subscribe as well. Until the next time take care and I'll see you soon.