 I like small boot brands. Sure, I own the classics, the Red Wings, the Wolverines, the Ellen Edmonds, and my P&W boots are second to none. But I have a love for the small and mid-range boot brands, the Parkhursts, the Christian Daniels. There's something gutsy and visionary about them that appeals to me after 45 years working with big companies that talk vision statements but have no heart. Here's another one. Cordobas handcrafted boots made in Mexico. G'day, welcome to Bootlossophy and my name is Tech. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands I live and work on here in Perth in Western Australia, the Wajik people. This is the Cordobas service boot which I've been wearing for a few months now. Full disclosure, I was provided with a chance to order for free this made-to-order service boot where I could choose everything from the uppers to the construction method to the type of outsole even to the type of stitching and color of the thread and the color of the tongue. It was offered to allow me to review the product but with no conditions attached. I can and I will say whatever I honestly feel about it. Now there are pros and cons as you see when we go through the construction but let me be honest and say that because it's a new bootmaker, ground it in the art of hand-making these boots with artisanal workers in Mexico, my predilection for small brands may give them a pass in some areas you judge. I like small brands. If you're a long-time subscriber you know I included my collection a sprinkle of classics from Alden, Redwing, Wolverine, Alan Edmonds, just to name a few. I was introduced to quality Americana boots by my first purchase of Thursday captains before I graduated, you can say graduated, to Grant Stone and more and nowadays I enjoy some really pricey P&W boots as favorites. But these big classic names are really multi-million dollar businesses. Even Thursday and Grant Stone have inevitably grown themselves to being no longer small. I don't know there's something about the one man one woman band. There's an immediate connection with Andrew when you buy a parkhurst. You have a conversation with Christian before you buy your Christian Daniel. You exchange Instagram comments with Natalia and Andres before you put down your order with Bordon. You see Kevin at his stitch-down boot camp stand and you feel really proud of him. Part of it is the adventure into boot-making as it once was. Part of it is the vision and drive of the founders. They are why when they started their business. So let's introduce you to another small brand Cordobus Handmade. And it's represented by this plain-toe service boot. So-called because it comes from the design heritage of World War II soldiers boots. There's actually nothing fancy about this. It is a six inch plain-toe service boot, low block heel, low profile leather outsole, single-piece backstay with a small pull loop. The panels are minimal. A shapely vamp piece, two quarter pieces and the backstay. The hardware is brass, five eyelets, two speed hooks and then locking eyelet at the top. The tongue is partially gusseted and generously wraps your forefoot to stop pinching. The heel counter is salastic but there's an unstructured toe which I fully expect to collapse over time. Just to be clear that is a good thing. The construction which I'll get into more detail later is double stitch down. They also make a cap-toe boot which on their website link below is called the cap-toe boot. So nothing especially aesthetically different but the spark in this boot is that apart from the last shape everything in this boot is made or was chosen by me in their MTO process. The last design is low profile and sleek and my selection emphasized by the unstructured toe. I think in a smooth shiny leather you could wear this with very smart casual outfits but in this oily matte leather it certainly pairs well with jeans and t-shirts. They have that relaxed vibe. Or you can even wear something smarter like chinos and button-up shirts and a blazer and go to a relaxed professional office. But before I go on to talk about the construction let's introduce you to the brand. Cordoves is based in San Mateo Atenco in the state of Mexico just southwest of Mexico City. Cordoves was founded by Alfonso Ignacio Cortez in early 2023 but it was in the planning since 2019. It took a while because well we know what happened around the world in 2019. Alfonso tells me that he started making shoes in 2019 with a dream to make bespoke shoes get this because he could not afford a pair of shoes made the way he liked. And that ladies and gentlemen is how a passionate vision is born. He made several pairs himself before starting Cordoves learning from the artisans in San Mateo as well as from YouTube and he mentions one of his biggest inspirations was Steve from Beato's Leatherworks. While making his bespoke shoes he realized that there was a lot of potential in making boots for people who also want high customization but at an economical price and he decided to start Cordoves. Focusing on building the business Alfonso delegated the production to his teacher and his teacher's workshop. Alfonso said to me that he feels the craftsmen of San Mateo have been undervalued for quite some time still making a totally handmade footwear and the domestic market just doesn't appreciate the craftsmanship that the artisans offer. So to make a living they needed to cheapen their work and that in the long run doesn't help the business around footwear. So Alfonso saw the opportunity to open the production to a better market where it can be appreciated raising their wages and also the quality through them meeting demand and experience. Alfonso envisioned Cordoves as a brand where customers can create their own unique pair of boots his dreaming to end up with a bespoke factory unique concept where you can choose your lasts and even patterns. He's still working on the process to make it happen still perfecting their work processes raising the quality and improving supply chains. Keep an eye on the brand people. Okay let's dive into the construction of these boots. Now briefly let me explain that they're almost bespoke MTO process and how that works. While you don't get measured for your feet and instead you choose a standard US size you do get to choose the last it's made in you choose the type of construction you know stitch down with your wealth etc. You also choose the leather for the uppers even the leather for the tongue. You choose the outsole the hardware the edge coloring even the color of the thread that's used. So what I'm about to explain to you reflects all of my choices. So let's start from the bottom up. I chose the double stitch down method of construction. This means that the uppers are pulled over a last and then the outside of the forefoot is played out and double stitch to the midsole and the outsole. The back part of the boot is turned in glued and sewn to the insole and midsole on the inside and then the heels are nailed on. The heels are stacked leather with a soft rubber toplift. The last I chose was the D25 last which is intended to be a dressier almond shaped toe last. Their other last is the C100 last which has a rounder toe box. I also chose the leather outsole and you can otherwise get a lug sole or a low-profile eco rubber sole. The way the stitching works on the leather outsole is quite interesting. On some very high-priced shoes the maker will cut a flap of the leather along the edge of the sole pull it back stitch the stitch down stitch or good your wealth stitch whatever through and then fold the flap over and glue it back down to hide the stitches. I think Codobes is trying the same thing but the execution of it is a little imperfect. I think what they're doing is cutting two narrow slices and then stitching into them and then gluing them over so rather than one horizontal flap it's more of like a double V. The problem is if you can see the slit like that you have to be extremely extremely precise otherwise any wavy line becomes obvious. Having said that though once you've worn the boots a bit as these have and the bottoms become scuffed the slits kind of disappear anyway it's no longer an unsightly issue. While we're on the soles it's noticeable also that the sanding of the edging is not precise enough you can clearly see the different layers of leather on the heel block and the edging. They haven't come apart and it doesn't look like there's any risk of that but you can see it being uneven and while I like a rustic handmade look it's not attractive. Inside the boot they use a 10 ounce veg tan leather insole that translates to three and a half to four millimeters thick and the veg tan leather midsole is about the same thickness. The outsole is also veg tan leather and it's about five millimeters thick so all in all it's pretty thick. The whole combination though is remarkably supple and bendy one of the easiest sole construction combinations that I've ever broken in. The shaft is unlined and I can't see but I think the vamp is also unlined. The uppers are Mexican tan leather unknown tannery just under two mils thick where I can measure it. I chose this dark color because I thought it suited the dressier D25 last but it wasn't a smooth grain as I thought it would be. The website photos when you make MTO choices very small and it's hard to make up. I actually wanted a shiny smooth leather more dressy but I'm happy with this. In this dark chocolate it's more of an oily like a like an oil tumble leather which takes scuffs and knocks quite easily a bit like an iron ranger. I understand it's fully chrome tan full grain bovine and it has quite a pull-up effect so I think it should patina quite well. The hardware is fitted well and securely but there are some rough edges to the backs of the speed hooks. This pull tab annoys me a bit. I generally don't like pull tabs or pull loops on six inch lace up boots. I just think they're not necessary a bit taller maybe. In this case they do catch on my pants and I think I might cut them off carefully. The stitching it's hard to see in this light is okay. There are wavy lines that I would expect in handmade boots but there are certainly no structural problems no missed lines. Overall all is not perfect with your construction. Now I'm not going to say that they're badly constructed they're not but there are issues and Cordobas may benefit from a little constructive criticism. The way they slit the leather soles to bury the stitch down stitching is interesting. It's not clean and if they're going to continue doing that they should probably improve the consistency handmade boots or not. They're not structurally unsound don't get me wrong but they don't look great especially when they're new. The backs of the speed hooks need some attention. The backs of the eyelets are well done. I can't see why they can't do the same with the speed hooks and I can only guess it's a slightly different material. I guess they should find speed hooks that they can attach like they do the eyelets. The sanding of the heel and the edging is uneven. Again let me stress that there's no danger to structure it's just unsightly. And to be fair I do know that they rushed the production of these boots to get them to me before last Christmas so these finishing issues may have been caused by the rush. So all in all improvements needed are I think in the department of being more aesthetically precise and accurate rather than being a structural or a quality problem. You can excuse these things for being handmade and for being under US 300 and maybe for the rushing but these are small things if they improved on oh wow you call this a killer boot at that price. I don't think it's a huge problem taking care of this chocolate brown oily leather. Like I said it's not dissimilar to something like red wings amber harness or some of the kip leathers that you get with RM Williams or the distress leathers from NYX or Whites. Of course the most important thing is to keep it clean. Brush regularly to keep sand and grit and dust off. Wipe it with a damp cloth if you have to. If it gets really dirty or gets grease on it a saddle soap would be fine. This leather is not going to mind that as long as you condition it afterwards to replenish what oils you soap off. As for the conditioning I think a low wax content conditioner like Big Four would be ideal for this leather. Because it's oily and very dark I think even something as heavy as Obernoff's would be fine or RM Williams leather dressing. As for sizing the website says the size true to size. Now I measure a US eight and a half in D width on the Brannock device so I ordered these accordingly and it is a good fit if somewhat snug. On the first day I wore them with medium thickness cotton socks like the athletic socks you know where the insides of Terry Terry cloth loops for comfort. That really felt snug and the low profile unstructured toe it wasn't tight but I was definitely conscious of my toes in the toe box. For the rest of the breaking period I switched to thin socks and it felt better but even now after the leather has relaxed a bit and it does relax it's still snug with thick socks. With that being said the comfort around my foot and ankle is very good. The leather is supple and does relax after a few weeks. I have average if not low volume ankles and the last seems to fit that. If you like more wriggle room for your toes or you want to wear thick boot socks you know I actually be tempted to size up. What I do is talk to a Alfonso if you're in any doubt because trust me I know sizing by website is a very stressful thing. The comfort underfoot though is really really good. The effect is like wearing rubber thongs flip-flops where you get immediate feedback from the ground. That's not to say that you feel every pebble and it hurts but you do feel connection with whatever you're walking on. As you probably know I have quite a number of leather sole boots but the closest I can compare the feeling with are my RM Williams craftsman boots. Not the comfort craftsman with a thick rubber outsole and they're built-in comfort insole but the original leather sole craftsman. The bottom of your feet feel protected sure enough but you also get feedback about what kind of surface you're on. Now to me that's a good feeling. This is how I imagine those medieval soft leather boots worn by knights or Robin Hood must have felt like. Finally to value I will repeat myself I really like these small boot brands. Starting any business is a risk starting a boot brand is a loaded risk so my hat's off to them which means that while my head might calculate the dollars my heart allows them an appropriate premium and add to that premium if the boots are artisanal and handmade made with passion. What you get for US $299 in this case is a well-constructed boot but with those aesthetic and finishing issues I've mentioned. To me the comfort and feel inside this boot is 10 out of 10 even though arch support is average. The package in its entirety is comfy. What you get is a boot made from local natural materials maybe not the best but in that low to mid-range quality certainly good enough. Now I'm not sure the durability it's a new brand so not many people can report long-term wear in the market and some of the pluses like the feel of the leather outsole may count against it in terms of durability later who knows. At the moment though after a couple of months of urban wear nothing's fallen off nothing's ripped nothing is torn all in all would I buy this boot at the price? Yes I would but be aware if you choose different options like I provided a free a gift-away boot at the end of last Christmas and somebody won it and I allowed him to order whatever you like which I paid for and it turned out to be about 440 US dollars you can get actually go crazy and get all the options to match. So there you are people my slightly biased take on these Cordoba's handmade MTO service boots. In this form they're under 300 US dollars which is a good price point they are interesting and quirky but in my view very aesthetically pretty. I think it's a brand to watch. Anyway I hope you like this review click on the thumbs up like button if you did that's going to help my channel and if you haven't yet don't forget to click on subscribe there's more boot reviews and boot videos coming your way if you subscribe so click on subscribe and take care out there see you again soon