 G'day, welcome to Boot Lossophy. For those of you new here, my name is Tech and I talk about boots. I give boot reviews and look at all things boot related. Today I'm reviewing the Parkhurst Allen Boot in Spruce Kudu. This has got to be the ultimate green boot, whether you're the hawk or not. This is the Parkhurst Allen Boot in the makeup that they call Spruce Kudu. I've had these boots for about nine months now, worn regularly but not hard as you can see. Just enough I think to tell you how they stand up and what they wear like. Now before I launch into the boot review, just a quick word about Parkhurst. If you want a more detailed description of the company, I go into some lengths to describe the history and ethos in my review of Richmond and Ray's Reverse waxed Mohawk, which I'll put a link to up here and also down in the description below. Now Parkhurst is a direct-to-consumer brand, that means they sell directly from their website to cut out the extra margin from a wholesaler and so the company's able to keep their boots in the mid US $300 range. Now I say company, but Parkhurst is really a one-man band. The founder Andrew Savisco started the company in 2018 when he saw a market niche for well-made heritage style boots that were updated in the aesthetics and kept in an affordable price range. Parkhurst is founded on trying to maintain the experience of generations and trying to do its bit to maintain employment in the trade. So to manufacture his boots, Parkhurst partnered with a well-established shoe factory in upstate New York. On top of that, the business model included sourcing as much raw material from the US as possible and where this wasn't possible or where the quality dictated an overseas supplier, he tried to buy through local distributors to try and keep as much of the supply chain feeding American companies as possible. Parkhurst operates as a small batch manufacturer. This means that Parkhurst uses a few base models and then makes them using different leathers in small batches until the material runs out and then goes on to the next batch and different materials. This business model gives Parkhurst a cachet as a boutique manufacturer of unique quality boots but also gives Parkhurst a disadvantage in that once finished a particular makeup of boots may not be produced again. That and the COVID amplified supply chain problems made that in recent times Parkhurst hasn't been able to provide a continuous flow through a product. We've seen times on the websites only shown one or two models for example. Now this would be hugely frustrating for Andrew as well as for his customers and I'm guessing a costly time for Parkhurst when it just cannot get the material to make the boots to sell. I'm glad to say that seemed to be improving with some originally shown 2021 models starting to appear now in mid 2022. Now that's a roundabout way of telling you that this model of Parkhurst's Allen boot in Spruce Kudu is no longer available. Andrew has been seen on social media show that he says it doesn't necessarily rule out that it won't be made again so for those who missed out I guess you have to hope for the best. But why am I reviewing a boot you may not be able to buy. Well firstly it may be made again. Second it's one version of a key Parkhurst design called the Allen boot and you may want to know what that design and the last it's modeled on wears like. And the third reason I believe this is representative of Parkhurst's overall build quality and innovative use of leathers in this case Kudu that I think you might want to know about. This iteration of the Allen boot is in Kudu from the Charles F state tannery in the UK. Kudu is a South African antelope that runs free range. The hides are sourced sustainably. No animals are killed just for their hide. The governments in South Africa Zimbabwe and Namibia control the population of these animals that otherwise harm crops and agriculture by culling them from time to time. The meat is distributed amongst the local population and the hides that would otherwise go to waste are sold to tanneries around the world. Now let's get a look at the leather. Let me move closer to the camera here. The animal is as I said free range so it lives in the savannah and gets scratched by thorns hunted by predators and accumulates a lot of marks and scars. Kudu leather is an exotic leather as you can see here accumulating the life experiences of the animal. It's a mid to lightweight leather supple yet tough and full of character. Some boot makers like Grant Stone will make a reverse version of Kudu leather boot. Some boot makers also lightly wax the leather. In this case Parkhurst leaves the leather quite dry to the touch which means it has a tactile feel to it that reinforces each whirl and scar and it doesn't feel like there's a layer of wax that makes the surface smooth and without character. In this makeup the rough and gnarly green Kudu is made into Parkhurst's plain toe surface boot called the Ellen boot. It's a dressy very nicely shaped six inch service boot. The profile is a sleek and low volume design in the vamp and in the toe box and from the top it's wider the ball of the foot but then slims down toward the toe before it rounds off at the toe. In many ways this is the archetypal service boot but sleek down to make a dressy design. I said dressy design and the profile shows that but clearly this is a casual boot. I'm pretty sure nobody wears it with a suit not even a green suit. The gnarly Kudu leather the fact that it's green and the tan split reverse well I'll talk about that when I talk about construction makes this a very casual boot. Sure I believe you can wear it as a dressy casual not quite business casual but we say chinos and a dressy casual shirt like an Oxford cloth button down jeans definitely any denims will go with this whether light denim, dark denim or selvedge and faded. It will go with all kinds of chinos and five pocket pants and potentially even wool trousers if you dress them down up top with a t-shirt and layers or a flannel and a leather and bomber jacket. You can wear it with pretty much any color except green. Do not wear it with green unless you're a leprechaun it doesn't work. I actually find the best combos for these boots are simple and unobtrusive colors all black is my favorite when I pull out these boots or greys or khakis and other brown shades. I think the key is to pull everything else back and let the green pop on your feet. Oh and by the way is this spruce kudu allen boot only for hipsters and instagram influences? No sir as I go to the construction I think these are strong enough to wear as light work boots to mow the lawn for example not to build a house or anything but if you're working on the yard or in the workshop no problem at all if you don't mind bashing up this lovely green. Go check out on instagram how sky boot guy wears him in his shop. On that note let's take a look at how these boots are put together. The uppers panels are stitched together with a combination of double and triple stitching depending on where strength is required. It's a triple stitch and a two plus one pattern here in the lower quarter. In the two piece backstays a single panel up the back of the shaft and the heel cup they're double stitched. The quarters around the eyelets and at the collar are single stitched no great strength required there. It has seven eyelets no speed hooks and the hardware is a kind of painted brown I think or olive green brown. The boots come with two pairs of round cotton laces but I switched them up here to green leather laces. I just think these add to the ruggedness of the green kudu. The tongue is semi-gusseted up to the third eyelet. There's a structured toe box lightly structured. It has a little reinforcement enough to keep the shape but soft to press. I think there is a celastic toe box in there. Celastic is a man-made thermoplastic that you can shape when warm and lots of boot makers use it these days instead of leather. There's the same celastic heel counter under this backstay. It keeps the shape of the heel and gives your foot support around the heel. Inside the uppers the boot is lined with a two ounce vegetarian leather in the toe and vamp but unlined up the shaft and the tongue is unlined. That's actually a pretty heavy weight leather for lining. Most boots use lining leathers around one to one and a half ounces. The uppers are built around in this case Parkhurst's current 602 last. A last is the foot shape mold that boot makers shape the uppers around to form the shape of the boot. You saw the sections of the uppers together and then you wrap the floppy uppers around the last, tighten it to create the shape and then sew the soles on. So the boot brand's last is very important not only to create the aesthetic shape of the boot but also for the comfort factor of how it fits your feet. I'll talk more about the 602 last when I talk about sizing in comfort. The uppers are sewn to the soles using the Goodyear Welter construction method. A welt is a strip of leather that you see here that goes around the edge of the boot. Generally the inside edge of the welt is sewn to the uppers and the insole on the inside and the outside edge is sewn through the midsole and the outsole as you can see here from this stitching. In this case it's a 360 degree Goodyear welt. It goes all the way around the boot and is technically a split reverse Goodyear welt. A normal welt is split halfway through on the inside. The bottom half is sewn to the insole and uppers is normal. The upper half is flanged back and against the uppers on the outside as seen here. A Goodyear welt shoe is resolvable. A cobble can just undo these outside stitches and stitch on a new outsole without damaging the uppers leather without touching it really and a Goodyear welt shoe is also more water resistant. The welt creates like a barrier between the insole's uppers and the outsole so no stitch holes go straight through from outside to inside the boot. In this case a split reverse welt increases the water resistance. You can see how this flange creates an extra barrier. Let's go back inside the boot. The insole is a three and a half to four mil vegetarian bends leather, leather from the tough back of the cowl. On top of that at the heel is a heel pad and some foam to give you a bit of extra shock absorption and the heel stripe. Below the insole is a cork filling. If you think about it when you put the thick leather welt around the outside edge of the shoe it creates a bit of a cavity inside the welt. The cork layer fills this in so your feet don't feel the edge of the welt which can be uncomfortable and it provides more shock absorption. For boot purists this leather insole and cork filling is the gold standard of insole construction. Leather and cork will compress with the pressure of your weight and it creates a shape that is unique to the lumps and bumps of your feet creating a customized feel over time. Embedded in the cork layer is a fiberglass shack running from here to here. A shack is a kind of ice cream stick shaped piece of firm material usually steel sometimes wood or hardened leather but in this case fiber glass. It gives you arch support so that the pressure of your feet don't push this gap between the heel and the ball and the heel down causing foot tightness over the day. It also gives the boot extra rigidity especially torsion rigidity when you step over uneven rocks and sharp edges. Moving further down apart from the bends leather insole there's another veg 10 bends leather midsole that's this layer here that you see just below the wheel welt. Then the rubber outsole is glued on top of the midsole and the goodies stitch goes through the whole lot. The heel is stacked leather and the rubber top lift for grip and shock absorption. In this case the rubber outsole and top lift is from Dayknight a UK based sole manufacturer. You can tell by these relatively low profile studs. Dayknight is a very popular sole choice on many boots. Some boot makers even make their own proprietary rubber soles that look exactly like this. I'm thinking Thursday and Grandstone as prime examples. If you want to take a look at Thursday's version take a look at my review of the Thursday captain boot which I'll put in a link up here. The Grandstone version is very similar but has a slightly smaller lugs and a different heel layer without the smiley face. You can check that out in this unboxing of the Grandstone 10S6 diesel boot here. Dayknight is popular because of the low profile as well as the grip I think. The low profile means that it looks like a normal shoe you know no aggressive commando lugs or looking too outdoorsy. The grip is pretty reasonable at least for my use case scenarios. I live in a climate that doesn't snow and there's no ice on the ground so I can't talk about that but I mainly use my boots in an urban scenario you know across cement, pavement, grass lawns, carpets, offices. I've worn dayknight on a walk I hesitate to call it a hike with no issues at all. Now let's turn to how you might care for these boots. First I hope you brush your boots with a good quality horsehair brush. If not every time you wore then at least most times you wear them. That's the first rule of boot care. Okay you know boot collectors, boot nerds and boot heads love conditioning their boots almost as soon as they get them. I have a huge collection of boot oils, boot creams, boot conditioners and boot polishes and like many boot fans I love taking care of my boots and more often than not I have to tell myself to leave it alone. But at some stage you probably are going to have to clean your boots and if they're really dry you're going to have to condition your leathers. Parkhurst recommends that you use smith leather balm or any natural applicant or wax. Parkhurst also recommends a new butt of waterproofing spray. Several people in my Facebook boot enthusiasts group say that they've tried the smith leather balm and found that it darkens the green coulis and some of them recommend just big four if you don't want to darken this leather. In my opinion it's actually quite difficult to choose what to use but this is my advice. This is quite a dry leather as much as possible like suede I would leave it alone. It's not that you can feel that it's dry in each conditioning I mean it feels dry anyway out of the box. If you really had to clean it again I treated that suede and use a suede eraser to remove spots and stains. If that doesn't work I use a damp cloth to wipe it over and also remove dust and mud if that's accumulative. If that doesn't work and it really needs cleaning then and only then would I consider a gentle leather cleaner not saddle silk but something like leather honey leather cleaner and follow the instructions. I'll leave a link to some of these products in the description below. If you really really needed to condition this leather then I'd try a big four or I think I might prefer a suede conditioning spray like something from Timberland for their new buck or something from Echo for their suede or ultimately a Sophia product called Renovateur suede and new buck spray. Once cleaned and conditioned you can waterproof it by using a Torago product called Nano Protector spray. If you don't mind darkening the leather or leaving a slightly waxy sheen to it then and only then would I experiment with balms like the Smiths but a word of warning the look and textures will definitely change. Okay that's the construction of leather care what about sizing and comfort. Parkhurst's 602 last is the perfect last for my feet. Then the Grant Stone Leal last and the Alden True Balance last are anatomically perfect for my feet. In all three my heel is fitted snugly the waist is hugged then the last open out so that neither the ball of my feet nor my toes ever feel cramped. Most American manufacturers seem to run large and most will advise you to come down half a size from True. I take a size 8 in Parker's blitz. Parkhurst don't really offer different widths the 602 last is a combination last primarily a d-width but opening to an e-width in the forefoot. If you need wider widths I'd recommend you contact Andrew by email his emails available on his website check within given the different brands you wear and the sizes you take. I mean you may have to size up to accommodate particularly wide feet and I suppose it is possible that the parkhurst last may just not suit your feet but I think Andrew will be able to advise a fitting that suits you. In my size 8s my parkhursts are perfect as I said before the heel and waist around the arch is snug to hold the back half my feet the ball of my feet and my toes in this round of toe box don't feel any pressure at all the vamp is quite low volume my feet and ankles are fine but if your feet are higher volume it's possible that your toes may start to feel the top of the vamp and the toe box on them. For me there was no breaking the kudu leather is very subtle despite the double bends midsoles I find the flexibility quick to adapt to how I flex my foot the arch support hover was okay not great just okay when you order you have the option of paying an extra I think it's for your US dollars for extra arch support to be built in if you feel that you need to you can do that overall because of the last and the leather cork rubber combination under your feet shock absorption is pretty good okay I haven't run of these but walking on hard floors like concrete pavements and urban flooring my feet hold up well let's turn to the value of these parkhurst boots all parkhurst boots are in the mid US 300 dollar range these cost me 328 dollars in June 2021 that was about 420 oz in dollars at the time so compared to cheap footwear like eco or local high street fashion brands not cheap but take a look at iron williams at 595 oz in australia you can buy red wing iron ranges for about 528 oz we'll bring self for about 570 oz these are the quality comparisons you should make all good your welter well made boots with leathers from halloween and cstd amongst other well known tan ways they compare pretty well in price as for value at that very subjective measure let's tick through what you get good your welter construction the gold standard if you like unique leather from renowned charse of stead tan great last so great fit and comfort well known day night so solid leather and cork construction pretty good qc no loose stitches no badly sewn leathers no holes where they shouldn't be nothing fallen off after these last nine months or so of steady wear i can't really think of any negatives except it may be they're not particularly versatile they are fully casual and you do have to be careful what you wear them with if you don't want to look loud or like it's permanent st patty's day um so overall as subjective as it is yeah in my opinion i think they came out pretty good value well there you have it that's my personal take on the parkers allen boot in spruce kudu i hope you enjoyed it let me know what you think in the comments below before i go here's where i get you to help me out so if you like the review i'd really appreciate it if you click on the like button below and i'd be super appreciative if you could also click on subscribe and besides i'm going to release a lot more boot reviews and unboxings and maybe other uh boot and leather related videos if you're interested in that kind of stuff subscribing will mean that when i release these videos youtube will put them up in your feed to remind you to watch thanks for that hope you enjoyed it and i'll see you again in the next video soon