 This is going to be fascinating. This is the Gardner Boot from Harald Boots, arguably Australia's oldest boot company. It's a Chelsea boot, but take a look at the outsole and take a look at this leather flap. It ain't no RM Williams. Keep watching and I'll tell you about the fascinating history of Harald Boots and the innovation used in this boot. G'day, how you going? If you're new here, my name is Tech and welcome everybody to Boot Lossophy. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this country I live and work on are the widget people of the Noongar Language Group. As I said at the beginning, this is the Gardner Boot from the Harald Boot Company, a little-known bootmaker based in Ivanhoe East and outer suburb northeast of the city of Melbourne in Victoria. If you're used to RM Williams' or Chelsea work boots like Blundstones and Redbacks as your only Australian boots, you'll be surprised to know that Harald Boots have been operating in Australia since 1912, but it's arguably Australia's oldest bootmaking company because of the Harald family history, which I'll tell you about in a minute. But first let's take a look at the design and style of this Gardner Boot from the company. As you can see it's a Chelsea boot, but it has an innovative characteristic in that it has these protective leather flaps that cover the elastic goreng panels. Apart from that it's a sleek Chelsea, emphasised by it being a whole cut Chelsea, meaning that it's made of only one piece of leather with only one seam up the back. Not easy to make and I'll tell you about that. The sleekness is reflected in the shape of the toe box around an almond shaped toe as well as the leather flaps that guides the eye in one line around the break of the goreng panels. The leather protective panels are secured by a strap that goes around the Achilles heel and it velcos on tight. It's otherwise a standard six inch high Chelsea boot with a standard block heel. The sleekness is partial to it being worn as a dressed up casual boot, but being a Chelsea with their riding and work boot history in Australia is easily capable of being worn out in the paddock or on horseback especially in this distressed slightly oily leather. As a result it goes well with jeans and t-shirts and also with chinos and a business shirt in a classic Aussie relaxed outfit off the farm and you can add a sports coat if you want to venture into the city for business. In this distressed brown it matches any earth colour like tans and browns, greys and black jeans and obviously denim. Let's talk a bit more about the Harold Boot Company which has a really interesting history. According to the company the family's boot making routes go back to England to the 1400s. I guess they made leather boots for knights because that's Richard II, Henry IV that sort of time in England, time of the Crusades and at least Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They say that in the 1700s the family then started to employ 40 boot makers in workshops and then at the start of the industrial revolution gathered them together into an industrialised factory. In 1912 they sent Frederick Harold off to Australia to source better hides and start a factory to make them and then send them back to England. Like many boot making companies Harold Boots expanded in World War I and then further in World War II. Between the wars they first produced an elastic-sided work boot from a style that they say they made in England. You should know by now, I mention it every time I do a review of a Chelsea boot, you should know by now that the elastic-sided boot was invented by Joseph Sparks Hall for Queen Victoria in 1837 as a comfortable slip-on walking and riding boot. After that it became a smart riding boot for the Chelsea set that was in hers and her son's time as regents and then it was carried out to the colonies as a riding and work boot. It wasn't until the 1960s when the Beatles and other pop groups started wearing Cuban-heeled Winklepicker versions of them that they became popular as fashion items and really cemented the Chelsea boot name. Harold Boots continued from the post-war years with some success but as gradually manufacturing in Australia declined began to also decline itself. By the late 1980s the company was bought out from Frederick's grandson Ian but I believe Ian Harold continued to run the factory until his passing. In 2013 production moved to Vietnam after a majority of their workers retired at all at about the same time. This is the problem of small artisan companies that can't find a constant refresh of new workers to learn the trade. I believe the same sort of thing is happening in the Pacific Northwest of the US especially after Covid. Today they are a small volume bootmaker well known in Victoria and up the East Coast but not so well known elsewhere. Today they make some of the Boots in Melbourne and others in Vietnam. I was told by a viewer that you can tell from the logo on the outsole. If it's a square logo then it's made in Vietnam. If it's a round logo then it's made in Australia. When Ian Harold ran the factory he was known as Ian Harold the Bootman and known for his innovative design and construction of their boots. This gardener boot shows some of those tweaks and we can go through them next. Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. The construction method is one that I've never heard of that the company calls a fair stitch welt. The way I understand it the uppers are cemented to a leather insole that has a poron layer that's laminated into it. Then a cork filling is put on and a carbon fiber and fiberglass shank is inserted into the cork layer. The shank is inserted between the heel and the ball of the foot to provide arch support under the gap there and also to provide torsional stability on rough ground or going up ladders. Inside the boot the midsole is cemented and Blake stitched through the insole to the uppers. This connects securely the uppers the insole and the midsole. The insole and midsole are described as oak tanned butt leather. Translation I think that means oak tanned bends leather so tough. After the midsole is Blake stitched on the rubber outsole is then cemented onto the midsole and then brass wire screws that you can see here are screwed through to the outsole through the midsole through the cork filling and into the insole. Then the midsole I think by then acting as a welt on the outside edge because I can't see a third layer of a separate welt. The midsole is then stitched through to the outsole around 270 degrees which you can see here. I think it's for strength and durability and to create a little bit of a sleek line. The heel is then laminated to the sole and then it's internally nailed. The nails at the heels are described as hardened buttress nails whatever those are but they sound strong. I assume that means that they go into the heel and somehow clinch to hold on. You know I've never heard of the fair stitch welt method of construction before but it sounds and it feels extremely hardy. If you want to know more about the different popular methods of construction that doesn't include fair stitch you can check out the video here. The construction makes this boot I think good value which I'll discuss when I get to the end of the video. The outsole itself is actually made of a rubber and cork composite and you can see the cork embedded in there. It's about 8 millimeters under the ball of the foot and about 5 millimeters under the arch and the heel. The heel itself is a block of the same rubber cork compound and is about 20 millimeters thick on top of the outsole layer. I can tell you that the outsole is grippy and it's really shock absorbing especially with that poron layer also on the inside without feeling squishy. Inside the boot they finish it off with a heel to arch sock liner that's also lined with poron. As I said earlier it's a whole cut Chelsea meaning that it's made of one piece of leather molded over the last to shape and then stitched with one seam at the back. RM Williams do whole cuts as well and this is of the same quality in manufacture I think if it's not quite the same quality of leathers used. The uppers are made from a two and a half millimeter thick Australian sourced bull hide from the meat industry. I don't know where it's tanned but I think it would be in Australia before being shipped out to Vietnam. It's a distressed slightly oily leather feel supple but sturdy at the same time. The boot is fully lined with a one millimeter thick not especially soft but soft enough leather. The internal heel counter is eight mils of compressed leather and feel stiff giving a lot of stability and support. The toe box is stiffened and I'm guessing that's a solastic thermoplastic because it has some given it. The goring panels are double weaved water resistant elastic fabric actually takes a lot to expand them to get your foot in. Then there's this eye catcher this leather panel that protects both goring panels around them. They're simply panels of leather cut to shape with a strap that reaches around the back secures both panels tightly and then velcros the panels together. I find this piece of innovation attractive but also I'll bet they're great in the paddock in tall grass or mud or riding horses and scraping the sides of the boot against leather saddle straps. As with all Aussie Chelsea boots it is topped by two pull loops made from a tough woven cloth and bearing the Ian Harrow name and Melbourne Australia. Now to leather care. This is a casual boot and it's in an oily distressed leather. There's a really light pull up to it so it's not a boot to be polished unlike some of RM's models. I would normally look to the boot maker to see what they say about boot care but their website is silent about it so what would I do? I'd stick to brushing it regularly to remove dirt and grit before they build up and to remove the interior oils around and if muddy just wipe it with a damp rag. If it's really dirty I'd have no hesitation in using saddle soap to give it a really good clean. From time to time maybe a couple of times a year or more depending on how you use them. I'd condition it with something like BIC 4 or a greasy conditioner like RM Williams' Leather Conditioner. Oakwood's Leather Conditioner which is an Aussie product I think will also work. I probably would not use Venetian shoe cream because of its higher wax content which I think could leave an inappropriate shine behind it. And now let's take a look at sizing. These run true to size. By that I mean that they should be in your true size as measured on a brand device. They also use UK sizing which is like Weiberg one number down from US numbers so using me as the example I measure a US 8 and a half on the brand device. That equates to a UK 7 and a half. In US boots I wear mostly an 8 because the usual half size down from my brand measurement convention works or you know a UK 7. However these are true to size so I wear my 7 and a half or US 8 and a half which is my true size. In that size they fit well. The last or that mould on which they build the boot is well designed to give enough grip at the heel and at the waist but widens at the ball of the foot. And despite the almond shaped toes they are quite rounded and so look I don't feel any squeeze at all either on the pinky side or on the big toe side of the boot. It actually feels quite anatomical when my foot's in it. As for comfort despite the seemingly thick complex construction method of the sole and the sturdy bull hide itself there was no break-in. Two days after I got the boots I took them as my only boot on a three-hour plane trip to broom to a wedding and spent a long weekend in them with no discomfort at all at any time. Comfort wise they have a very shock absorbing build with the rubber cork outsole and the poron laminated that's laminated to the insole. The fit is good also which means comfort all around. Finally the value on their website they're listed at $495 including GST and a recommended retail price of $577 including GST. Now these are Australian dollars and I have no idea why their quoted price is different from the recommended retail price. If any retailers are out there watching this maybe they can tell me maybe one of them is the wholesale. I bought them for 325 Aussie dollars from an Aussie website called Everything Australian and I will leave a link to that website below. It is worth mentioning my experience with them. When I ordered these from Everything Australian they sell a wide variety of boots and workwear clothing. I also bought another pair of boots Baxter boots another lesser known Aussie brand that I'll bring to you next week. As soon as I placed my order I got an email from their sales department Duane who suggested to me that I might want a bigger size in the Baxter boots. After a very helpful email conversation I changed my order and I'll tell you about that next week. I was really impressed by their level of service and cruising their website I'm also impressed by their prices on other brands. So my value opinion is based on the 325 Australian dollar price. My thoughts outstanding value at that price even if these are not made in Australia. Frankly top value probably because they're not made in Australia. Yet the lower price doesn't affect what I can see of its quality. You already heard me talk about how sturdily they are made and I can't see any strange faults in the construction. The stitching is good and making a whole cut boot is not easy. Think of it you have to cut a piece of flat leather and then last it into a three-dimensional shape without allowing the leather to either slacken in places or over tighten at any stage of the construction. Yes I think these are definitely worth that price. So in summary if you can get a pair of these boots I really would give them a try. I have no relationship or sponsorship from them but I got them because I was intrigued. They're a lesser known Australian boot brand and in my interview with the podiatrist Anthony Cox a few weeks ago he held up a pair of Harrell boots so I really wanted to see what they were like. I am not disappointed. They're made overseas but quality control and workmanship are good. The materials are good. The construction seems stellar. The design and aesthetics are attractive. I really like them. I believe they sell them in some UK stores but I'm not sure of anywhere else. If you're in the US you may have to contact everything Australian. Email Dwayne at sales at everythingaustralian.com.au and tell him I was impressed by his help. I've not been as impressed by a pair of boots at this price for a long time. Anyway I hope you like this review. If you're interested in a long-term review of these boots in a year or so let me know in the comments below and I'll put that on my list. Otherwise click on like if you like this video. That will help me and I appreciate it if you would. Also if you're not subscribed I don't know why you're not. Click on the subscribe button and keep up to date when I upload more boot reviews every week. Until next time take care and I'll see you again soon.