 G'day guys, how are you going? If you're new here, I'm Tech and this is my channel Boot Lossophy. I'm on Wajik Country in Western Australia and I recognise the traditional owners of this land. Today I'm looking at the Ellen Edmonds Landon Boot in a stone-coloured new buck. This is the Ellen Edmonds Landon Boot. On their website they call this the Landon Suede Capto Boot in light brown. Firstly, it's not suede, it's definitely new buck. In fact, in the small print of the description they say that the Landon is offered in a full range of materials including an extra sturdy pair made in hefty new buck. They're adjective by the way, not mine. Secondly, would you call this light brown? I'm not sure I would. Maybe it's fawn, khaki or stone, but I wouldn't call it light brown, right? In fact, if you explore the website descriptions a bit, they're clearly written for the model and then remain unchanged as they copy the basic text onto different make-ups and just make some changes to the photos and a few names and words. I might be upsetting a few Ellen Edmonds fans, but I'm really not impressed by their website. So, it is a Capto Service Boot, six inches high with a brick-red day-night outsole. Aesthetically, it's reasonably sleek but has this strange thing going on at the back. There's the usual heel counter backstay, but the central strip is sewn on the outside of the backstay and there's this thing. I mean, I have no idea what it's there for. I guess it's a fashion choice and it is interesting, but I'm not into fashionable form and it seems a little unnecessary. I'll get into it when I get into the construction, but it has this nice natural colored welt which goes well with a stone-colored new buck. They call this a bench welt, but as we'll see, I think it's a standard split-reverse welt. The welt will make it more water-resistant, of course, but on top of that, these boots are themselves weatherproof. I think that means that the new buck is treated and there's a lining inside that's weatherproof. Ellen Edmonds do make them in a variety of leathers and even some wool and leather combinations including two-tone make-ups, but I think the outstanding thing about this aesthetic is the stone color in the matte new buck. I think it's quite eye-catching. From what I've seen and been able to research, they seem to have made an appearance in the Ellen Edmonds catalogs in 2019 or 2020, so they're not an old-time heritage boot, but built on the style of one. I'm not sure what the historical significance of the name Landon is, but Ellen Edmonds do have a range of World War II related names like the pattern after the general, the corn, even though that's a British battle, and the Normandy, which all seem to have appeared at roughly the same period. So maybe it's something to do with that. So based on that aesthetic, it's definitely a casual boot. Perhaps in a smooth brown or black leather, you could get away with more business casual attire, but in these uppers, they're smart casual and downwards in that casual ladder. Where I live, winter is reasonably mild, mild single digits at night, mid-teens during the day, just rain, no snow or ice. So I would wear this in winter as well as in summer, but I can see that if your conditions are a bit more harsh, this would be your summer boot, I think. And as a summer boot, the color and light new butt would be excellent to pair with similar tones like khaki chinos or very pale and even white trousers and polo shirts or smart button downs. The look in these could be quite preppy rather than a rugged jeans and t-shirt type casual. I'd also consider dark wash denim or darker earth and neutral colors like navy, olive or even black pants. I'd certainly be happy to top it with a blazer or a herrington jacket or a light textile bomber. It's soft and light enough to wear it in almost all social casual occasions. Things like friends parties, going to lunch at a cafe or the pub, lounging at the park or going to a game. Let's take a look at Ellen Edmonds before we look at the construction of these boots. Ellen Edmonds is a moderate to higher end shoe manufacturing and retail company. It was started in 1922 by Ebert Allen and Ralph Spiegel in Belgium, Wisconsin, and the company was originally called the Ellen Spiegel Shoe Company. I'm not sure when Ralph Spiegel left or was bought out, but in 1946 new partner William Edmonds joined Ebert Allen's sons who had inherited the company when their father passed away. So the current Ellen Edmonds shoe corporation was born then. According to their website, when Ebert Allen started the company, he specialized in making footwear with cork insoles instead of metal nails and shanks used at the time. I'm not sure what they mean by cork insoles instead of nails and shanks. I mean, I would have thought that there were different parts of the boot anatomy. Doing a little further research, I think what they mean is that most shoes of that period seems to have been made with stiff leather insoles and midsole, including that midsole filler, which is now mainly cork. So with or without a shank, there were probably a lot more uncomfortable than today's shoes with less thickness leather and more cork or other filling inside. Honestly, another example I think of poorly crafted website text. Anyway, presumably making more comfortable shoes than his competitors, Allen grew the company steadily and the company supplied footwear to the US Army and Navy in World War II. It's said that this gained them a huge following and loyalty from returning troops. As they grew, they kept on introducing Oxford dress shoes like Park Avenues and Strands that had become American classics. In 2006, investment firm Goldner Horn bought 90% of the company and then in 2013, they were bought out by private equity hedge fund Brentwood. And finally in 2013, they were acquired for 255 million by Caleres Inc, a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Caleres also owns other footwear brands like Dr. Shawl, Famous, Vince, Lifestride and Blowfish Malibu, selling through websites, department stores, and over a thousand retail stores and malls and shopping centers. Caleres has a market cap today of over $1 billion US with a group turnover of nearly $2.8 billion US in financial 2021. The estimated turnover for Allen Edmonds itself in financial 2021 was about $119 million US and it was estimated to employ about 500 people. It's said that Allen Edmonds resisted the trend to move all production overseas to save costs, mainly due to concerns about quality control, and they still use the tagline Handcrafted in Port Washington, Wisconsin. However, you should note that their hand-sewn collection is hand-sewn in company-owned factories in the Dominican Republic and then shipped to Port Washington to complete their production there. And in this way, they can legally say their products are made in America, which to a large extent I suppose they are. Today, Allen Edmonds also makes shoes in Italy as well as the Dominican Republic and in America. A lot of commentary now is that since they ramped up production numbers in the late 2010s, there have been more and more QC issues. I'm new to Allen Edmonds and I have three models, two pairs of the Higgins mill, one in brown chrome XL, the iconic pair, and the other in loading suede. And of course, I have these. I can't compare QC to earlier models, but all three have, I think, seem to be good. Let's turn to the way these Landon boots are constructed. Starting at the uppers, they are new buck. While it might look and almost feel like suede, new buck is a top grain leather that's been sanded or buffed on the grain side to give it a slight nap or short fibers that produce a velvety feel to the surface. Let's break that down. When a hide comes into the tannery, it's split through a horizontal rolling blade into a top half and a bottom half. The bottom half is taken to be made into suede. The top half or top grain half can be turned into smooth top grain leather. Or in the case of new buck, that top grain side, or where the hair used to be, is sanded lightly to create new buck. New buck being made of tighter fiber structures is tougher than suede and with fibers looser than smooth leather, also more durable than smooth full grain, which scratches easily. This new buck is very soft and just nappy enough so that you can stroke it and cause the light to change the color and shade. The cap toe is very lightly structured. You can easily depress it and it's not a real cap toe. It isn't two pieces leather, one on top of each other, but a cap toe sewn onto a cut off vent piece. The heel counter is also extremely softly stiffened. Again, you can easily depress it. The counter backstay is a single piece with this, whatever you call it, backstrap thingy running outside the heel backstay and up the shaft. And then it's crossed by this horizontal strap thingy. The strap thingy doesn't fulfill any function that I can see, it's just there for a fashion distinction I think. The stitching is neat and clean, but more like a dress shoe than of a rugged boot and that's what I mean by pretty good QC. It's mainly double stitching only and there's some loose threads here and there and it doesn't feel particularly sturdy but it's well sewn. This is not intended as a work or idea say outdoorsy hiking boot by any means. There are five brass eyelets and three brass speed hooks. They're backed with washers and they feel pretty sturdy. The nice wide lined tongue is not gusseted but being lined it's thick enough to stay where it's supposed to be and not go meandering down the side of my right foot, which is what usually happens to unlined tongues on my foot. The boot is fully lined with a soft and I'm guessing goat leather. Newbuck is usually thinner weight than full grain uncorrected leather but because of the lining I can't measure the thickness of the newbuck itself. The thickness including the lining is three and a half to four mils thick so that's pretty good overall. The newbuck and lining together gives it a comfortable and quite luxurious feel to the uppers. This is quite a strange last and has the effect of creating a wide gap between the lace facings on my feet. When I lace them up tight there's almost a two inch gap at the widest part. That's not because they don't fit, these boots fit me perfectly which I'll get to later but they're lasted very wide. Apparently Ellen Edmonds lasts are developed in-house as supposed to be bought from last designers. Some boot makers will buy a last from designers like Jones and Vinning but Ellen Edmonds make their own. The Landon is built on their 2622 last that's described as broad through the four part with a round toe and a low profile and gives a relaxed fit. It definitely has less volume than the Higgins Mill. The low profile is what tends to widen that lacing up I think not that the boot is too small and the design of the quarters is cut so that they are wide apart. Inside the boot is a leather insole and pushing into that I reckon there's a foam or poron type insole in there as well. It isn't listed on the website under materials but they do talk about cork and other innovative materials in the insole so I guess that's it. However under that they say there is a cork filling that fills in the cavity caused by the Goodyear welt going around the edge of the boot. So yes this boot is a Goodyear welted boot. That's the form of construction that sews the uppers to the welt and then separately sews the outsoles to the welt. In this way making the welt a barrier between inside and outside and increasing water resistance. It's also a form of construction that makes it easy to re-sole or re-craft the boot by undoing the stitching and replacing the worn out sole. This is despite their website saying the landon is bench welter. I don't know if there is a technical definition for bench welting but as far as I've been able to research it's another term for a flat welt where the welt is a flat piece of leather. If that's right then I don't know why their website describes this as a bench or flat welt because this is clearly a split reverse welt. A split reverse welt is a welt that's partly split in the inside edge. The lower part of the split is sewn to the uppers like normal. The upper part of the split is flanged upwards and then pushed against the side of the boot to create a further barrier against moisture and water getting in. These boots have a two plus mil leather welt and it's sewn to a two mil thick leather midsole and then to the rubber day night outsole. Day night is an English company that started producing these day night studded outsoles in 1910. The company used to run its mil day and night and hence coined this name day night. This is a truly ubiquitous outsole seen on the styles of almost every boot maker and if a boot maker doesn't use day night they almost certainly have made a proprietary version of day night because of the successful combination of grip afforded by these sunken studs and the thin dressiness of the sole from the profile. They go on rugged Pacific Northwest boots as well as on dressy English oxfords replacing traditional thin leather soles. In this case Ellen Edmonds uses the brick red or ochre version. A lot of people don't like it but I think it's an attractive point of difference unlike that funny strappy thing at the back of the boot. Day night is grippy enough in most urban situations. Remember I've not worn it on ice or snow. With the cork filler on top and the foam backing in the insole you don't get any feeling of the studs coming through inside so I find them good if not perfect for my use case scenarios in the office or in social occasions especially as they look flat and dressy from the side. Now how do you take care of this new buck especially with this light colour? To start with it's slightly absorbent which means that if you splash it with dirt or even with moisture it will absorb some of that into it so before first wear I'd treat it with a waterproofer spray like Tarago's Nano spray. It does wear off so I respray it every three or four months or more if this is your everyday boot that you wear in weather. If it does get marked you can treat it like suede. Don't wash it with water don't saddle soap new buck. For most everyday cleaning it's enough to just remove gritty dirt with a suede brush. You can get a suede brush with firm bristles or some have a copper core of bristles surrounded by an edging of rubber bristles to help smooth out the net just simply with the brushing action. You can also brush away any shiny spots I haven't got any developed here but if they do develop with constant rubbing like say from your trouser leg just rub them off. If there is a stain or dirty spot you can rub at it with a suede eraser. I find that Timberlands dry cleaning kits with a suede brush and eraser are useful for this care. I'll leave a link in the description box below. If you have liquid stains like red wine or ink you may have to resort to more scarier methods. I mean obviously if you spot the stain quickly immediately wipe it off and damp at the spot with a damp cloth being careful not to spread the stain. However if you've not been careful and it has dried before you recognize it you may have to resort to a very fine sandpaper I mean really fine. That sounds incredibly frightening but as long as you're gentle and don't treat it like a block of wood it should be fine. The newbuck was created by fine sanding of the surface of the leather so you should be able to replicate that and remove the tiniest of tiniest of surface layer to remove the stain. As for conditioning I don't think you need to stress about that as much it's a it's a pretty dry leather but if it really does dry out as it gets older you can use a roll-on type of suede and newbuck conditioner like the Echo product or use Tarago suede and newbuck conditioning spray. Taking a look at how these size I'll start with my true size as measured on a brannock device which is an eight and a half in D or average width. For UK and Australian viewers our sizes are one number down from US. For most of my American heritage boots I size down by a half to an eight D. I did the same here and it's a great fit. As I said earlier the 2622 last is a wide last. The heels are pretty snug just the way I like them because it gives me that locked in feeling and then the last widens into the ball of the feet so that my widest part of my feet don't feel squeezed. The toes are rounded and they round gently so no quick taper in. Sometimes especially in European lasts they taper into a very pointed toe very quickly sometimes pushing your outside toes in a bit too much. The length at eight D is great for me plenty of room at the tip of my toes without being oversized. The overall comfort is good. The last is suited to my feet. The supple newbuck and soft uppers wrap my feet without constraining them and the slight foam feeling under the leather insole gives me a light touch under my feet. The only thing is that the arch support is not great. If you've seen my other videos you know that when I'm talking about the construction I usually mention the presence or absence of a shank. That's the thin strip of hard material steel plastic fiberglass that gets inserted into the midsole between the heel and the ball of the foot. It gives the the boot arch support by stopping your weight collapsing this gap here and also gives a little stability longitudinally so as your feet wobble over uneven ground it's stabilized. I didn't mention it because I have no idea if they have one. I can't find any information about it and in many forums and discussion groups it seems to be generally accepted that Ellen Edmonds tend not to have a shank. These do not feel like there is a shank. It is pretty light so it's not a steel shank. It flexes quite a bit when you press down or when you stand. You can flex the boot through the middle part quite easily. But mostly when I stand in it I do feel my archers sink down a bit. I haven't worn these long enough in a day when my feet could feel tired but I feel that they would. So potentially comfy because of the materials but probably not great for a long day on your feet. I bought this pair from eBay for 179 US dollars. They sell on the Ellen Edmonds website for about 480 US so I felt it was a good buy especially as they were hardly used just didn't fit the guy. The heel was unmarked, the sole was untouched. There was a little creasing at the vamp but nothing too alarming and there were absolutely no impressions on the insole. I think at best these were worn no more than a week or so and most of it I think indoors. At that price I think they're a great buy. At the listed price in the mid 400s they stand 100 dollars above Grant Stone and Parkhurst and maybe 150 above some sturdy red ring models. There are a few dollars more than Wolverine 1000 miles. They're at a comparable price with Oak Street bootmakers trench boots as well as some Truman boots. Looking at those comparisons they're about the same quality as Wolverines. Parkhurst boots are I think sturdier and more rugged if you're that way inclined. Grant Stone quality is well above these in my opinion. The Oak Street items seem to be more carefully handmade and Truman boots are just tanks so I'm not sure I can say that at mid 400s or at the 480 dollars on the website that they are worth that price. Having said that they seem to be on sale quite often and on Amazon they're usually listed around US 300 or even less sometimes you just have to catch it at the right time. At 300 dollars US I think that's more like it. I'd say they'd be at the right value then. I'll leave a link to Amazon below if you're interested in chasing them there. You do have to keep looking out for them to get the right price and there you have it. My review of the Ellen Edmonds Landon boots in light brown or stone. New buck not suede. I hope you like my review. If you did please click on the like button so that I can grow my channel to bring you more boot reviews and if you want to catch my boot reviews as I upload them don't forget to click on subscribe as well. That'll get YouTube to notify you when something new from me comes up. Take care guys and I'll see you soon.