 G'day, how are you going? My name is Tech and welcome back to my channel Bootlossophy. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands I live and work on, the Wajik people of Nungabuja. Today I'm going to look at these Grant Stone diesel boots in Horween's Tan Essex Leather after over 12 months of not frequent but regular wear. This pair of Grant Stone diesel boots were bought at the end of 2021 and got into my hot hands in January 2022. You'll probably say they look almost new and yeah I don't wear them every day. With over 70 or 80 pairs of boots as it now stands, I don't get to wear any pair of boots every day, but I do make sure that almost every boot gets worn regularly, some more than most. This pair I'd say I put on maybe a couple of times a month. Not all of those times for a full day but they do get worn and usually though through an urban or office situation. They haven't tracked through mud or gone hiking but they've come through some heavy rain in the city where I live. If this is the first Grant Stone diesel boot that you've seen, it's a plain-toe dressy version of a service boot. It has the usual six inch tall shaft, block heel, open derby lacing system, it's good year welted and a reasonably slim profile toe box and rounded but still almond shaped toe. On the website the marketing photos show it as a very light colored and almost pink boot. In real life when it arrived it wasn't as light and it was definitely tan but it was still a light tan and over the last year still unconditioned it definitely has got darkened become a quite an orangey tan. When I bought them I was a little concerned that they might be the same as my pair of battle assy veg tan saddle tan diesels. Those started out quite orange I'll just pull it up. As you can see the saddle tan has darkened and deepened into a deep honey brown not orange at all anymore. These in tan Essex have moved over more to what the saddle tan looked like when it was new. I've actually already done a review of this pair and you can see it up here after four months away. You can watch that video after finishing this one and also compare what they look like to what they are now. In fact I also did an unboxing up here as well and you can really see how light they were when new. I'll link both videos below as well. Go to look through my channel videos and you find other grad stone reviews that are quite a few. You'll also find a review of the saddle tan diesel so you can make an on-screen comparison. So having done a pretty comprehensive review of these boots at four months where I did my usual deep dive into the manufacturer and the construction I'm not going to do another deep review here but I thought it was worthwhile pulling them out again because these boots have shown perhaps one of the most marked changes in color, hue and character in all of my boots. Actually now that I think of it now my various pairs of boots in natural chromic cell depending on how old they are have also shown marked changes. So let's just say these have changed as much as those. Anyway in this video I thought I'd discuss how this boot has worn and after 12 months whether I still think they're worth it. Let's start with the upwards. I wish I was meticulous as some other people in various Facebook boot groups who announce how many hours they've worn a boot. Trust me these have been worn well and regularly if not every day. The leather is Horween's Essex Tannage in a color called tan. Horween as you know is a five generations tannery that started in 1905 based in Chicago in the US. They're probably most famous for producing chromic cell. They're combination tan leather that's used by practically every good boot maker around the world. They're also famous for producing shell cordovan that sturdy non-leather tanned from the muscular membrane just under the skin of a horse's bum cheeks. My understanding of the Essex leather is that it is the first tannage from the full grain bovine hide. The first tannage is a vegetable tan using Horween's shell cordovan tanning liquors. Then a blend of fats oils and greases are tanned into the leather to add durability to the tough veg tannage. It's a base tannage that is then further processed to make Dublin leather. Dublin uses the Essex base tannage and adds another rich blend of waxes that I understand is steam pressed to smoothen it out. If you didn't stop there another set of processes is then applied to Dublin leather to turn it into the Derby tannage. Derby is tumbled Dublin. Tumbling the leather softens it and opens up the grain a bit. It counts out a little more distress-looking and will accentuate the pull-up effect. Despite being veg tanned this Essex leather is way softer in the hand than the Badalassie Carlo veg tanned leather used in Grandstone's saddle tan boots. They're both about the same thickness but even with the full lining these are very comfortable because of their suppleness as opposed to the saddle tan which is sturdy and supportive comfortable. Not uncomfortably stiff just comfortable for different reasons support versus softness. It's creased a little worse probably because it's an unwecked tannage and seems to take on its use well. Patina at this stage is more about the creases and bows and bends is developed than any other scruffs or abrasions mainly because I don't use them that way. There is some patina discoloration but I think that's actually mainly due to moisture. By the way these haven't seen any conditioner yet and I'm going to give them some VSC after filming this. Water be warned though. When it rains this leather will show that water. Remember it's unwecked in the tannage and it will get blotchy and discolour. The first time it happens you will get a heart attack but after a few hours it dries out returns normal except maybe some darkening happens in a few places. You may not like the unevenness I do. Of course it's Goodyear welted which means despite the shock of discoloured wet leather I haven't had any moisture get into my socks or anywhere inside this boot and trust me when we have rainstorms in Perth in Western Australia they are tropical in volume and intensity. The welt is a flat welt. Rare in boots these days as people try to go rugged at storm and split reverse welts. A flat welt simply means that the welt is flat all the way around the boot and it doesn't flange up to push a ridge against the sides. This is US tanned, veg tanned flat welt and it's wheeled which means a notched wheel is run over it imprinting this sort of series of bumps or wheel marks. The effect is actually dressy in the overall scheme of the boots. The Leo last design is quite dressy anyway I think and the package is a dressier boot. There is an American veg tanned midsole not super thick four or five millimeters thick and the outsole is a rubber compound studded sole. As you can see it's Grant Stone's version of UK made day night studded soles. It has a series of mini studs set inside little wells. The idea is that the studs give grip and the surrounding well allows mud and dirt to fall away and not aggregate. I find the grip pretty good on urban surfaces like cement paving tarmac lawn carpet lino timber floors even in the wet I think slightly better than day night because it's slightly softer. I'll talk about comfort later. When I first took a look at this pair and even after the first four months I raved on about the quality control yeah made in China but I think most of us have got over the fact that quality is not geography and any remaining objections you have to where it's made or about disagreement with all that other stuff. But even so I have very few pairs of boots that rival the quality control of Grant Stone boots. After 12 months nothing has come loose nothing's fallen off delaminated got chipped. The stitching is still pretty darn good the stitching on the uppers the stitching on the good year well not just good pretty darn perfect. Not only no loose stitching no phrase from where perfect stitch density. The glues used are good in some of my boots there's been either some evidence of layer separation even at the beginning when they were new even if they haven't progressed since or there's been an increasing layer separation evident in the block heels for example as I wear them. In these nothing no movement everything that should be stuck together is still stuck together pretty firmly. Hardware no problem no shifting of eyelets or danger of popping speed hooks the backing on the eyelets and speed hooks have proved themselves. In leather this supple and light colored if they scratch you see scratches and marks on the tongues in these no scratches. In my earlier review I've already dealt with sizing of these so please don't ask me what size you should take in the comments below just go and check out that four month review. Anyway that'll help the YouTube algorithm for me and while you're at it don't forget to click on like and on subscribe but I will talk about comfort here though and update on how comfortable these are now would be useful I think. So comfort is a factor of sizing it right the last the leather and what's under your feet. Grant Stone's Leo last is a very comfortable last for me. It's not particularly narrower at the heel like some Parkhurst and Alden combination lasts but it is based on the founder's father's experience with dress and orthopedic lasts so it does grip the heel and waist well and then it broadens out at the ball of the feet before it curves into a generous almond shaped toe box. If you drew an outline around my feet Parkhurst 602 and this Leo last would fit right onto that drawing as for what's under your feet this is a veg tan leather insole cork layer filler a steel shank as well as what you can see on the outside. I mentioned earlier that the midsole wasn't particularly thick but with the combination of veg tan leather insole generous cork and the nearly five millimeter thick rubber outsole this is a lot of shock absorption whether to cushion your walking stride running for the basel just standing all day. I have different experiences in all of my Grant Stone boots I find the double thickness leather sole models for example best for shock absorption but difficult to break in at the flex point. Some of the rubber sole models I feel are thinner in that I seem to be able to feel more of the terrain under the boot these somehow are almost the perfect blend they cushion impact yet flexible they allow you to be conscious of a secure footfall. The supple uppers I've already dealt with but I have to mention the soft glove lining yeah sometimes it does get hot but the difference between these and unlined Dublin leathers that I have in say Parkhurst and Oak Street trench boots it's chalk and cheese. So after 12 months still scoring at least nine out of ten for comfort all around. What about looks? What do I think of the aesthetics after 12 months wear? Now I think the diesel is a really stylish boot it's sleeker and dressier than most other makes that don't straight up make dressy boots like say Carmina and some Alden models. In the silhouette it's pretty attractive and on this eye-popping orange tan and I I always get compliments from people passing on the street I really do. The fact that it has some evidence of patina only improves them that I think if there's anything I could be critical about it arrived a little shiny out of the box. I think Grandstone applies a little wax on their final inspection before they ship their boots out. If they do I wish they wouldn't on this model because it does apply a little sheen to what I think should be a more matte leather. The sheen is only just beginning to wear off now I expect when I condition it for the first time with Venetian shoe cream which is my intention it will shine up again and if it does I'm also going to apply little dubbing wax on it to improve waterproofness to seal it a bit and maybe to damp it down in in sheen. Now in my previous review I did deal with value but what do I think after 12 months and after Grandstone has increased prices? When I bought these they cost me 324 US dollars. I think I may have said at the time that I couldn't believe that price and they'd be worth up to a hundred more. I got castigated for that comment. What do I think now? Well on the website as I film they were 380 US dollars but they're on sale at 285 US dollars. I'm actually recording this sometime before I upload it because I'm going to get busy at work so the time it takes to edit this and everything else is going to take some time before I upload. So the sale may have ended or they may not even be available anymore because I usually find that if Grandstone discounts one or two models those models are about to go out of stock. Anyway I'll leave a link to their website in the description below if you want to take a look and I suggest you do. Overall going from 320 US to 380 US after over 12 months and that's pretty good. At 285 US that is insanely good value. After 12 months where do I still think they're good value or hell yeah. And that's it my in a nutshell re-review of these Grandstone diesel boots in Horween's 10SX 10-inch. I hope you liked it. You know what to do if you did. Click on like and if you haven't already click on subscribe as well. It really will help me to grow my channel and maybe contribute to my costs of taking the time out to make these reviews just for fun. And it'll help you too I hope because if my channel grows and if you subscribe you'll catch all of my other boot reviews deep dives into boot brands and maybe the odd comparison and best-of videos that hopefully will inform you in this wonderful wonderful boot collecting hobby of ours. Until then take care and I'll see you soon.