 G'day. How y'all going? Welcome back to my Bootlossophy channel. My name is Tech. I'm recording on Wajik Country and I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land. Now today I'm looking at a pair of boots that I already have a couple of videos on. The Truman boots in this natural limerick leather. This is Truman boots standard design six inch boot in the original 79 last and made up in Seidel tenneries natural limerick. I uploaded an unboxing video of these when I first got them so you might want to go and check that out up there to see if I've changed my mind on anything. Apart from varying their boots with a mock toe variant, varying the height of the shaft and changing up the lasts and the shoot and the soles, Truman boots really make one pattern of boots only. I mean this is a really beautiful rugged boot design so why change the formula? It also means less tooling in clicker cutting dies and so on so it makes good economic sense. Anyway as you can see this is a work boot looking design, not particularly sleek up to look dressy. It's six inches high on a block heel and with a cap toe. It looks like a quintessential work boot that you might see on construction sites. I'll get into more detail when I talk about the construction but the finishing isn't 100% detailed. The ends of welts are sometimes just hanging out there. I don't think all of the leather pieces are delicately scarred at the edges. While not a particularly old company Truman shows its design aesthetic as an old-style work boot company. Some companies like Whites for example come from a long history of making work boots so when they decided to make dressier boots like the MP or the main street line of boots the dressier designs were still made by the same people with the same ethos of making work boots. So they have finished like work boots even if they're making dressy boots. Others like Grant Stone are finished immaculately but they started as more of a dress boot company so when they branched out into the more rugged brass and field boots they still carried the background of making dressy boots into those tough boots. Truman stand in the middle. They clearly designed their boots to look outdoorsy and workman-like and yet decided to use some very unique leathers like Rambler and Kudu that you wouldn't in a million years take to the work site and pour concrete all over them. And yet despite the unique leather choices they look and are made like work boots. They are rugged and strong but not necessarily with that fine detailing which makes outfit matching choices super simple. People who work in construction and manual labour jobs are going to accuse me of being a hipster getting onto their patch but look I think it's obvious that work wear go with these boots. Even if you don't wear them for manual work, blue collar work, they are casual. Wear them with outfits to go to the pub for Sunday sessions or to the park to play with a dog or to go to barbecues at friends. So we're talking jeans, jeans and more jeans. That's the go here I think. I don't think we need to say more. Jeans, t-shirts, Henley's, work shirts and so on that's the sort of thing. They're also very good winter wet weather boot and they look particularly good when you're all rugged up. Truman Boot Company isn't an old-time boot company. Even if their product looks like they're derived from a hundred-year-old traditions. The company was founded in 2014 by Vince Romano. It's named after Vince's border collie Truman. Truman is a small batch made-to-order company that's focused not necessarily on made-in-USA boots but more on making good quality boots and being from the US it became about making a well-made American product and in doing so by happenstance they are working to revive an industry that could have disappeared in the US. Romano said that when he started Truman boots he set out to make boots that would be unique and last for many years. The boots they now produce are definitely rugged and tough and durable and the use of very unique and different leathers make whatever they offer truly unique. Looking at the boot design they are clearly influenced by American work wear heritage. Truman has a fascinating history of where they're made. They started in Pennsylvania in the eastern United States and then moved to Colorado and then moved again settling in Oregon where they are now. I think the moves are motivated by necessity. The need for better factory space and skilled workers. If you consider industrial Pennsylvania and beautiful Oregon I reckon lifestyle might have had a hand in that as well. While they remain a made-to-order company they're trying to build ready-to-ship boots. However because production runs are small they're finding it hard to stock ready-made because they still need to fulfill their MTOs and any ready-to-ship boots sell out so fast. Now looking at how these boots in their natural limerick uppers are made I'll break with boot loss of your tradition and start at the top. The uppers are made from Seidel's limerick leather and the reason I'm starting with the limerick leather is because it's going to be short. I can't find a darn thing about limerick leather. Researching Seidel's limerick leather for you was a nightmare because there's nothing about the different leathers on their website and when I wrote to Seidel I emailed them to ask how limerick was tanned and what its characteristics were. I got a reply saying that someone would get back to me and nobody ever did. But from what I can see this is an undyed limerick tannage and from what I can see and feel and compare it to other leathers that I actually know something about I'd say that this was a re-tanned or combination tanned leather. My guess is that it's chrome tanned to give it toughness and then oil tanned to infuse it with oils to make it durable and to make it more supple. The oils infused in it give it a slight pull-up effect that you can see. The surface is an oily waxy feel and although in wear that waxy feel does dry out quite quickly. It's over two to three millimeters thick so it's a pretty thick leather that's been used. Being a natural or undyed tannage you immediately think to compare it with natural chrome excel and it's not dissimilar except for the color and maybe that chrome excel is a lot more oily and waxy on the inside. The durability and suppleness feel about the same. Now Seidel itself is over 75 years old based in Milwaukee and is one of the largest producers of specialty high quality leather. It's not a name that rings loud to people outside the US or outside the boot nerd fraternity but if you haven't heard about them before take it from me their leathers are formidable. It's just a shame about replying to inquiries. Now in this leather Truman have put together their standard pattern on their 79 last. A last is the foot shaped mould that the boot maker stretches the uppers over to create the shape of the boot that they designed. A chunky round toe last produces a chunky round toe boot. A slim sleek last produces a dressy slim sleek boot makes sense. The 79 last is generous and it was originally bought from Musbeck shoe company in Wisconsin. It's a round toe last but it's not totally rounded. It's with a slight curve into an almondy shape at the very tip. The toe cap is not a real toe cap. The leather stops on the vamp and the toe cap is added on so on top of it. The toes are lightly structured so holds its shape. I don't know how they structure the toe box and it might be all leather but I think it might actually be celastic. The external heel counter is substantial and it does feel like a leather heel counter back here. It sits firmly under the heel pocket backstay. It's a two-piece backstay and the shape of the heel and the back of the boot up the Achilles tendon that's a really pleasing curve. The stitching is single stitching up the edging including around the collar where it's reinforced by another strip of limerick leather. The backstays are double stitched and the toe cap and quarters are triple stitched. Stitching is good, clean and consistent. The leather selection and clicking is also consistent and doesn't show uneven cutting or iffy loose grain pieces. Everything is really taut and in good shape. There are five shiny brass eyelets and two speed hooks. The eyelets are backed with washes but the speed hooks are not. The hardware is all solid though and nothing looks like they're about to pop out. The eyelets are big enough to thread through the oiled leather laces that come with the boots and the speed hooks are substantial enough to hook them securely as well. The boots are leather lined in the vamp but not in the shaft. If you look into the boot you can see the back of the quarter piece and the lining there. It doesn't look like either the the vamp tucking under the quarter nor the lining are skyped. That's where the edge of the leather is sliced thinner so that when you put the three pieces of leather together to be sewn they don't stack up as three leather pieces thick. You sky them so that they kind of merge into each other. In this case I think there are three pieces of leather thick and I can see and feel that seam on the inside of my arch. It's not uncomfortable but I'd rather not feel it. The tongue is unlined and it semi-gusseted up to the last eyelet which should improve water and dust resistance at least up to that level. As a result it stays put and it doesn't slip. Oh by the way this kilty false tongue it doesn't come with the boot. I believe this is bison leather from I think Law Tanning. It was made for me by Dale of Dale's Leatherworks. You can check out his website Dale's Leatherworks.com or hit him up here as Aero Surfer LV or check out his Instagram account Aero Surfer LV. Inside the boot is a solid and I mean solid piece of veg tan insole. That really helps with comfort although I talk about that in a minute. Under that is a cork filler that fills in the cavity caused by the welt. The uppers are built onto the sole construction using the Goodyear welted form of construction. Truman started making boots using stitch down construction but about two or three years ago changed the Goodyear welting because it's faster and presumably cheaper. Goodyear welting is where a welt goes around the edge of the boot in this case around three quarters or 270 degrees of it around the front. The uppers are turned in and sewn to the inside edge of the welt. The outside edge of the welt is then sewn through the welt through the midsole and through the outsole. This means that it's more easily re-soleable. A cobble can undo the stitches, peel off the worn out sole, slap a new one on and stitch it up again. It is also meant to be more water resistant because no stitch goes all the way from outside to inside allowing water to leach through. In this case the three mil thick welt is a storm welt to further aid water resistance. It has a carved lip that pushes up against the side of the uppers to keep moisture out of that seam. At the back of the boot the uppers are turned in and glued and nailed to the insole and midsole. This is plenty secure you don't have to worry about it and the quartet advantage of this rather than the full 360 degree welt is that the back of the heel looks sleeker without that big ledge that would have been formed by the welt. Inside the cork filling inside the boot is inserted a steel shank. A shank is a piece of hard material it can be steel or leather fiberglass sometimes even wood and it gets inserted between the heel and the ball of the foot inside the filling. Basically what you do is you bridge this gap here. It gives better arch support it stops your foot collapsing into that gap when you're standing too long and it gives longitudinal stability as well. Under all of that is another four mil thick veg tan leather being the midsole and then glued and sewn to that is the rubber outsole. In this case it's a Vibram 430 mini lug sole. Vibram is an Italian company that was founded in 1937 by Vitaly Bramani who invented the commando lug sole to keep mountain climbers safe in grippy and water resistant boots after several of his mountain climbing friends died of hypothermia. No they didn't fall off a mountain I thought so too until I was corrected by reading the history of Vitaly Bramani. They were caught in the mountain because their inadequate footwear couldn't complete the climb in bad weather not grippy enough so they stopped and basically died of exposure. The 430 mini lug sole is a baby commando sole. It has the same lug shape pattern but is molded low so that the lugs don't protrude by as much. They are popular and are used in today's red wing iron ranges among many other boots. This mini lug sole that's good enough for me. It's been through long hikes in our forest and under scrub bush national parks. It's run through rain on grassy and muddy soil. It's held me up skidding across concrete pavement and tiled floors. As for sizing Truman recommends sizing a half down from your true size. I'm measured on a US Brannock device as an eight and a half in D width. In these boots they are 8D and they're perfectly sized. I find the last generous in the toe box and in volume and generous in the ball of the foot. By generous I don't mean large I mean I feel comfortable. If you want to use the handshake scale I'd say these were less than firm but a solid handshake. The heel though I find that too generous. I don't slip in them but I like combination lasted boots where the heels are maybe in a B width while the forefoot is D or even E width like Parkhurst's 602 last or Alden in the true balance last. As for comfort apart from being conscious about that scene of the quarters at the arch these are reasonably comfortable boots. Maybe the all leather sole is a little solid in feel when you first put them on at least for me. The argument is that all that leather just molds to your feet. I mean I don't know. My friend John who's on YouTube as the happiness carpenter he says he doesn't like foam in the insoles because they feel almost too comfortable. I don't know buddy I I like the immediate out-of-the-box squish. Happiness to you brother. Anyway if you have high arches I don't think the arch support will be good enough for you. You may need to size them up to insert some orthotics. It's pretty flat in there. I have medium if not slightly collapsing arches and they're fine but they certainly don't give that built-up support that I feel I get in my Aldens in my whites or in nicks. But then look when you mentioned the arch support on the last used by those makers who else comes close really. This makeup in the Seidel natural limberick don't currently show on the Truman website. As a small batch manufacturer with very unique leathers I find that apart from some flagship models like the Java wax flesh Truman does tend to cycle through leather selection. I think that as hides become available a few pairs are offered and then the hides run out and they wait for another batch of leather to come. This may be offered again. At any rate depending on the leather Truman six-inch boots are priced currently at between three hundred and ninety nine US dollars to four hundred and eighty US dollars. Landed in Australia that could be about 700 to over 800 Aussie depending on the exchange rates at the time. That is a hefty part of your monthly credit card statement. Having said that if you're a boot collector compare them to RM Williams's lace-up boots they have them which sell for the mid six hundreds and they're not as rugged as these and they sure don't use such unique leathers. If you're not a boot collector and you just want a stylish boot that you can wear casually and to last your lifetime and never go out of style and to be able to work in them in a light sense compare them with say a pair of white boots. The MPs say landing in Australia at around 900 dollars so in both scenarios Truman compare well but then again say you're looking for a boot like this but you don't want to pay that much. Then you might look at Grant Stone and their brass few brass boots or few boots or you might take a look at Oak Street bootmakers and their trench boot. Neither bootmaker really match the work booty vibe of Truman but those land in Auss for under 700 bucks to about mid 700s. I think all in all you'd have to say that Truman boots are worth the price in comparison. In summary they are well made if less attention to finish than say the Grant Stones. They are sturdy perhaps not as well built as the White's MP but they're not going to fail you in a lot of years. Also they do use very unique leathers and maybe you may have to reach the approaches of Weiberg to get that similar range in leather and the pricing of Weiberg don't be ridiculous. I see more pros than cons with Truman boots. If you are this way inclined in terms of your style and aesthetic this is a good way to go. Anyway we have reached some time for some love. Don't forget to click on like and subscribe so that the YouTube gods are told to show this to more people who might be interested and so that you get reminded when I upload more videos on boot brands boot reviews and stupidly interesting things about boots their makers and their philosophies, visions, missions and values. Until then keep well, look after yourselves and I'll see you soon.