 G'day, how you going guys? My name is Tech and welcome to my channel called Bootlossophy Where I put up boot reviews and talk about all things boot related. Today I'm reviewing the classic thoroughgood mocktoe workboot in oiled tan tobacco leather This is the classic thoroughgood six-inch mocktoe in oiled tan tobacco leather on thoroughgood's own proprietary max wear wedge sole Mocktoe is short for moccasin toe so called because the toes are stitched in a u-shape like Native American moccasin shoes The vamp is made of two pieces of leather the top of the vamp and the sidewalls and they're sewn together at the top of the sidewalls here Classic mocktoe designs pair the mocktoe uppers with a white wedge sole so called because it forms a chunky wedge Without a discernible heel block The first mocktoe was made by redwing in the early 1950s and the style was developed initially for farmers and hunters The original eight-inch style offered support and comfort against the elements whether working on a farm or out hunting and the wedge sole was designed to provide Sure footing and so the heel wouldn't catch on roots and branches as they trapped prey thoroughgood introduced this mocktoe in 1964 and Originally called it the hike and camp and it became the official Boy Scout boot at the time From there the mocktoe boot quickly became a work boot adopted by construction workers The thoroughgood mocktoe was rated against electric shock to an incredible degree So it was used by electrical workers and the flat sole that doesn't drag in Mydown the construction site became pretty useful for builders and contractors going in and out of a house during construction You can also get these boots in an eight-inch version Measuring eight inches from the the heel to the top of the shaft These are the six inch version You can get a safety toe version, but these they're model 8144200 Does not have a safety boot I bought these early in my relatively recent boot journey I've owned boots before of course in the course of my life But it wasn't until early 2020 when the pandemic struck that I really got into quality American style or American heritage good-year-old boots My first buy was a Thursday captain You can see my review here Which turned out to be my gateway drug because I rapidly bought more and more until I've amassed so far over 50 pairs of boots Following the captain I look for affordable historic boots and bought a Chippewa service boot Which I'll get to reviewing soon and then these The thoroughgood brand has been around since 1918 The brand is owned by the Weinbrenner shoe company Which was founded in 1892 as a small cobbler shop in milwaukee, wisconsin in the u.s Eventually moving into making their own shoes and boots a couple of years later in 1900 This makes them one of the oldest shoe companies in america still surviving Weinbrenner expanded rapidly and in 2000 the unionized workforce actually took ownership of the company through an employee stock ownership plan thoroughgood is still the most well-known brand in the group The other brands include wood and stream and shoe in overshoots brands that here in australia frankly I've never heard of Weinbrenner is a huge company and they own several of their own factories and they make work safety military and other uniform footwear They had an annual revenue in 2021 of 28 million dollars with a workforce of about 350 employees There are some conflicting news articles about their made-in-usa capacity if that's important to you In the middle of 2021 they bought their third wisconsin factory amidst reports that they wanted to increase their local manufacturing capacity After the u.s government changed the definition of made-in-usa in order to raise local content requirements Before the purchase of this third factory reports stated that they made 65 percent of their footwear in the previous two wisconsin factories The other 35 percent being outside However, it appears that your heritage lines and this boot in particular are made in the u.s Apart from the heritage models They also make modern lightweight waterproof and insulated work boots with gore tex and other synthetics As well as the modern military boots used by the u.s military today In this case, the mocktoe work boot is in the heritage line and is built in the traditional way with some modern materials improving price comfort and fit So let's take a look at the components of this boot and how it's made But before we do and if you like what you see so far, can I ask you to click on the like and subscribe buttons below? It will help me to grow my channel and serve more people like you who like to learn about boots So to the construction as usual, let me start from the bottom and go up You will see a few wage sole mocktoes Indeed the wage sole can also appear in other types of boots because they're meant to be really comfortable Because they fully support the whole length of your feet Most of those soles you see will be made by italian sole manufacturer Vibro Red ring, I believe make your own Most of those will be made from blown rubber Some people call them crepe rubber, but that would be wrong Crepe rubber is that raw rubber that you see on clark's desert chukka boots clearly raw and just rolled The wage soles that you normally see are blown rubber rubber that's refined in the manufacturing And then blown through with air a bit like a fizzy drink That process provides tiny little air bubbles making the sole squishy and light but less durable than vulcanized rubber These on the other hand are thorough goods proprietary version of wage soles They're made of polyurethane instead of rubber and are supposed to last 25% longer than Vibram's blown rubber versions While they may last longer There's a lot of threads on reddit about how they're a lot harder I think that's pretty subjective though because I hadn't found a problem Which I'll talk about when I look at sizing and comfort The wage sole is glued onto the firm Rubber midsole, which is Goodyear stitched to the uppers Goodyear welting is the method of construction where a welt, a strip of material goes around the edge of the shoe The inside edge is stitched to the uppers inside And separately the outside edge is stitched through to the outer sole construction In this case the midsole before this outsole is glued on On other boots where the outside stitch goes through the mid and outsoles you might see stitching under the outsole In this case the welt is not the usual leather. It's plastic or a rubber compound To be fair it is a pretty stiff welt and until I researched and read about it I honestly thought it was a leather welt It also has a raised flange pushed against the side of the boot and it looks like a Norwegian welt Which has two stitches in the welt one normal one through the sole and another to sew the raised bit of leather Against the uppers to increase water resistance In fact, it's not The second stitch only goes through the welt and it's a faux Norwegian welt for aesthetics only But the Goodyear stitch itself is already pretty water resistant That's one of the stated advantages of Goodyear welting The other is the ability to re-sole or re-craft the boot when the sole wears out So you can extend the life of the boot past many re-soles In the middle of the footbed in the cavity caused by the circle of the welt there is a cork mid-leather Cork is the traditional and preferred filler here because it breathes and wicks moisture And it will mould to the impress of your foot over time In some cases it's filled with another piece of leather and in modern and cheaper boots There may be a man-made filler like foam Embedded in the cork is a fiberglass shack a strip of fiberglass placed between the heel portion And the ball of the foot to provide additional arch support and torsional rigidity Now shack surprises me in a wage sole because you think you don't need a shack for arch support because there isn't the usual gap caused by a block heel However, this has its uses in a work boot because it will support your feet when you step on the rungs of a ladder and so on Being fiberglass is lighter weight than the traditional steel and many boot makers now use fiberglass shacks It's also cheaper than steel not by much But when you're fighting your competition by a few dollars in price every bit counts Above the cork layer is a fiberboard insole I guess this is where some of the controversy occurs a traditional insole is made of leather Indeed the red wing classic mock toe boots use a full leather cork leather combination instead of this rubber cork fiberboard combination If you wear these as everyday work boots, you may find the man-made components don't last as long as a full leather suite Above the fiberboard insole is a pour on footbed giving the boot quite a bit of comfort Even before we get to the removable thorough good dual density ultimate shock absorption insert big long name I won't pull it out, but it's a removable insert with some molded arch support in foam With two squishier patches under the heel and under the ball of the foot staying inside the boot The toes have a Celastic or cellulose structure layer inside to keep the shape of the toe box and give it some light protection Nothing like a steel toe though. I hasten to add The lining is a cotton drill and is only lined at the toes and back I'm not sure how durable that cotton drill is going to be with everyday wear as a work boot The heel counter is also celastic and it's an inner heel counter inside the boot Covered by an internal rough-out patch of leather as the counter cover for comfort and heel grip The uppers are made from us source cow hide leather. This color is called tobacco It's a full grain leather Meaning that it has retained all the character of the grain or hair side of the leather Which makes it more durable and less prone to tearing What is full grain leather? When a full thickness raw hide is tanned it's split By passing it through a machine with a horizontal blade that slices the leather in half The bottom half of the split is set for processing as a suede Or goes through sanding to produce so-called genuine leather to make cheaper leather products The top half either remains as it is making full grain leather products Or is corrected meaning it may be buffed or sanded to remove the hair holes and wrinkles and so on That the animal has had in its life This process makes a sleeker more smoother leathers more likely used for dress shoes and so on It can also be further processed to produce one version of new buck In this case, it's a full grain leather that is oil tanned That means it's tanned using chromium salts and then pump full of oils to make it durable and supple It's also tumbled in the oil tanning and in the dying stage A huge tumbler turns it round and round with the oils and waxes and in this process Also changes the firmness or temper of the leather into a really soft and quite stretchy leather The uppers are about two and a half mils thick, which is quite thick But because it's tumble leather it's pretty soft despite the thickness You can see that it's full of character and grain But due to the suppleness it can crease quite a lot And some people might not like that I personally I think it adds character Also, despite the thickness of the leather, I think mainly due to the sole construction It's a pretty light boot So if you did wear it all day, it wouldn't tire your legs and ankles The stitching on the uppers is interesting. All the nylon thread is contrasting white Obviously if you wear this as a work boot, it would be a nightmare to clean But if you're working in it, really I doubt you'd care Obviously there's the pocket mock toe stitching on the vamp. It's a true mock toe There are two pieces of leather sewn together, not a mock mock toe Where the puckering is for aesthetics like on the Alden Indies There is a double stitching up one piece backstab And the pull tap Double stitching of the internal heel counter cover showing on the outside And triple stitching at the quarters There's also this triple stitch along the side of the quarters This doesn't appear to stitch any two pieces of leather together But in fact it's a stiffening stitch Because tumble leather can stretch being so malleable This stitch helps to support and strengthen the leather there and stop it from stretching Sewing onto the outside of the quarter is an American flag And stamped on the heel is the thorough good logo Up at the top double stitching at the slightly padded collar Which is rolled and supported by a white piece of leather holding the padding in The tongue is gusseted about halfway up to the first speed hook This helps with water resistance and stops the tongue moving around doing wear The hardware is brass, three eyelets at the bottom, three speed hooks and then another island at the top Okay so now let's look at leather care It's a very oily leather and unless you use them every day in construction They probably don't need much conditioning Nevertheless if you want to preserve the leather for a long time You do need to go through a regular process of cleaning and conditioning As usual I looked at what the manufacturer recommends And thorough good recommends KG boot guard to protect the toes And KG all-purpose leather guard to condition KG boot guard actually puts a coat of semi-hard stuff over the toe of the boot Not something I want to do The all-purpose leather guard is a conditioner made of oils and beeswax Look to be honest both recommendations reflect the main use of these boots as work boots They're pretty heavy-duty stuff I totally admit to not wearing or treating these as a work boot I wear them in a casual sense and not in any construction or any kind of workshop So in feeling the oiliness of the leather I reckon that conditioning them with a waxy oily conditioner would be good And my experience with RM Williams' saddle dressing on their kip leathers has been good So I feel that they refresh the oils in the leather so I use that on these It's a greasy kind of balm that you can apply with a cloth or with your fingers Which I prefer because I can feel where it goes and what cracks or seams it misses I'll put a link to it below And also I think mink oil might be okay but it might darken the leather a lot So let's take a look at comfort and sizing To my mind they're totally related Get the wrong size and despite all the foam and poron and soft leather You will never feel comfortable Well, that home truth came home to roost when I was trying to find a size that fitted me My first pair were an American size 8D Same as most of my other American heritage boots This was confirmed by ThiraGood's printable measuring sheets available on their website I found the break-in incredibly difficult My toes felt like they were too close to the tip of the boot And my right pinky was terribly squeezed at the side The top of my toes felt rubbed by the mock toes stitching And I had blisters on both heels At the time these were only my third good year well-to-american boots, don't forget And I watched all the YouTube channels about breaking boots in I thought that was what you had to do So I persevered and after two weeks and it had not got any better I cried uncle and returned them I was then advised to go eight and a half double E They don't come in single E's So true to size two bits wider Although those fitted it was immediately evident that I could only wear them with very thick boot socks Not the best option when you live in Australia So after just a few days I returned them again And got an eight double E, these ones, and these fit great In this size it was immediately comfortable with no heel slip or serious breaking required My advice in this boot, go a half size down But play around with the width that you have to By the way, as an aside, if you live outside the United States and you're buying the mail order I highly recommend buying them from Amazon From most stores you have to pay for shipping if you return them And some will charge you extra charges for restocking Also, if you had to return them twice, as I did Understandably you might have to face some serious questioning As an Amazon Prime member you get free postage and returns, no questions asked In this pair, having found my size, the comfort is pretty amazing The leather is tough but soft, just as thick as my red-brained mock toes But way more malleable That means no breaking in of the uppers were required And in particular, I found the flexing around the ankle immediately easy It's a chunky sole, so I did have to break in the flex point When my feet naturally flexed But that took maybe five or six to seven ways Standing in them all day is a dream Since these were originally hunting boots I did take them from non-hunting walk around a trail in a forest reserve outside of Perth And after a day's hike, there was zero foot pain or tiredness The squishy insert in the poronin sole And a chunk of polyurethane outside made every step soft and painless They do have a sneaker-like feel about them I'd give them a 10 out of 10 for comfort Now for people who buy this for wearing as everyday work boots You have no need to watch me talk about what to wear them with You can fast-forward to the section where I talk about value For everyone else, the original purpose as work boots Should give you a clue about what to wear Clearly, you can wear it with anything you might want to wear for manual labour Even if you don't do any manual labour You know that current rugged casual style Following American heritage work or outdoorsy clothing, that kind of thing Jeans are a perfect match for these boots Lighter wash or dark wash and fades with t-shirts or henleys or flannels They'll go with a black grey and brown jeans too You can top them with hoodies or chalk coats or leather jackets when it's cooler Something rugged Don't expect to wear them with a blazer But if you're not wearing them with a t-shirt, a polo shirt or a soft casual Collet button-up shirt like flannels would be great So obviously, that also means that they are for pretty casual occasions So a no frills night out with the boys Or a very no frills date night at a casual bar or local restaurant They'd be great for a walk in the woods or park You can go to friends for an outdoor barbecue, that sort of thing If your date night is a little fancier, go change So finally, let's take a look at the value This is such a subjective concept But first, let's see what they cost At the time, they were under $250 or Aussie $370 They're still at $250 to $290 on Amazon or about Aussie $370 to $440 What would you compare with them in Aussie? If you're after work boots, steel blue are in the mid $200 range But where's the history in Panache? Okay, a pair of blunnies, blunt stones, cost under $200 to mid $200 There is some history in Panache, but they're TPU moulded soles Not resoldable So that might be a false economy after a few years Timberland, cement construction mock-toes for about $200 But they are Timberland Comparable quality boots, but not necessarily work boots? Well, you can get the Thursday diplomat mock-toes Shipped in and landed in Australia at around $370 to $390 Aussie You can get Red Wing mock-toe boots In specialist Americana shops around Australia for over $500 So price-wise, the thorough-goods are in the price range of comparable boots At least in Australia As for quality, I find them made well Nothing to complain about in regard to stitching or bad leather Nor any lack of attention Except maybe the components don't stack up the Red Wing's all-leather construction, for example But overall, all things considered, including how I like the look of them My very subjective opinion is that they're about the right value Not a steal, but not too expensive for what you get Well, there you go guys I hope you like my review of this American classic The thorough-goods 6-inch mock-toe wage-sold work boot If you did, can you do me a favour and click on the like button? It will help get this channel out to more in the boot and what to know about boots community And it will help me to grow my channel I have loads more boot reviews to bring to you And I'll also be doing more unboxing videos And mix it up with videos about the boot brands So if you don't want to miss that, click on subscribe So that the YouTube algorithm can notify you when I upload something Take care, and I'll see you soon