 Hi, my name is Tech. Welcome to my channel Bootlossophy. Today I'm reviewing these RM Williams craftsman Chelsea boots in black yearling leather. If you're Australian you will probably issued with these when you were born. Welcome. This is the RM Williams craftsman Chelsea boot. The difference between the craftsman and the comfort craftsman is that the craftsman has a traditional leather sole while the comfort craftsman has a thicker rubber sole. If you're Australian you are practically issued these with your citizenship papers. These are my second pair of RM William's. The first got a little too small as my feet expanded as I got older. It happens so I sold them and got these in about 2,000 so they're already over 20 years old. They haven't been re-sold yet but as you can see as the leather sole was wearing in order to preserve them I have had a toppy side sole protector put on. I've worn them in all sorts of occasions including during my work as a management consultant up in the northwest of Australia where I've had to travel through a wet season and through some pretty bad terrain. As you can see they always clean up and polish up well. As dressy as they look these will make us outback work boots and can take the strain. Nowadays with my more extensive collection of boots I wear these primarily as dress boots in the office. Aesthetically they look dressy especially in this leather and with a slim last and the sleek profile and the pointy chisel toe designed for slipping into stirrups but so pretty cool and dressy even when not sitting on a horse. The shaft is quite high for a Chelsea boot a little over six inches when most other dressy Chelsea's are about five remembering its history as a riding boot. As you may or may not know a Chelsea boot was designed primarily as a riding boot worn by Queen Victoria and later made fashionable by the Beatles and the other fashionable Chelsea residents in the 60s. It's distinguishable as it's without laces and has these two elastic goring side panels that allow you to open the collar to slip them on and off. I find a fit of a Chelsea boot requires a snug heel, ankle and vamp in order to avoid you flinging the boot off when you walk. People with a low volume ankle may have issues fitting many Chelsea boots but I find RM Williams' shape over their last perfect in their respect. RM Williams was founded by Reginald Murray or RM Williams in the early 1930s. As a swag man, itinerant up back, he learned leathercraft and made saddlery and eventually found that his most successful product were his riding boots. In the 60s and 70s RM Williams became famous as the iconic Australian Chelsea boot and RM became a millionaire. Through the 80s it became a popular boot with inner city Australians and just like the Timberland Yellow boot in New York it became the darling footwear of stockbrokers and entrepreneurs in the city. RM sold the company in the late 1980s and since then it's gone through various hands including a period with LVNH the Louis Vuitton luxury brand. Recently it was brought back into Australian hands when the company was bought by Australian mining magnet Andrew Forrest. Somewhere in that journey the boot having been burned into the consciousness of every Australian became a fashionable luxury boot overseas. As far as I'm aware throughout its history the various iterations of their Chelsea boots have always been made in Adelaide, South Australia. I think some other products like their bags may have been made overseas but not their boots. Now let's turn to the construction but before I do if you're liking what you see can you do me a favor and click on the like button below and since I'll be releasing loads more boot related videos and if you like your boots why don't you also click on the subscribe button so that you'd be notified when I post. It's really gonna help me out. Okay now let's look at how this boot is made. Firstly the company tells us that they're still handmade. The upper is a single piece of whole-cut yearling lever. This means the uppers have no seams other than this one single seam at the back. This is a difficult job to mould the shape of a single piece of leather over a last. Yearling cowhide is fine grained full-grain leather from one-year-old cows. Due I guess to their age the leather is supple but durable and can be polished up to be dressy or as I found are pretty durable in light outdoor work conditions. It has these two side elastic panels called goreng designed to make it easy to pull apart the collar so that you can slip your feet in and out and also designed to keep the shaft snug against your ankle once your foot is in. To assist you putting them on there's two pull tabs front and back. I've been asked by people why there's two pull tabs. Well they're designed for you to pull them apart as you slip your foot in. With one pull tab you can pull them on but honestly it's pretty tricky to put your feet into them before you pull them on especially as they need to be then elastic enough to return to a snug fit. The uppers are connected to the sole by a good year welt. For those of you who don't know a good year welt is a thin strip of leather that goes around the outline of the boot. The inside edge is sewn to the uppers and the outside edge is sewn directly to the outsole through the midsole. The advantage of a good year welt construction is that it's more easily re-soleable and more water resistant. In this case this is a 270 degree good year welt. It starts on one side of the heel and goes all the way around the front and ends on the other side of the heel. This leaves the heel cup tucked into the heel attached by glue and nails creating a sleek line from leather upper to heel block. As you can see the good year welt is very finely sewn. You can hardly see the welt since it's almost tucked in under the uppers. Very different from American work boots like iron ranges that have a very clear ledge caused by the outside edge of the welt. These boots have a cork midsole and a leather outsole. Inside is a fiberglass shank. A shank is a thin strip of hard material that provides arch support between the heel block and the pad of the foot. The fiberglass is a good touch because it's light and it passes through airport security checks unlike a steel shank that sets off alarms. You can get the comfort craftsman version of the boot and the difference says that in the comfort craftsman the sole is a thicker softer rubber that helps in shock absorption. Not that these are not shock absorbing even without the toppy which I had put on after the leather sole was worn enough for me to be concerned but not enough for me to re-sole. RM Williams sell their own leather care products. I'll put a link to the products in the description below. In general I like to listen to bootmakers and use the products they recommend so I've used RM Williams conditioners and polishers to take care of these but I think if you use a quality product like Venetian shoe cream that'll be fine. In this case I'm a bit lazy because this leather is extremely forgiving. When it's really muddy I have saddle soap them but usually I just give them a wipe down with a damp rag and then I condition them and sometimes polish them. Recently since I wear these now as dress shoes with a suit I mirror shine the toes and heels and it's coming off a bit now but that's not a regular occurrence. Again because I wear these dressy my most important care regime is a monthly brushing. Let's take a look at sizing and fit and I'll also talk about breaking them in. In fact let me start with the breaking. There was none easy but the important thing is to get the easy break in is to get the right size and with RM's it's not all that simple. I'm about to talk Australian sizes which should be the same as UK sizes. This is usually one number down from US sizes. For example if you're a US 8 that translates to a UK 7. I measure UK 7.5 on a brand new device that's the machine shoe stores used to get you to stand on. Usually in boots I then take a half size down to a 7. Sometimes you get boots that are true to size that's 7.5 for me. However I find that RM's said to be true to size have actually a very slim last a very slim foot shape. I have played around with other RM's in a 7.5 which were too tight and even a 7.5 wide too short too sloppy. So in RM Williams I find my best size is a UK 8 and then sometimes I need a thin foam insole to bark it up. So where I usually wear US boots in an average 8D these RM Williams are a perfect fit at an equivalent US 9 average width. Go figure. In this size and with a thin foam insole they're a perfect fit. Snug all the way around the heel cup. Snug across the instep and snug around the ankles. Wearing these I feel totally comfortable and secure. My foot is held in by these lace boots. Now what would you wear them with? Don't forget they were primarily designed as riding boots for Australian stock riders mustering cattle or sheep or designed to be worn around in the country or on a farm by farmers riders drivers and swagmen. This means that they go really well with denim jeans or moleskin trousers and subsequently anything that's brown or khaki whether these be chinos five pocket pants or more formal trousers. At the same time certainly in Australia we wear them with suits because polished up they're super dressy. These Chelsea's are extremely versatile and you can pull them on almost with anything you wear even and know I've done a photos of me in them even with shorts. Just think drover's clothing and outfits. Let's turn to their cost and the other counterpoint to cost their value. RM Chelsea boots sell for $595 to $695 depending on leathers and their different soles. These black yearling crafts and boots are now $595 although when I bought these they were under $400 it was that long ago. It seems after each change of ownership my fellow bean counters work out that they can inch the price up and with the recent change of ownership I see some models have gone up $20 or $30 in some outlets. Compare these with the Aussie dollar prices for locally stocked Red Wing Chelsea's at under $400. The Aussie dollar price for Grant Stone Chelsea's are under $450. You can mail order Mium in Chelsea's for under $400. Shell Coddivan for about $500. So RM's are on the higher price level of the range but are they worth it? The materials are undoubtedly top notch. QC is excellent. Made in Australia skilled wages and HR practices are at the top end of developed nations tables. As witnessed by this pair they last and they look good the older they are. You can make a case in every way that they're worth the cost. You know what? At around $600 I can't help but wonder what profit premium we're paying for a revered brand name and as an Aussie I wear it with some pride but at $600 I think they're at the very edge of yes they're worth it. Anyway that's my opinion what do you think? Well that's my review of the Iron Williams craftsman in Black Yearling. What do you think? Why would you pay $600 for a pair of boots and what do you see in these that you pay for? Let me know in the comments below and while you're there I hope you'll also click on the like and subscribe buttons below. I have a load more videos to come and with 50 pairs of boots and counting I'll be uploading more boot unboxing and review videos as I weigh them in. Don't miss them. Click on subscribe so you're notified when I upload these boots and boot related videos. I'll see you soon.