 G'day, welcome to Bootlossophy. My name is Tech and I'm coming to you from Wadget Country in Western Australia and I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. Today I'm going to be reviewing Timberland's eco-conscious boot, the original six-inch leather earthkeeper boots. This is the Timberland original six-inch leather earthkeeper boots. While Timberland now offers a range of products under the copyrighted earthkeeper's name, this was their first earthkeeper's boot. If you're interested in boots wherever you are in the world and you haven't heard of Timberland, I guess your name might be Rip Van Winkle. Timberland was founded in 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States and originally called the Abingdon Shoe Company. In 1952 Nathan Schwartz bought an interest in the company and eventually took over the remaining shares and made it a family business before moving it to New Hampshire. It first focused on producing waterproof boots capable ofwithstanding the winters of that region. Timberland boots proved popular with industrial workers as well as on college campuses and sold well at high-end retailers. The popularity of the boots prompted the Schwartzers to discontinue manufacturing for other shoe brands and then concentrate on expanding their own brand. In 1978 the company was renamed the Timberland Company after the name of their most popular iconic model the classic yellow six-inch Timberland boot. They continued to expand their range of waterproof boots and shoes as well as introducing men's and women's clothing and accessories. In 1987 Timberland went public and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2011 Timberland was acquired by the VF Corporation, a global lifestyle and footwear company that also owns brands like Northface, Dickies, Icebreaker and many many others that you've heard of. Today all of its product is made in world markets with factories ranging from South America to Asia and to Europe. Timberland has been estimated to be worth 1.58 billion dollars in 2017 with revenue of about 1.4 billion and it employed over 2,000 employees in the United States and about three and a half thousand overseas. So it's not a small batch handmade manufacturer of boots. My first heritage style work boot was the classic six-inch yellow waterproof boot which I first bought 30 years ago and you can see my review of my current version up here. This is the original six-inch leather earthkeepers. There's a necessary long-windedness in that name. First the word original must be used because this is the first earthkeepers and their first production of an eco-conscious boot. Second the word leather is in there because there are other earthkeeper boots and and shoes that are not all made of leather. So this must be called the original six-inch leather earthkeeper boots. What makes it eco-conscious? Well in 2007 Timberland decided to produce a boot with all the usual waterproof characteristics and rubber-bond-welded soles but with sustainable materials. So this is made from sustainable materials including 50 percent recycled PET linings and laces, recycled from plastic bottles, 34 percent recycled rubber out soles and leathers outsourced from gold or silver rated tannways. I should state out front that I bought these from eBay for 50 Aussie dollars or I probably would not have bought a pair of these at all. I wasn't particularly in love with the aesthetic but I thought for 50 dollars I should at least try it out seeing as how I love my classic yellow boots and some other of my Timberland boots. I believe there were seconds rather than used because the sole and the heels are untouched and the leather looked new but there are some gouges on one of the quarters which looked like a machine problem and they'd been fixed by a cobbler using a little glue and dye. So as I said I didn't really like the aesthetic. I thought the squared-off toe cap has a kind of weird mock-toe aesthetic combined with the stitching everywhere especially around the bottom of the panels and making it look like a Frankenstein monster. There's something like 15 different pieces of leather in this. The funny thing is that my wife who usually likes my sleek and slim boots thought it was different and interesting enough to be likeable. I've got used to them now but I still think they're a cross between the looks of a mock-toe and a work boot and maybe a bit of a hunter's boot thrown in especially in this medium brown. I wasn't aware until I was researching for this video but it comes in ten different colors. This is the most popular medium brown version it's a distress. Red brown comes with it black wheat burnished gold gray dark brown burnished oil two shades of dark brown and something called cactus full grain. You wouldn't class these as service boots or combat boots and calling them a work boot aesthetic isn't quite right but if you twist my arm I'd say they have an outdoors aesthetic. I don't think you'd disagree these are strictly casual boots and in that rugged outdoors casual builders yard workplace casual kind of aesthetic so pair them with jeans and canvas work pants fleecy shirts and rugged jumpers and jackets and all that sort of thing. One thing though while work bootie in look maybe these are not work boots they're just a little too soft and unprotected hiking a little work in the yard looking stylish leaning at the bar counter yeah going logging not so much. Let's look at how they are made and as usual we'll start at the bottom and work our way up. They stand on a rubber commando pattern lugged sole. It's a pretty soft rubber it's Timberland's trademark grip stick rubber sole pretty good shock absorption. The lugs in that familiar commando style pattern you know radiating lugs and star shaped studs in the center they're quite grippy under most conditions. There is a rubber midsole and a welt and it's attached to the uppers in a bon welt style of construction. Bon welt is a form of cement construction a strip of material like a welt is glued to the insole which is itself attached to the uppers and then the welt and the insole is glued or heat sealed to the outsole. The stitches you see on top of the welt are real. Let me be clear it's not a real welted construction it uses the welt here as a medium for cementing. In this case the welt used is leather and the midsole is a compression moulded EVA foam for cushioning. Resolving is probably easier than a merely heat attached rubber sole like in their classic yellow boot but I guess you can peel off the outsole and midsole easily and glue new ones on I think. I don't think there's a shank that piece of hard material that's usually inserted inside the boot to give arch support and stability it's just a little too light and flexible I think. If it does have a shank it's a pretty flexible nylon shank which in my opinion might as well not be there. Inside is a cardboard footbed and on top of that they place a removable anti-fatigue trademark footbed which is pretty comfortable. The leather is full grain waxed or oiled new buck less corrected or sanded down than the yellow new buck boots. They scuff quite easily mainly the wax scratching on the surface and it's easy to rub it out with your thumb. Despite all the stitching everywhere all around the bottom of the panels here along the quarters up the backstay. Despite all this very busy stitching it is waterproof. The leather is treated and the inside of the boot is lined with a waterproof material behind all the stitching as well as with a waterproof fabric also made from recycled plastic bottles. The medium brown leather is actually quite nice it's about two mils thick and is soft and supple. It's very comfortable but as I said earlier I think a little too supple to stand as a knock about work boot. I feel that if I dropped a heavy span on my toe I'd feel it especially as it's not a structured toe it's very soft. At least that's what I think. If you use it as a work boot let me know in the comments below. The oily waxy feel is reminiscent of crazy horse leather like on the Chippewa service boots or like Redwing's copper rough and tough leather. There's not a lot of structure in the toes or in the heels. As I said the toe box has this mock toe look. I'm not sure you wouldn't call it a mock toe but I'm not sure you would either. Let's just call it a Frankenstein monster toe. There's a lot of stitching in there. The backstay at the heel that's a puzzle. It has a couple of loops sewn into it which I don't think has any function at all. There's the usual Timbaland logo stamped into the side of the heel which I quite like even though some people really don't like logos on their boots. Moving on it has nine generously sized nickel colored eyelets. No speed hooks. I usually lace only up to eight eyelets because that ninth one is pretty high up on the facings. The laces, the laces are great. They're also made of recycled material. They're thick but soft and they tie very well. They stay tight when you tie them. The tongue is un-gusseted which is very surprising for a Timbaland waterproof boot. The leather might be waterproof but I would have thought you need at least partially gusseted tongue to keep the high waterline high. However having said that I have run through a downpour and into deep rain puddles and I've not got my feet wet. At the very top the collar is lightly padded and rolled which makes it very comfortable to tie up tight. As a waxed or oiled new bug it doesn't demand much leather care. It's been waterproofed I think at the tannery and so doesn't need anything in boot oils. As you know by now if you're a subscriber I usually recommend that you check out what the manufacturer says about caring for your boots and then you follow their recommendation unless you're an experienced and a boot collector and you really know what you're doing. In this case Timbaland's recommendations are a bit confusing. Of course when dealing with new bug they recommend their new bug and suede cleaners and conditioners but in this case I think I'd follow the care instructions of what they call waxed or oiled leathers. The waxiness already applied to these mean that the new bug product you use on the yellow new bug boots won't be optimal here. In caring for their waxed or oiled leathers they recommend their Waximum Waxed Leather Protector. It's a balm that comes in a tin. You clean the leather with a clean damp cloth, leave it to dry and then apply the Waximum balm working it into the leather and making sure you get into the many seams. Allow it to dry and then brush or buff any excess with a dry cloth. The leather is a matte appearance so no shining up is necessary. The water repellency can wear off apparently so if you feel you need to replenish a protective layer over and above the Waximum balm you can use the balm proofer all-purpose protector spray. Just pump spray over the boots at a distance of six to eight inches that's 15-20 centimeters and cover the boots with a fine mist. Allow it to dry and off you go. I reckon under normal use conditions doing this every four to six months is more than enough. I'll put links to where you can get these products in the description below. There are affiliate links but you don't pay any more because of that and if you want to get the products anyway it helps me make about 50 cents a purchase. I haven't actually conditioned these by the way. I haven't felt like they need it to. They're still pretty waxy. I have washed them under a tap though when they got muddy in a walk and the water just rolled off and just took them out of way. So all in all I think a pretty easy boot to take care of. Now taking a look at fit and sizing. My true to size as measured by a brand new device is eight and a half in D width in US sizing. The equivalent UK or Aussie sizing is seven and a half in G or average width. But I'll stick to talking in US sizes because being a US product it's just a bit easier. Usually in almost all my heritage style American boots they run a half size large and I buy 8D instead of 8 and a half D. In the Timberland original classic yellow newbuck waterproof boot I wear an eight wide. Timberland only offers two widths average and wide. That was a good fit in that model. These are also an eight wide but in these maybe it's the last or maybe it's the lack of structure. They feel a little roomy. I think I could have probably fitted into an eight average or even a seven and a half wide. I like having room for my toes so probably a seven and a half wide I think. These are not going to fly off my feet. They're not that loose but sometimes when I'm walking fast my feet get a little tired because the toes inside feel like they're constantly scrabbling to try and get a grip as I walk. To make that better I've put a piece of hard foam under their mold at anti-fatigue removable insole. That's barked it up enough to take up the volume. The fit considering that I've just said it's a little loose is better with the extra foam and around the ankles it's pretty good. The anti-fatigue footbed is really quite comfy as it's almost taken the job of impressing the shape of your feet into a leather and caulk footbed. The lack of shank is not a huge problem mainly because the mold at rubber heel is sitting quite low so there's no big flexing under the arch. The rubber heel and sole is very shock absorbing so that's good. The leather is supple more supple than the yellow tins and where those are stiffened by stiffeners in the toes and heels. These are very sparing in anything stiffening so feels like it's a softer set of uppers like a pair of shoes. As for the comfort in the break-in remember these are from eBay even though I think these are unworn seconds not secondhand. Remembering that there was no break-in and honestly everything is so soft even these multiple seams that I think even if brand new there'd be no breaking issues whatsoever if you size right. Okay time to look at cost and value. I got these for Aussie $50 on eBay. That was the starting bid and nobody else came in. The owner was very honest and described and showed photos of the gouge in the leather. To be honest I didn't really want them. I put in the first bid at $50 thinking I'd be out bid and what fun it was and then fell off my chair when I actually won the auction. Anyway I don't wear these as much because they're probably and objectively not my favorites in my collection. I have to consciously decide to wear them rather than automatically grab them like many others in my collection but despite that I'm glad I did win them at $50 and the value at $50 is insanely unbeatable. But what about new? They sell for US $160 and in Australia sell for just under $300 Aussie dollars. On Amazon you can get them new from between $130 to $160 US dollars. Now remembering they are a well-toothed and cemented boot. Waterproof, nice leather, users recycled materials if that's important to you. At $130 to $160 it's a pretty fair price. You get a very unique looking boot for that price. I think that US $130 to $160 will reflect their value considering I've heard people have worn these as everyday boots for two or three years before they're either discarded or they attempt to re-sold. That's $50 to $75 per year of wear. To be honest if it lasts you two or three years and you're looking at a re-sold that might cost half the original price I'd be happy just getting a new pair every two or three years of everyday wear. QC? Well these are hardly handmade boots but with machinery theoretically you can control QC much better and large corporations with large factories do implement strong QC inspection and process control procedures. I can't see any QC issues other than that F4 said gouge which was obviously picked up and I haven't heard of QC issues out of the box from other reviewers or other boot groups either. For $300 Australian dollars though the exchange rate isn't that bad. At Aussie $300 I think they're overpriced and probably priced as a fashion item not a fair value priced boot. If you live in Australia and want a pair I'd recommend getting on the Amazon US site because even with the exchange rate and shipping there'll be about mid $200 and on Amazon you can get free shipping and free returns especially if you're a prime member. So there you go guys my review of the Timberland original six inch earthkeeper leather boots. I hope you like the review. Say even if you're a subscriber I'd be very grateful if you clicked on the like button. Subscribers are reminded of my videos when they come out and so sometimes forget to click on like because they're already watching. So don't forget to click on like to help me grow this channel. Of course if you're new to this channel click on both like and subscribe. Why don't you? I'm going to bring you more objective boot reviews a few unboxing videos as I buy new boots and sometimes a few reviews of other things like bags and leather goods. So if you don't want to miss them click on subscribe and YouTube will tell you when I upload new videos. Until then guys take care and I'll see you then.