 Hi, welcome to my channel Goodlossophy. If you haven't met me before my name is Tech. Welcome to Wajik country I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, but today we're going from Australia to another Commonwealth country in South Africa So this is a box I've received from another sister Commonwealth country the Republic of South Africa it says Briepa Hante Versiti Now the pronunciation is probably terrible, but I think that's African's fault. Open me quick something great inside. So let's do it So here's the box beautifully wrapped in round paper Nothing too fancy on the outside. So let's get it open So the first thing that greets you is the Jim Green Frog and I'll tell you a little bit more about it later in the video But that's the logo for Jim Green a South African brand of boots made in South Africa from South African materials And I'll tell you about Jim Green the company as well. But first, let's take a look at the boots Opening it up. What we've got here is a card about the African Ranger, which is the name of this boot. It's various features Designed by Rangers for Rangers and for every 10 pairs sold they donate one pair to an African Ranger An African Ranger is not like an Army Ranger. If you don't know Lots of parts of Africa are susceptible to some terrible poaching of animals that are in danger particularly rhinos for their horn and elephants for their tusks and as well as I think illegal game hunting. So the African Ranger patrols the outback or the bush out there to try and catch these poachers The legend was born a bit of history about the Jim Green Boot maker and I'll tell you about that once I've opened this up and we've had a look So that's the first look of the boot It's a short stubby boot In Trail Crazy Horse, I think they call it in the colour called fudge This actually is Substantially heavier than I expected for being such a cheap boot When I say cheap I don't mean in value. I mean at price It comes out looking short and stubby But really quite heavy, I think fairly solid materials a fully gusseted tongue Nice foam foot pad and a rubber outsole. It's a stitch down construction Let's have a look at the other one So there you are The stitching as far as I can see is pretty darn good. It has a Jim Green logo on the heel padded collar three eyelets and two speed hooks functional lace Toe cap All right, so What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put these on foot so you can see what they like and Then I'll wear them for a couple of days and I'll bring in my first impressions later on in the video So Make sure you you watch to the end So let's get them on foot Okay, so we'll get them on feet Slips in easy enough and despite the short stubby look of it. It's actually the right size I take a UK 7 which is what these are or a European 41 that equates to a US 8 so I think my advice would be to wear your normal US boot size Slips on pretty easy Pretty easy to get the laces onto the speed hooks and that gusseted tongue Falls quite easily. I can see this would be extremely useful out in northern Australia where it's dusty Savannah type bush This would keep the dust off your boots Fits really nicely Big round and stubby toe, so it's very comfortable The heel seems to lock in very well the bulk of the tongue Means the instep is cradled and this Padding here helps first impressions are That they're a lot sturdier than I expected them to be Certainly feel strong and tough and I think would work really well up in the northwest of Australia out here in the bush. I sense that these will need a little breaking in because I'll measure the leather and then we'll have a talk about it a bit later on in the video, but I Feel that the leather is actually Quite thick and strong and Will need some breaking in particularly around I think around the ankle more than around the The flex point that seems to be quite comfortable so what I'm going to do is I'm going to try these on For a little while and then I'll bring you my initial impressions before we end the video and What I'll then do is my usual practice is to wear them for a little while and I'll come back to you in a couple of Months to see how they go and I'm particularly interested how these wear So I might actually come back to you in say two months and then four months and then six months. So If you haven't subscribe and stay tuned Jim Green is based in the KwaZulu Natal region of South Africa Jim Green is actually the name of a frog that lives in the rivers of the region and seems to be the food of some fish Depending on the size of the frog in real life big fish The little frog logo is prominent in the marketing material and is embossed in the boots in the African Ranger at the heel Jim Green is a family business started as crouch footwear in 1987 by a father-and-son team who broke off from the employer and started their own factory Garrett crouch is the third generation family member in the business And he is the operations manager working at Jim Green with his father and two brothers So it's very much a family operation South Africa hasn't had a good time in the last ten years economically and socially But Jim Green is based on keeping manufacturing and the supply chain within South Africa to support the economy and the local workforce They are one of the last factories left in South Africa that pay their workers 100% of the legal wage rate Apparently because of the national economy the government has allowed employers to pay as little as 60% of the legal wage rate On top of this they also give out year-end bonuses to workers depending on the results and a few years ago They gave their workers 10% of the company pretty impressive stuff So as my first entry into Jim Green boots, I chose the African Ranger model There's a couple of things about this model that I'll mention because it goes to the Heart of the kind of values of the company itself Firstly, it was designed for African game rangers These are the tough band of people who patrol the African bush against the poachers that hunt endangered rhinos and elephants For their horns and tusks and against illegal big game hunters I don't know how much you know about the African savannah and bush But to go out there for days on end and be shot at by poachers and sometimes killed These are tough little buggers Second not only was the design based on input from the rangers themselves Jim Green give one boot to a ranger for every 10 sold like Africa itself. This company has big themes My first impression of the aesthetic and design are I love it It's a short stubby boot perfect for a hot dusty climate I can see myself wearing this in the north of Australia in the Kimberley region and in the top end of the northern territory Where the conditions are quite similar to southern and eastern Africa? I think the wedge sole won't pick up stones and will spread your weight on soft sand The gusseted tongue should keep up moisture and sand I'll let you know after my next trip up there You can wear this under jeans cotton pants and chinos and even shorts. I think really perfect for Aussie conditions From the fashion point of view the crazy horse leather that stubby round toe and the complex patches of leather pieces Give visual interest Bearing in mind. I've only had these a couple of weeks My first impression is the surprise at the sturdiness for the price The crazy horse is a wax new buck and is two to two and a bit millimeters thick very respectable It feels tough and at that thickness does need breaking in a bid. It's a 360 degree stitch down construction I asked Gareth and he says that belt scorn and stitch down construction are basically the same Stitch on construction flanges out the uppers and stitches the flanged uppers down into the midsole and thus allows moisture to drip away The proprietary rubber outsole is then glued onto the midsole Yeah, when you look closely some parts of the boot show that it is built for the price For example, there's a polyester board midsole underfoot no cork no lining But then they include things that surprise you for the price like for example the Removable foam footbed that's basic but pretty comfortable inside and the hidden value just keep popping up The toe cap is a real toe cap a second piece of leather sewn on top of a full vent The toe cap uses thermoplastic toe puff to structure it The heel counter is a second piece of leather as well covering the thermoplastic heel counter And a second piece of leather reinforces the hardware area The hardware itself looks thin looks cheap, but they're surprisingly very sturdy certainly more sturdy than even Red wing and olden hardware where I can bend the speed hook pretty easily These don't bend From what I can see stitching is good. There's a couple of burnt threads not burnt well enough But hey, it's not going to fall apart There's an unusual little fold away tab at the back I like it because it doesn't catch your pants The tongue is a completely gusseted tongue some may say a bellows tongue I really like that and I'm sure we'll keep out the pinned and desert sand that you find in northern australia It falls easily enough despite the width and you can fold it into an s fold like a nyx work boot Um, or maybe a w like a like a whites, uh on their wide semi-gusset tongues Oregon Aussie and I guess uh just to relax south african You just tie the bloody thing up and how it falls it falls As for sizing if you're a regular view of bootlosophy You know that I measure a us 8 and a half d on the brannock, but I wear us 8d in american heritage boots That translates to a uk 7.5 on the brannock and mostly seven in boots I wear Being south african another commonwealth country jim green uses uk sizing numbers So after discussion with gareth, I settled on a uk 7 and it does fit But I think I should have gone a half size up. That's to true to size at 7 and a half Don't get me wrong. It fits But my toes are closer to the tip of the boot than I normally like and at the end of the day If I've worn it all day the tip of my big toe is a bit sore from pushing up against the end when I walk too much It's a wide last and so room for the ball of the foot and the toes is no problem I think if I wanted to wear thick socks, I would definitely have to go up a half size The thick 2 to 2.2mm leather does need a bit of breaking in. It's sturdy, especially where it's doubled up at the Islets. This corner here is digging into my ankle I've tried to fold the tongue differently, but it's not that it's just that the leather is tough And this doubled up corner is is new and basically needs to break in Comfort underfoot and arch support are okay Not brilliant perhaps but good enough for my slightly flat arches not to complain The ripple wage sole is not hard not soft somewhere in the middle and it's grippy I wore them out of the box without hot spots other than the corner of the lace facing as I said and the tip my big toe But that's down to me for not getting the right size I'll let you know in a couple of months time how they really break in so stay tuned And if you haven't already subscribed to keep in touch Okay, so at the moment Jim Green don't sell in Australia although they do have a US website And they sell in their own store on amazon I got mine from the South African website now for disclosure Gareth gave me a 50 discount of these but the website lists them at 1899 rand that translates to about 165 oz Plus shipping which is pretty hefty to Australia I picked the full 699 rand or about 60 plus ozzie dollars postage In the u.s. They sell for us 180 dollars, which is also what they sell for on their amazon store I'll leave links to the websites and the amazon store down below One of the disadvantages of buying outside of south africa or outside of the us is I suppose The hassle and cost of return so if you live where it means buying from a South African or US website Perhaps amazon is a good bet especially as the price includes duty and so on And if you're a prime member postage and returns can be free As to my first impressions of value this looks to me like a really well-built boot Reviews by youtubers Karl Morowski arrow surfer lv and rose anvil are all pretty good In my thoughts I'd compare them to a good hiking boot or an entry-level work boot And in my mind at the moment they compare really well At around 180 us dollars or 225 250 oz that is a pretty good deal So that's it guys But as I say stay tuned and subscribe because These impress me so much especially for using my work up north That I'm going to wear them for a bit more than I normally wear my rotation at least for now And I'll put up I'll put up an update video in a couple of months time to see what I think then If you haven't subscribed now as you're reminded to do so so that you can see how these bear up And that's a wrap for now my unboxing Try on and initial impressions of this gym green African ranger model As usual guys, thanks for watching. I hope you liked it And don't forget to click on like and to tell youtube to show this video to more people with an interest in boots Until then take care and I'll see you soon