 G'day, welcome to Bootlossophy. If you're new here, my name is Tech. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands that I live and work on, the Wajib people of the Nungar Nation. This is just going to be a short video. I'm going to talk about my new boots, the Parkhurst Allen Boot in Dune Roughout. So this is the Parkhurst Allen Boot in Dune Roughout. Just received today. I didn't do an unboxing because after a fantastically sunny weekend, it turned out that we're going to have a whole series of storm fronts come through and the weather has been terrible. And having received these at work, I took them home, got out of the car in the rain and the box was actually soaked. So I'm not going to bother to do an actual unboxing for you. However, I will show you what came with the boots. They came with their individual boot bags. This time they don't have the logo of Parkhurst on them, which is the first time I've ever had Parkhurst boot bags that didn't have the logo. Came with a spare pair of laces. The website does say that the laces that these come in are the round wax laces and flat wax laces, but both of these are round. Doesn't matter. The interesting thing is I'll talk about it soon, but I think I would prefer a sort of thicker lace on these things. And of course Andrew's thank you card signed by Andrew personally. So that's great. In terms of the boots, if we take a quick look before I put them on feet, and then I'll give you my first impressions of them in a little more detail. Obviously a service boot, which is the Parkhurst Allen patent model. In this case, it's in Dune rough out, which is a, I believe it's Spanish tanned leather. It's full grain, veg tanned rough out leather. The inside, which is normally the smooth side, is not actually like a polished smooth leather that you might get with a, say a chrome excel rough out. It feels very much almost like new buck on the inside and then the rough out on the outside. The rough out, interestingly enough, feels very short napped like suede. So it's not a sort of knotty nap that you do get in some of the Pacific Northwest rough outs. The English, for example, I think we'll call this a suede rough out where it's really caught a suede feel to it. In terms of construction, the uppers are tanned, veg tanned with natural waxes and oils imbued into it. So it gives us a certain waterproof nature. It has a leather heel counter, not a celastic one. A celastic toe puff though. It has a cork filler and a steel shank. Veg tanned welt, veg tanned midsole, veg tanned insole. So a nice set of natural materials. The outsole is a day night like studded outsole, but this one is a Parkhurst proprietary upsole. So for those of you who know Parkhurst have recently, coming out of the factory in Spain, commissioned their own proprietary commando outsoles. And this in fall, winter 2023 or autumn, winter 2023, depending on which part of the world you're from, has the first appearance of the studded outsole for Parkhurst. The pattern is the Allen service boot pattern, bright hardware, really quite nice. Simple pattern, two quarters, the vamp and a single piece backstay at the back. It has an internal heel counter which as I said is leather. So I'm going to put these on feet and we'll see what they look like and feel like on feet and then I'll give you my first impressions. Okay so I'll put them on and see what they're like on feet. Gosh the first feel is that the tongue is actually very thin. Not that there's a problem I suppose, but it's strange because this is quite a sturdy set of uppers I'm guessing about two and a half mils or so in thickness. But the tongue is definitely a lot thinner. The first impression is that they seem to fit a little larger than my other Parkhurst Allen boots, which is quite strange because it's exactly the same size as I take in my other Parkhurst Allens. But it is possible that this dune rough out, which is a, you know it's almost a suede leather rather than a sort of strict rough out with a scruffy nap. It might be that it's quite a stretchy leather and so in the lasting of it, maybe it was stretched a bit differently across the last than in some of my other Parkhurst boots. Not big, I mean I can't say it's very big but it certainly feels a lot less snug in the toe box than my other Parkhurst Allens. Even those that I bought recently that are from the Spanish factory. I can certainly feel the toughness of the Vegtan midsole and insole because it is, I do need to flex it to build it in and to break it in properly. I can also feel the padding if you like of the rubber outsole. I can feel the firmness of the Vegtan insole and midsole but I can also feel that little bit of give which I guess is the cork filler. There is a steel shank in there which does give you the required arch support I feel. In fact the arch support I think is quite good in this. The toe box definitely feels a little bit more roomy than in my other Parkhurst boots. It's not an uncomfortable feeling, I'm just feeling a bit roomy and perhaps I need to wear this with thicker socks than my others. It certainly looks good on feet, it feels nicely roomy on feet so I'm very pleased with the fit. It's different but I'm very pleased with it. Okay, let's give a summary rundown. So that was the on-feet portion. First impressions, they're a really beautiful looking boot. The rough out is a lot more suede like than I expected it to be being rough out. It has quite a soft and short nap. So it feels velvety rather than that crispy rough out nap that you can get in some of the rougher rough outs. I find the tongue surprisingly thin. It's a lot thinner. I think it's the same material but this has flipped the right way round if you like. It has the new bucky sort of surface to the front and then the more of the rough out on the inside but it is very thin. It is semi-gusseted up to the third eyelet so that continues to park her sort of form of construction which I really like. The quality of the stitching is pretty good. There is a little unevenness at the quarters where the stitches sort of part a little bit and then come back together so it's not clean and precise. But there's certainly no missed stitches. It's quite very even stitching throughout. Double stitch to keep the heel counter in place. Single stitch where it doesn't quite matter on the back stay. Double stitch on the quarters. And the stitching on the split reverse welt with that little flare up the side of the boot is actually itself quite precise. And the joining of the welt is very nicely done. It has a vegetant stacked leather heel count and a rubber topper to it. First impressions. To me it runs a little bit larger than the other park her spooks that I've had. Just by a tiny feel I'm not quite sure why. You'd have seen if you saw my interview with Andrew, him saying that the fit can actually be quite different depending on which factory it comes out of. Depending on which uppers leather is used because some will stretch a lot easier over the last and sometimes depending on the person who's actually doing the lasting. I thought it might be interesting to compare it with some of the other parkers boots I have. This is the Parkhurst Allen in Dark Roast Dublin. Now it's a totally different leather but this was constructed out of the western New York factory. And it's also the 602 last and I think you can see the similarities of the last with particularly in the toe there. But if you look at the toe box this one is perhaps a little bit more collapsed because it's older. But there's definitely more profile structure in the new one coming out of the Spanish factory. And that's quite interesting I think. In terms of sizing I'll do what Dale does. They're both size 8's and exactly equal. It's just that the lasting I think feels a little bit different. The other one I'll compare it to is another Allen boot. This is the Gaucho Moose that again this one comes out of the Spanish factory. Again it's a 602 last so you can see the shape is very similar. If you look at the profile this one's a little bit more lost in structure. But you can see that there is a similarity in that profile as opposed to this one which has a flatter toe box in my mind. So you know that's where the different factories and the different leathers come into it. Again size, Spanish factory, Spanish factory. Yeah just exactly the same size 8. You wouldn't expect any different. Just the feel is a little bit different. In terms of comfort I think this is as comfortable as any Parker's boot whichever factory it came out of whichever Parker's era it came out of. I don't mind the studded sole. I think it gives reasonably good grip. And this sort of pattern and model I think harks back to the US Marine boondocker boot of World War II particularly in this colour and this rough out. And those had a non-commando sole anyway so it looks quite nice to it. First impressions I really like this. I like the colour. I think the laces are a little bit thin to go with this sort of rugged looking rough out boot. So I'm going to play around with maybe flat wax cotton laces which are a little bit broader or I might even put in some leather laces and see what that looks like. Otherwise definitely a boot that I've always sought after when it first came out a few years ago. I missed that one so it was good to get this. Thank you to Andrew for sending it so quickly. And we'll wear this for a couple of weeks to break this in and then I'll keep wearing it in my rotation for maybe a few months and I'll bring you a full review at that point. So I hope you liked this little quick video on a semi-unboxing and my first impressions. If you like the video you know what to do click on the like button and if you're not subscribed there are a lot more boot review videos that I bring to you with a lot more detail about the construction and the history of the boot maker so click on the subscribe button. So take care and I'll see you soon.