 G'day everyone. How are you going? Welcome to Boot Lossophy. My name is Tech. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land that I live and work on, the Wajik people of Nungabuja. Today, I'm taking a look at Truman Boot Company's six-inch capto boot in Charles Thed Tannery's Smoke Rambler leather. This is the Truman Boots 79 lasted boot in a leather called Smoke Rambler. The aesthetic is a chunky workboot style in the 79 last. A last is the foot-shaped mold on which they shape and build the boot. Apart from being shaped like a foot, obviously a last is shaped to also make the boot in a specific design. A slim sleek last will produce a slim, sleek-looking boot. A rounded wide last will make a bulky chunky boot. While Truman Boots have three lasts and vary their boots by shaft height, leather and sole variations, some with a capto, some plain toe and some with a mock toe. In effect, they really make one boot style. Even though the 55 last is a narrower last, it's certainly not a dressy boot that gets produced. And this 79 last is a high-volume, chunky style that's much more workboot and aesthetic than a slim service boot or a dress boot. No pretensions there. It's not quite a round toe months and last like many classic American work boots, but it's getting there. So as befits a work boot look, it's a capto, six-inch boot with a block heel and on a lug sole. But while this leather is very rugged and durable, I think it's quite clear to me anyway that it's not a work boot leather. I mean, you wouldn't wear this to a building site, would you? Get concrete dust and mud all over it? I know I wouldn't, but I wouldn't necessarily mother it either. I'd certainly wear it out on a hike or doing some light jobs around the house or yard. And while the aesthetic is that of a solid work boot, it's more of a rugged casual boot for odd jobs around the house or for casual gear to go to the pub or a barbecue or some other social occasion. So when it comes to what you might wear it with, I think rugged casual comes immediately to mind. It would be a great winter boot with a layered look in jeans, jumpers, flannels and jackets. Hiking gear in looser pants or jeans would work. Technical hiking tops maybe and puffer jackets. The light colour would go well with denim of any shade or earth-toned pants, henleys or t-shirts on top. And interestingly, if that's a word, that rugged aesthetic befits the perception of Truman boots. The company is named after the founder's border collie, Truman. Truman Boot Company is a small batch boot manufacturer founded in 2014 by the owner Vince Romano. After travelling around the world, Romano saw something unique in the skill required to make heritage style boots, particularly in America. Romano is on record saying that his focus wasn't on made in USA specifically, but rather on making a well-made product properly. And he happened to be based in the US, so it became about a well-made American product. When he started Truman Boots, he set out to make boots that would be unique and last for many years, and they certainly are that. Truman started in Pennsylvania, moved to Colorado and are now settled in Oregon. For Australians, not familiar with a map of the US, that's like starting up in Brisbane, moving to Alice Springs and ending up in Broome right across the country. Truman remain a made-to-order company, although they are trying to come out of the pandemic with a ready-made range. As one of the articles on the website says, ready-to-ship products are going to be key in the success of Truman. Wait times on built-to-order products are frustrating, inconvenient and difficult to manage. However, because production runs are small, they're finding it hard to stop ready-made because they sell out so fast. But that is their intention eventually. Let's now take a look at how these Truman Boots are constructed. As usual, I like to start from the bottom and move my way up. While early Truman boots were made using the stitch-down method of construction, a couple of years ago, they moved to the faster, good year-welted form of construction. This is a 270-degree good year-welted boot, where a thin strip of leather called the welt goes around the edge of the front three quarters of the boot and is stitched to the uppers on the inside of the boot. The outside edge of the welt is stitched to the leather midsole and rubber outsole. One stitch attaches the uppers to the welt, the second stitch attaches the welt to the sole, and no stitch goes between the outsole and inside the boot, thus making this more water-resistant. The back one-quarter of the boot that's not welted is securely nailed and glued to the midsole. OK, not so water-resistant at the back, perhaps, but what that does is produce a tighter heel area that does two things. First, it looks slimmer. There's no protruding ledge. And second, it can attractively emphasise the welt up front, especially as in this case, the welt is left in a natural colour. The outsole in this boot is a rubber half-sole. The leather midsole goes all the way along the length of the boot, and a rubber-lugged half-sole is glued and stitched to the front under the ball of the foot. This has the advantage of better grip and, theoretically, better flexibility, but more of that later. There is a Vibram mini-lug half-sole, which is very grippy in all kinds of surfaces that I've worn this boot on, from indoors to outdoors, including in heavy rain and across grass and forest floors. The heel is stacked leather, topped by a Vibram mini-lug top-lift that's nailed and glued on top. Inside the boot, once you have the welt going around most of the edge, that welt forms a well, and that well is filled with cork. A steel shank is put into the cork to provide arch support under the gap between the heel and the ball of the foot, as well as longitudinal stability. As Truman is now made in the Pacific Northwest, it's worth pointing out that the arch support build-up is a lot flatter than traditional P&W boots like whites and nicks, who pack an indecent amount of leather under that arch to provide arch support. Above the cork filler in this boot is a thick leather insole, and then on top of that is a soft, non-removable leather sock liner. Despite what I said about the comparison with whites and nicks, this has a decent amount of leather packed under your feet. The leather and cork combinations should mould to the shape of your feet the more you wear it and put pressure on the sole structure, so that over time it's meant to be more and more comfortable as it shapes to your feet. Moving on up, the Rambler Leather Uppers are made by Charles Afsted, one of the world's best suede tanneries based in Leeds in England, also home of Super Leeds United by the way, the world's best association football club. At least it was in the 70s, when I was a kid, when they used to win everything. Unfortunately used to is now the operative phrase, if you're American think of the Cubs, I think they went a hundred years between championship, right? Yeah, something like that. Oh anyway, we'll move on quickly I think. So, Stead tells us that Rambler Leather is a shrunken fibre leather that's finished on the flesh side. Now that was like a foreign language, so let's try and break it down. A suede is usually a split leather. A full height is pretty thick, so it's usually split into a top layer that's taken to make smooth grain or corrected top grain leather, as well as the bottom layer that's usually buffed to create a velvet like nap that we know as suede. So Rambler takes the bottom split and shrinks it further in hot vats and tumblers to reduce it by 30% in volume and size. In doing so, without the buffing and correcting, two things happen. First it becomes tougher the normal suede. Think of a woolen sock that you put through a hot wash and act by accident. When it comes out, you'd be lucky if it could fit your seven-year-old, but at the same time it is dense and tough. The loose fibres of the leather have shrunken with all the gaps and air pockets squashed together, so strength and water resistance increases. The second thing that happens is that the flesh side of the split, being uncorrected, still has the pattern of blood vessels and folds and old pockets of fat. Stead treats the flesh side to bring out more of the texture as a characteristic of Rambler. In this makeup it's around 3mm thick and quite stiff and sturdy. The colorway is called Smoked Rambler and as you can see is a pale sandy color, kind of a cross between a very pale smoky gray and a touch of white sand. There's an external heel leather counter that stiffens the heel area covered by a two-piece backstay, the heel counter cover and the strip up the back. Up front there is a structured toe box, I'm not sure but I think there's a leather stiffener in there too. There is a toe cap but feeling inside I can feel a seam so I don't think it's a true toe cap. I think the vamp piece stops and the toe cap is sewn to it to extend onto the toe box as a toe cap. Stitching, it's double stitched at the backstays and triple stitched at the edges of the quarters as well as on the toe box. Stitching is very neat and very even, I can't pick a fault. The tongue is made of the same leather and looks to me to be just as thick. Usually boot makers will use a thinner piece of leather up here. It is semi-gusseted up to the fifth eyelet to keep out dirt and moisture so coupled with the thickness it does not slip. This kilty doesn't come with it. The kilty is from Dale's Leatherworks or you can catch Dale here on YouTube as Aero Surfer LV or on Instagram with the same handle. Dale makes some amazing backpacks as well as kiltsies, these cuffs that I have on and veg tanned leather removable insoles. All in all the boot is made from excellent raw material and I have to say it is very well put together. So how would you care for this rambler leather, this shrunken suede? You know it's an interesting question for which I do not have an absolute answer. I have to admit that with rambler or at least this pale version of rambler I am at the edge of my knowledge here. The leather feels dry, like it's meant to feel dry, not waxy at all. It is still suede after all I guess. It has no oily feeling like pull-up leather, it doesn't feel waxy like calfskin. On another Truman in black rambler I have used Big 4 and it did change the texture a little bit, making it look and feel a little waxy than when I started. Truman's website says to use their leather cream to condition. Their leather cream looks very similar to Redwing's Neitzfoot oil cream product with oils and waxes in it. Even their own website, Truman's, says not to use their leather cream on suede, new buck and rough out. Gee, I don't know. I don't think I'd use a cream on this. I mean on some darker ramblers maybe, but this very pale one, I don't think so. It's very matte. Stead's website is no help whatsoever. So what follows is my personal idea of what I would do. First off, like any other boot, keep it clean. Brush it every couple of wears. If it gets dirty, start first with a damp rag and try to wipe the dirt off. You could even try suede rubbers and brushes to get dirt off, like Timberland's dry cleaning kits. Check the links below. If you have to use a gentle spray on cleaner like Truman's leather boot cleaner or RM Williams's spray cleaner where you spray it on a rag or directly onto the boot and then just rub it to dirt. Or you can try a shampoo like Redwing's foaming leather cleaner or leather honey shampoo which is quite gentle. I would steer clear of saddle soap because I think that might strip away more moisture than it should on this sort of leather. As for conditioning, I'd look to condition this once or twice a year, maybe more frequently if you wear it very frequently. What conditioner is the question though? I think I would use a spray-on suede conditioner like Sophia's Involna or the cheaper Tarago New Buck suede renovator. Check the description below at the very bottom for some links to these products and others. I have also spot tested using a little Big Four on the tongue and on the top of the backstair here. And while it initially looked too waxy after 24 hours and it had soaked in, the pale colour came back and it looked as matte as when it was new. So if you want to chance it, I think Big Four would be fine in sparing amounts. Okay, let's look at sizing. If you follow my channel, you'll know that I'm a US 8.5D true to size as measured on a US brand device. In most heritage and heritage style boots, their makers make them large so I usually fit into what they call size 8 and D width. I wear 8D in all my Red Wing boots, Grant Stone boots, Alan Edmonds, Wolverine, Knicks and most Whites lasts. In Thursday boots, Timbaland, Parkhurst, I take 8s in regular or white fits depending on the make. In these boots, I'm also an 8D and I find that a perfect fit. The length is just right and the width at the ball of the foot is really comfortable. If there is one area that doesn't feel quite right, it's probably the heel where I feel it's a little roomy and not as locked in fit as some of my other boots. As for comfort, they were immediately comfortable. That's not to say that there's no break in required. I mean I didn't have blisters or hotspots but the leather is thick and tough and the leather midsole, it's a block of concrete so I both needed breaking into the extent that they feel a little less in my head when I'm wearing these. The soles are still not entirely broken in. They still don't bend comfortably where my feet bend. That I think is a testament to how tough they were built. As well, be aware that this is a heavy boot. It feels sturdy, it feels Pacific Northwest but just let me emphasise no pain, just a feeling of toughness that's not yet moving with the moving parts of my foot. So what about value? These smoke ramblers are not listed on the website at the moment although there are a number of rambler styles and a pale Coyote rough out which is not a rambler if you're that way inclined towards pale boots. Having said that from time to time these do make a comeback as the leather becomes available so if you like the look it's worth dipping into their website every now and then or just subscribe to their newsletter to keep in touch. If they are listed they will list at around 460 US dollars. Are they worth it? Well if you compare them with a mid-range boot like say the Red Wing Iron Ranger those sell for about US 350 but iron ranges are produced in big numbers without dare I say it the same amount of personal makers care and attention and they just feel a little less sturdy. In the way they are made I would seriously compare them with whites and nicks and others of the PNW fraternity. Those sell for over 500 US and above and keep going. Okay to some extent they are not as sturdily built certainly in the arch area but Truman are definitely in the same game if not in the same league like a younger brother learning the rules they compare well. On top of that Truman uses some very unique leathers some which are not used by other boot makers making these otherwise work boots style boots. Are they worth it? Yeah I think they are so there you have it. In my opinion Truman are built like they think they should be in the same league as the old PNW names if not exactly the same they are getting there. The shape of the 79 last is magnetically attractive to someone who likes the attraction of say a Timberland yellow boot chunky. The letters they use are unique wait times because they are still MTO are maybe a tad too long for nervous people but if those times don't extend beyond the current average of eight weeks or so probably worth the wait. If you have Truman boots tell me what you think otherwise do the right thing. 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