 G'day, how you going? For those new to my channel, I'm Tech, welcome to Bootlossophy, my channel talking about boots, boot reviews, boot makers, and the background philosophy of wearing and making boots. Kinda like Zen in the art of boot maintenance. Today, I'm reviewing the Parkhurst Richmond in Ray's Reverse Waxmoorhawk, Parkhurst's tough, outdoorsy boot. This is the Parkhurst Richmond boot in CF Steads Ray's Reverse Waxmoorhawk. But before I say anything else, if you like the look of this boot and you want to rush off and check Parkhurst's website, sorry, it's no longer available. That's one of the disappointing things about Parkhurst, being a small batch manufacturer of good mid-range quality Goodyear-welted boots. They do use some of the most interesting letters from Halloween, from Charles Sestet in the UK, and from Seidel in the US, and some almost booty tanneries like Mariam from Italy. But because they use these unique letters, and they are a small company and hence make boots in small batches, their models are often sold out. And they are limited runs, so many of their make-ups are not revisited for many years or even ever. Now I say disappointing, but it's only disappointing if you missed out on a run, because they run up fast due to the relatively few and number of the very dedicated fans of the brand. For people who jump as soon as a drop is announced, well, we're not disappointed at all. In fact, with the COVID situation, it's been harder than usual to get Parkhurst boots. Often if you venture on your website, you'll only find one or two models shown. The reason has been this squeeze in production due to the supply chain, making access to materials very hard to come by. And the timing of supply and thus the manufacture, it becomes very unpredictable. But before I go into that, let's take a look at the Parkhurst brand. I keep saying the Parkhurst brand, which is the name of the company, but it really is only one man, Andrew Savisco, who founded the company in late 2018 and as a stock analyst at the time, with an interest in American heritage boots, he saw market niche for U.S.-made quality boots at an affordable price. In a pretty revealing interview with Stitchdown, I'll put a link to it below, I think Andrew reveals his why or vision and purpose for starting the company. He was inspired to reverse the kind of decline of a community that lost jobs in that community could create. He witnessed that in his own town of Buffalo, New York, as well as being inspired by his own family history, particularly his grandparents. His vision encompassed reviving the American handmade shoe industry, which up until the mid-2010s arguably a really declining industry, by ensuring that he made quality boots at an affordable price in America using the experience and talent of people who were otherwise starting to lose jobs and in doing so stopping the loss of generations of experience in making shoes and boots. So as far as possible, his mission was to source American-made material as much as possible, but even where the right premium material had to be bought in from overseas, like this child safe stead suede, he made sure that he bought them from a local supplier so that he kept his supply chain as home-based as possible. The heritage handmade Americana-type boot trend seemed to take off in the mid-2010s with various bootmakers like Thursday, Oak Street bootmakers, Grant Stone, starting their own versions of the service slash dress slash work boot aesthetic. Parker started growing as part of this interest. When COVID struck, I think larger bootmakers who could finance and order hundreds of hides were able to ride the direct-to-consumer online shopping trends and still do good business. However, from what I can see, Parkhurst as a smaller limited-run manufacturer focused entirely on ordering for US supply chains, they just simply got squeezed out of supply. As COVID hid his suppliers based in the US, as freight from overseas started getting costly, as material suppliers themselves were limited by COVID restrictions at the factory, Parkhurst's supply chain was particularly hard hit. Now at this point let me say that what I'm telling you did not come from Andrew Saviska. I have not interviewed him about this. I have communicated with Andrew though many times by email. He's a really nice guy who takes the trouble of responding to every message and query as soon as he can, but I haven't asked him about his motivation or supply problems or manufacturing processes. I've gathered my own thoughts purely as a consumer, as I think it's more relevant to you to see what I see as a consumer as you would be. I've gathered information from interviews that he's made and his website itself and other articles and reviews. Now put them together to see what I see as a consumer would. The position now looks much better. Parkhurst has been finally getting the materials it's been finding hard to source and the production is starting to catch up. But if you do go to the website and still see models run up quickly or not being restocked or from time to time down to one boot, it's possible. It's possible because COVID has made all our lives unpredictable. The best way to be ahead of the curve is to sign up to Andrew's newsletters and to join the Facebook Parkhurst enthusiast group. Doing both would be for warning you of any new drops as they occur and maybe even be privileged to hear of new styles before you're actually officially announced. Personally I find Parkhurst's boots so attractive, comfortable and well made and Andrew's such a nice guy that I really want to help and I guess that means buying stuff like as soon as it drops. Don't tell my wife or my pension fund. Okay let's take a look at this boot that you can no longer buy. This is the Richmond boot which is Parkhurst's cap toe design. I'll talk about the construction later but this is on the old last called the 18 last which featured a sharper almond shaped toe. The style is clearly an outdoorsy rough and tough let's go and kick something boot. The combination of the nappy rough-out leather, the deep lugs in the richways sole, the bright brass eyelets they just call it hiking or biking or let's chop down some trees. But despite that it doesn't have the clunky work boot toe puff or toe spring of a red wing iron ranger or a Truman or a mixed work boot. To the end if you ask me what I wear these with I'd have to say jeans maybe some brown or green fire pocket pants. They're jeans really just not in denim. Maybe some canvas work pants. They are casual wear. They are not especially smart casual although I have worn them to the office with khaki chinos and a button down. They are definitely neither smart casual nor business casual. T-shirts button downs leather jackets wax or trucker jackets yes sure but blazers and sports coats anything even more dressy forget about it. Parkhurst partnered with a factory in Batavia upstate New York to make their boots. I believe the factory also made boots for a number of other high-end brands and I believe also that the trench boot line from Oak Street Boot Makers is made there. Now here's a fun fact I can't remember if it was this boot or the Spruce Kudu but I emailed Andrew about the availability of my size and he said that yeah he had one in stock that he hadn't put as available on the website yet. He just had to finish them off by nailing on the heel in his basement before he was able to release them to me. Yep he finishes his boots off in his own basement so you can guess that Andrew is ultimately responsible for the final QC inspection and I can seriously tell you I have not come across any problems with any of his factory firsts. Maybe a loose stitch or two but certainly not any poor selection of leather panels no wayward stitch lines no scratches no flaws that's QC in my experience. Now let's take a look at the construction I usually start from the bottom up but this leather is so unusual that this time I'm going to start from the top down this is Charles F. Stead's Raise Reverse Watt Mohawk leather. First Charles F. Stead is a renowned English tannery that specializes in the best suede leathers and by extension some really innovative matte and rough out leathers. The Mohawk range it's a flesh out suede tanned to highlight all the natural veins and marks just under the surface of the skin side. To explain this I need to explain a bit about how suede is made. Suede is a split leather imagine a whole hide where the hair or skin side is on top and the bottom is the flesh side. After tanning to preserve the leather the hide is split by slicing off the smooth skin side that gets sent off to make smooth leathers while the bottom layer is used to make swelling. The nap can be either sanded smooth or it remains high so as to create a nappier or rougher surface. In tanning the Mohawk the suede is tanned to shrink it slightly so that all the imperfections just under the skin stand out. Once wax it becomes similar to Stead's rambler leathers that you see on Truman boots or veins and imperfections but not too nappy. This version is unique to parkers it's reversed in other words it's turned inside out the veiny look that you see on Truman boots it's actually on the inside and what you see on the outside is the reverse of that leather extra nappy and rough in other words this is the flesh side. It is waxed but from my feel only lightly waxed certainly not layered in wax like C.O. Stead's own waxy commander or Horween's Java waxed flesh. They're both so heavily waxed it looks like a smooth leather until you actually knock off some of that wax with wear and then the rough out shows as nappy hairy leather patches. This boot is built around the Parkhurst 18 last as I said which is snug all around the foot but a little wider around the ball of the foot and then it tapers in at the toe into an almond toe. With that toe with the ball of the foot where any slimmer it would be a little too sleek for my foot I think. This is a six inch boot so the seven eyelets are just right to cinch the boot and aesthetically in the correct proportions. They're all eyelets no speed hooks I don't mind. Some might complain it takes longer to do up uh yeah nah the width of the waist and the partially gusseted tongue allows you to open the throat wide to slip your foot in. The tongue is gusseted up to the fourth island. Uh actually great not only to help with water resistance it also stopped the tongue sliding around in my experience which is something my right foot seems to encourage on any un-gusseted tongues. The uppers are leather lined in the vamp but not up the shaft. It has an external um celastic heel counter and a two-piece backstay covering it up. Obviously it has a toe cap it's a real toe cap I understand in other words there are two pieces of leather up there just one across the vamp and then the toe cap itself not just one sewn to the other. The toe is structured again with celastic there's the original Richmond style stitching on the toe cap it's triple stitched in a two plus one pattern. Triple stitching on the quarters double stitching on the backstays this boot was made to be tough. Okay moving down the uppers are attached to the sole construction using a 360 degree split reverse welt. A good year welt is a strip of leather that goes all the way around to circumference of the boot. The inside of that strip is sewn to the inside on the inside the outside edge is sewn for the midsole and the outsoles and in this case it's a split reverse good year welt. What this means is that the inside edge of the welt is split the top half is flanged out and pushed against the outside of the uppers here while the lower half of the split on the inside is sewn to the insole and uppers as usual. As you can guess just by looking at it the split reverse welt this flange increases water resistance inside the boot the welt if you think about it is a raised piece of leather that goes around the edge of the sole the welt would then create a cavity this is filled with cork a fiberglass shank is inserted in the cork and then the veg tan bends leather midsole and the rubber richway sole is stitched on. The cork and the tough veg tan midsole should conform to the shape of your foot pad as you stand in the boot over time making it more comfortable to the contours of your boot. To help it along there is a padded leather heel pad inside the boot running from the heel to just under the arch. The fiberglass shank that runs from here to here helps to support the arch and to stabilise the boot as you step over rough terrain like rocks and so on. Now let's talk about this richway outsole it's made by Habra Rubber Company in the UK it's the same manufacturer as Day Night Souls this is their version I'd say improvement really of a commando style lug sole. While it has deep lugs they are set back from the edge of the boot and so the side profile doesn't scream commando in fact the depth of the lugs are hidden a bit in this profile. The lugs themselves are wavy and the valleys between the lugs are they're wider than the commando pattern so while extremely grippy this also means that it's less easy to pick up dirt bits of branches and gravel as they don't stick between these lugs like they do in commando soles. All that put together it's a tough boot. They weigh a fairly hefty 851 grams each. Being a rough out and it's waxed and if you wear this the way they beg you to they'll probably get dirty and dusty so how do you take care of this leather? The parker's website recommends that you treat this with a waterproofing spray first. I followed that advice and I used Tarago's Nano Protector spray I'll put a link to that in the description below. If it does get dirty I wouldn't saddle soap this leather I think the saddle soap would just pull out too much of the oils and waxes that's in this leather. I think all I'd do is maybe brush the cake dirt off then you use a damp cloth to basically wipe off or pull any remaining dirt off. Treat it like a suede no cleaners at the very end use a suede eraser to rub off any dirty spots left and a suede brush to brush the mat back to life. If you really did want to wax it, yeah some of us can't resist, I'd use a natural wax like beeswax or a balm. Just beware too much waxes oils or balms will change the texture and look at this leather. Now let's take a look at sizing. Parker's recommends going a half size down from two to size and I hardly agree. I'm a US 8.5d in the brand measurement that's the device that you stand on in a shoe store and they slide levers around to find your size and foot width. On most boots I take a US 8d half down and this is no exception. As I said earlier the last the foot shape mould that the the the boot is built around is quite a snug fit around my the heel of my foot and the waist and cut a bit around the sides but it then widens out before it slips back in again into this almond shaped toe. This means that the 8d fit is really good for me. I find that Parker's lasts in general whether it's the old 18 or the current 602 they're anatomically perfect for my feet the 602 more than the 18. I find that Parker's Grant Stone and Alden use the best lasts for my shaped feet. This translated to hardly any breaking. There were no heel slips, no hot spots, no squeezy toes but when the boot did need breaking in was the breaking the flex point in the sole where my foot flexes as I walk. This ridgeway sole is made of particularly hard rubber compound that combined with a double midsole and the welt meant a hard and pretty inflexible sole to start with. Let me just say it wasn't and still isn't particularly comfortable under foot. It is hard. The shock absorption isn't great. The cork bed isn't enough to counter the hard rubber and the tough midsole. Arch support is okay not the best. The heel pad insert gives a little shock absorption under the heel but it ends just under the arch. It's quite long so your arches always feel like there's a little ridge under them. I've taken to inserting a thin leather removable insole just to disguise that ridge. You know you're wearing a boot not a dress shoe or sneaker. That's the con. The pro is that the soles are tough and can take any beating and they provide a lot of stability over rough ground. I've taken these on long walks and heights over hills with or without trails and the firmness of the sole construction has stopped my ankle from rolling many times. It steps firmly and provides real stability over rocks and fallen logs and creates a stable platform to just walk over rough ground. I'll talk a bit about whether I think this is value for money. Bearing in mind you can't get this particular model right now take what I say in the context of if I think parkhurst provides good value. I bought these for 322 US dollars in May 2021. Compare that with say the Thursday captain with Storm King lug cells that sell for 199 US. These are better leather, better sole construction, that split reverse good year weld 100% quality control. These represent appropriate pricing against the captain. Compare it with say Truman boots, another well-built tough boot, maybe even tougher, but a different price range altogether by over 100 dollars. Compare them with Grandstone brass boots. They have those with the commander's sole. Those sell in the same mid 300 range and probably the best comparison. Pretty similar. I think arguably Grandstone should be selling for about 100 dollars more than what they're selling for just for what you get but that's the subject of another video. I think in the mid 300 to 400 dollar range parkhurst represent good value for money and what you get is surely worth that price. Would I buy it again if it were available again at this price? In a heartbeat. It's a solidly constructed boot using premium materials. The QC is really good. It's an attractive and quite unique design and the leather is unusual, attractive and it's exclusive. Yeah, I'd buy it again. So there you go guys. I hope I haven't wasted your time reviewing a pair of boots that you can't buy. I'm going to be doing it again several times because I will be reviewing my other parkhurst boots on this channel. I just think that if you're really into boots it's interesting to see what bootmakers produce even if they're no longer available. You can see the evolution of the boot. It speaks to the value, vision and integrity of the bootmaker and it sets you up so you know what you're getting into when you decide to buy the models that are available. I hope you find it useful. I also hope that if you have it already you smash that like button down there and if you want more how about clicking on that subscribe button down there too. I'm planning many more boot reviews and boot related videos to come so don't miss them. Subscribe and be notified when I upload. Take care and I'll see you soon.