 Today, welcome to Bootlossophy. And if you haven't been to my channel before, my name is Tech. Now today I'm coming to you from the great southern region of Western Australia, which is known for its logging industry in Australian hardwoods like Jarrah and Marrah and Kerry timbers. And I want to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the peoples whose land, this is their traditional lands of, and that's the Biberman Wadandi people of the Greater Nungar Nation. Now today though, I'm going to be taking a look at these boots coming to you from Bandung in Indonesia, the Fortis Dakar Service Boot. So I'm going to do a short video on the long-term wear of these boots. This is the Dakar Service Boot from the Bandung Bootmaker Fortis Boots Indonesia. I've already done an in-depth review of their construction and I've included notes on what outfits they'd go with as well as giving you my opinion of their fit and sizing. In today's shorter video, I'm going to look at how they've stood up in the last 12 months and how I found their comfort and everyday fit, especially during a longish hike that I've had while on vacation here. So if you did want to look at my original in-depth review, you can check it out up there. Before I start though, for those of you who don't know or who won't bother to take a look at the original video, I'll just quickly tell you about the Bootmaker. Fortis Boots is owned by Sani Ramdani and is based in Bandung Indonesia, which is the quality heritage bootmaking capital of Indonesia and indeed Southeast Asia. Unless you've been living in a desert, you'll have heard about the increasingly numerous good quality bootmakers based in Bandung. Sani started Fortis in 2020 and of course, yeah, was immediately hampered by the Covid epidemic. However, by the time I met him in 2022, he had a few basic styles on his books already. I liked his version of the Boondocker style service boot, particularly in this rounder-toed Dhaka last. I ordered them in this local crazy horse leather because I wanted to allow bootmakers to keep their supply chains short and local and help their own local economies. But you can get his boots in all kinds of Italian and American leathers as well as local Indonesian and Pakistani tanned leathers. When I met Sani, he only had three people working for him in his small workshop and I like the construction of this Dhaka service boot so much that I actually designed and collaborated with him to bring up my version of an upland hunting boot called the Strider. You can see the review of that up there in the corner up there. Since then, Sani and Fortis have gained a big following on Instagram and has moved to bigger workshops so I'm hoping he continues in his success. By the way, if you're new to the world of Indonesian handmade boots, I mentioned Instagram because that's the way to contact most of these Bandung bootmakers. They rarely have a website and all orders and measurements are sent through Instagram direct message. Anyway to the boot. This is a service boot design and looking at the one piece backstay originally designed like the US Marines World War II Boondocker boot. However, forming it around his roomy Dhaka last and putting it on a Vibram Montaña Commander Lug Soul, it has the look and appearance of a US Pacific Northwest work boot without the high arch. The Dhaka last has a high volume toe box and if you imagine a toe cap put on this is reminiscent of a bulbous toe box iron ranger type boot. I've always said a service boot and a work boot can sometimes be interchangeable and this boot is a perfect blend of the two in its aesthetic. When you order Indonesian boots, they are true MTO so you can order different outsoles and uppers and different construction techniques. I ordered these in felt shorn construction. That's a Dutch invention and translated from the Dutch felt shorn means field shoe. Bradshaw and Lloyd renowned West Sussex supply of high quality Northampton made shoes and boots says that it was developed to enhance waterproofing in country weight or countryside walking boots and shoes. There are a lot of mistaken myths about what is a felt shorn construction shoe and often when I talk about felt shorn boots in my videos at least one person will comment that it's not real felt shorn or that felt shorn is the same as stitched down construction. I do a hell of a lot of research before I record my findings on video so let's put all that to rest. In felt shorn construction the uppers are flared out just like stitched down construction but instead of being stitched down directly to the midsole is stitched through a welt and the midsole. English Northampton bootmaker Joseph Cheney who they know a thing or two about boot construction say that a felt shorn shoe contains all the same components of a good year welted shoe including the welt that goes all the way around the edge of the shoe either 360 degrees all the way around or 270 degrees around the front three quarters. The difference is that in felt shorn the leather uppers are turned out and stitched above a welt rather than being turned underneath and stitched to the inside edge of the welt as in good year welt construction. In fact there's a really informative article in the stitch down blog and I'll put a link to it down below. So this boot has a welt and if you are sunny for a stitch down construction boot it can make you one without a welt. The stitching at the turned out uppers is an extremely fine double stitch one going through the uppers and the midsole the other going all the way through the uppers midsole and the outsole. The stitch density per inch is very even but it isn't as straight as say the viberg double stitch down. By the way the bottoming including the welt stitching in this boot it's all hand stitched. Being welted this boot also has a cork filler in the footbed a steel shank and a leather insole and a leather midsole. Vegetant on top of the midsole is the hard rubber vibramontania outsole a very aggressively lugged commando outsole inside the boot is a leather comfort insole which is lightly foam padded. The whole inside is lined with a soft leather lining. The uppers leather is locally Indonesian tanned crazy horse leather and it's a draw card in my opinion. Crazy horse is a bovine top grain leather that's been lightly buffed like new buck and then applied with a wax finish either in the tanning or immediately after. Sometimes oil is applied so it's basically a waxed or oiled new buck. It is highly durable and used in horse tackle and saddles and can be broken in to be soft and subtle especially as the waxes and oils move around and I can guarantee it's waterproof as I've proved recently. This local product is maybe not as grainy as the crazy horse on my Chippewa service boots but they're pretty good. When I ordered I asked for white stitching at the welt and a single white stitch at the quarters and backstay. I ordered this configuration of smooth grain leather partly gusseted tongue and five eyelets plus three speed hooks. All in all the look of the leather as it wears in patinas the aggressive lugged sole and the rounded toe box make this a very attractive boot in my eyes. Now let's look at how these have worn in the last year. You know of course I haven't worn these every day. Yes I have a crazy number of boots which means I have a crazy rotation now some boots hardly get worn at all and I am beginning to look to move some on to more loving homes. These boots I haven't worn in a while and I forget how good they feel so I pulled them out to go on vacation out here in the great southern region of WA. No I'm not selling these boots. When I first got them I loved them so much I wore them every chance I got but working in a professional office I couldn't even then wear them every day. As I got more and more boots the frequency dialed down a bit so for this video I tottered up roughly how much I've worn them in the last year not including this week and I think I can come up with a rough estimate of about 90 wares mostly in a bunch up front and then maybe once a month or so recently and of course in this week I've worn the hell out of them. I admit maybe not a year's worth of wear but say in average persons oh look I don't know 20 to 25 to 30 weeks of wearing them around say three or four times a week look I think that's probably enough to count for now. So what's the verdict? Firstly the patina on the leather is fantastic purely from the oils and waxes moving around and hardly from really rough wear. I haven't conditioned these yet and they're starting to feel a bit dry especially after I've been wearing them this week down here in the rain wet boggy tracks and muddy trails. I think I might condition them when I get home because they have been through hell. You can see from the patina especially in the shaft area where the folds and creases have developed fortress make the back of the boots in a cup shape at the heel rather than the iron ranger up and down shape and these have developed even more as they broke in in order to cup my heel quite nicely. The leather has softened with wear and feels supple on the feet if a little grubby from my walk this morning. Sizing wise these are an European 42 or a US 9 which is normally a size too big for me but Sani built these to my measurements and he tells me that the numbering system he uses may not be compatible with my other shoes. Length wise they fit perfectly but the Dakar last is quite a high volume last and I find it roomy at the top of the vamp about here in my other fortress boots Sani adjusted the last once he knew my issue with a skinny ankle the toe box is generous I wouldn't say loose it's just not snug but it's quite good for getting grip when you're on rocky ground. Some people like snug boots all the way on their feet I have to say I prefer slightly roomy two toe boxes they feel more comfy for me and the comfort of the last and the bottom all leather construct is really quite good especially in rough terrain when you're hiking this does need a bit of building up I did try inserting a thin leather insole to add bulk and wearing thicker socks really ended that dilemma so with thick socks these are really comfortable they're not soft underfoot mine not like my Strider collab with the Vibram 2021 wage sole and the softer local rough out but as firm work boot types go comfortable for a good day on your feet the thick Vibramontania sole on the veg tan leather sole construction took a while to break in but now they're flexing in all the right places and stiff enough to give really good structure and stability on the trail walking through some wet and rough stuff you really feel secure being really hard rubber walking on wet smooth tiles is less secure and can be slippery so be careful on those there are a couple of quality issues both notice when they came the speed hooks are not put on securely and they do show some looseness at the base one corner of the left boot heel wasn't flush however when I wear these boots I nowadays wear them only on rough ground when I'm hiking and under some tough conditions and neither issues have got any worth and both have stayed secure the heel is well glued and nailed on so don't expect that to shift because of one badly sanded corner if the speed hook pulls anymore I'll get my cobbler to whack them in properly so that's not a problem easy fix the stitching under the outsole has worn a bit but I wear these mainly on soft or rocky or sandy unpaved ground so perhaps they wear less than if I were to wear them on hard grainy concrete all day one thing about the stitching I want to point out it's hard to do a good stitch on aggressive commando soles you really have to be very precise to stitch up and down the lugs instead of quickly across them these are really well stitched and probably that has helped the wear so all in all I believe they've worn really well the construction has been tough and durable as I've proved on four hour walks this week the leather looks better now than when new and perhaps after I condition it I put some before and after shots at the end of the video after the credit so watch out for them the leather has been protective and easy to clean I just wipe them down with a wet towel which I should do now and then with a damp microfiber cloth and then dry them and brush them they haven't shown any scratches or scuffs at all except maybe by the way the waxers move in and out of those high stress areas there's a lot of waxiness showing still in the toe box and in the heel area toe box is a bit damp because I went through water today that's where the leather was tightly lasted and it doesn't stretch with wear the cost of 270 US dollars was a steal for handmade boots of this quality now though they would have gone up in this last year I think from just from the rising cost of materials but even at the mid 300s or even high 300s these would be worth it I think if you ask for say Halloween or Badalassi leather they could cost you maybe the 400s but that's imported leather and in the last year I've seen fortress improve more and more so quality would have gone up as well the downside is maybe the ordering process you have to do it through Instagram and I've dealt with that in my overview of Indonesian boots that you can see up there on the plus side comfortable durable handmade boots that would cost you 500 US and above from US bootmakers with arguably similar quality of construction personally I do like and trust Fortes enough to have done a collaboration with them and depending on when this video gets edited and uploaded I should be announcing a new Chelsea boot collaboration with them as well called the Thorin so all in all go and see their account on Instagram and check how they've developed over the last year in styles and quality it's all laid out in the Instagram account so all that remains is for you to click on the like button oh no that's not all check out the end of the video to see the before and after shots of applying conditioner on these boots I'll be applying big four anyway click on like and subscribe and watch to the end so until next time take care and I'll see you soon