 Today, welcome to Boodlosophy. My name is Tech. I'm recording on Wajah country in Perth, Western Australia and I recognize the traditional custodians of this land. Now I've received this parcel, so it's going to be an unboxing and this parcel is from Bandung, Indonesia. So all you boot lovers out there will understand what it means when I say Bandung, Indonesia. So here's this box from Bandung which I've received. It's totally well wrapped. This is a box from Santalam, handmade bookmakers in Indonesia. Let's get into it. So let's start opening up this incredibly well wrapped box. I mean it's wrapped in plastic as well as the box itself. So let me just get rid of the plastic first. There's going to be any damage in posting to this wrapping. Now let me talk a little about Santalam. It's one of the most well respected and slightly I think older bootmakers in Bandung, Indonesia. Bandung is the centre of Indonesian bootmaking with a lot of tradition that they inherited from the Dutch colonial masters and have carried on to this day. So that's the Santalam box. Quite an impressive little logo. Santalam on there. And let's open it up and see. Nice waxed paper. Shoe bags. There's one on top. Santalam Ferama Spiritu. I don't know what that means in Latin but I'll have a look at it. Established 2010. So it is one of the older bootmakers in Bandung. They are handmade made to order boots. Two types of laces. Round cotton waxed and flat cotton waxed. Oh, actually they come with three laces because on the boot itself are some leather laces. So these boots are wrapped in plastic. Another shoe bag. I'll take them both out of the plastic and show you the boots. So this is the milestone model. A Cacto service boot. You can basically use the basic model and design it in any way you like. So in this case I chose a local Indonesian veg tan leather and I asked them for a rough out makeup of that Indonesian leather. I wanted this to be as locally produced as possible to help out the Indonesian bootmakers. The third laces they come in is warhide. And as you can see the smooth side of the laces on the inside and this is the rough out. And it's quite a rough rough out. Because they are made to order you choose the basic design and then you can really change it up. So in this case I asked for a partially structured toe because I like that to collapse over time. You can choose the hardware. How many eyelets, how many hooks, what types of eyelets or hooks. I asked for a Veltron designed construction which is a form of a stitch down construction, 270 degrees Veltron. I chose the threads and I asked for it to be red threads just to show a bit of contrast. So you can basically, once you've got the basic design, choose almost any type of makeup that you like based on the boot. I asked for a Dr. Soul cork half sole which is the first Dr. Soul sole I've ever had. So that's going to be an interesting tryout. You can see it's a double leather midsole. One, two pieces of leather there and the actual Veltron itself. And I'm not sure this is actually a very thin welt. The heels are stacked leather and then you get the Dr. Soul cork. The construction as far as I can see is pretty good. The stitching on this very rough Indonesian rough out is pretty good. The sole is hand stitched on. This is machine stitched but guided by hand. And the other boot also looks pretty impressive. I think some of the nap on the rough out is quite nappy but I think it will eventually settle down and burnish with wear and use. Brass tacks tack on the edge of the sole there. The stitching on the sole is very impressive. Alright so let's get these on foot. Try them on for fit and sizing and comfort. So here's the tryout. Partly gusseted up to the eyelet. One, two, three, fourth eyelet. I asked for a seven inch boot so it needed an extra hook at the top. Let's try it. So the process includes first contacting them which is not the easiest thing in the world because they don't have a website. And the contact is usually made through direct messaging on Instagram. I'm talking. I'm pulling on these raw hide laces. They are very thin and I'm not sure they're going to last that long. So I'm probably going to change to one of those cotton laces that they also give you. Yes on first contact you tell them what you might be interested in. There's an exchange of different photos and talks about style and you get to do the design. They'll ask you to take some drawings of your foot and some certain measurements and then they'll tell you sort of what size it is. These fit alright. I think they're actually a bit wide for me but with thicker socks I think that might be fine. Proper boot socks. Let's try the other one on. So we ended up at a size European size 41 which is kind of my normal European size and I know that I bought say Echo boots and other European style boots in that size. But these I have to say once they're on foot feel actually slightly bigger than what I'm used to as a size 41. The leather is an Indonesian leather, veg tan and it doesn't feel as tough as other veg tan leathers but in fact quite supple. Do quite like this. So after you've completed your discussions about design and so on they asked you to pay 50% upfront and it's promised to take 10 weeks. But in this case there was a religious holiday in the middle so it ended up being about 8 weeks. I might just roll up my calf seat and see the top of the boot. So a 16 week turnaround for these you know that's quite a long way and in the middle of it was a bit of radio silence which A annoyed me and B really worried me and stressed me out. And I think you have to be prepared for that because they definitely do not have a back office system to keep you informed. Yeah these fit pretty good but I think they are wide and I'm going to have to wear them with thicker socks. The leather is nice and supple. I can feel it does need breaking in. The veg tan midsole is pretty tough and I can also feel that needs breaking in. There is a bit of a push up in here. I'm not quite sure why. I can feel it pushing up to my foot. That may be the shank and the build up of the arch support. And as usual what I'll do is wear these for a while and then I'll bring you a longer term review. So there you go guys my unboxing and initial thoughts about these boots from Santalum. I do think that the leather is a little rough and ready but I chose Indonesian leather because I wanted to keep everything as local for them as possible. But I think it will actually breaking quite nicely feel supple. So it feels like it needs breaking in but it will be a supple journey. They are a bit broader than what I'm expecting despite my measurements. So I'm not quite sure why that is. They are not hugely long. They're just a wider fit. So I think I just need to be reconciled to wear these with thicker socks. So as usual what I'll do is I'll wear these for three to six months and then I'll bring you a longer term review about the boot maker. What I can tell about the leather, the doctor's soles and how I find them fitting and if they're worth the bet. Until then take care and I'll see you soon.