 Gide, how are you going? Welcome back to Boot Lossophy and if you haven't been here before, my name is Tech and I review boots and how they're made with, when I can, a deep dive into the bootmaker and their vision and business model. But first let me acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land I live and work on, the Wajik people of Nungabuja. Today I'm taking a look at this lightweight combat style boot, the Astor Flex Boot Flex. First off, taking a look at the Astor Flex Boot Flex, you can see it's a plain-toe six-inch service boot style or European country work boot style lace-up boot. It's sleeker than the other European country work boots like the old Mala or the urban Shepard boots but you can see the genesis. Very simple lines in two quarters with no backstay, a plain-toe vamp and stitched down to a crepe rubber sole and a low heel. The whole thing looks peasant tea without being cheap and nasty except that it is slimmer and sleeker than what you'd expect a Spanish or Italian Shepard might wear on their planes and rolling hills. In this grey-green stone coloured suede, it's a very casual boot. When you look at these boots, never mind putting them on, you think of relaxed days slouching or picnicking in the sun or feet up on the couch and doors. So you wouldn't wear them with particularly smart gear although you can wear them into the office with a relaxed look in light kakichinos and a button-down and sports coat. You can get away with any earth or neutral coloured pants. They go with brown and blue jeans and because they're in suede and therefore more of a summer boot, they also go with all kinds of relaxed warm weather tops like untucked button-down shirts or t-shirts and light smart casual gear. Summary polo shirts would be great to wear with these because it's exactly the vibe that they give off. Taking a look at the maker, Astor Flex, they are an Italian boot and shoemaker that have a range of shoes and boots that they call something flex. This is the boot flex but they also have chuckers called green flex and Chelsea's called bit flex and lots of other designs with flex names. On the whole, the construction of the range is all similar to the boot flex which is basically stitched down onto crate rubber outsoles. They don't seem to sell online through their own website at astorflex.it but they do retail through some brick-and-mortar shops around the world as well as on various online retailers. I got these from American menswear site Huckbury but in Australia they sell through some other websites. Just google Astor Flex Australia and you'll find a few of them. It's hard to figure out the history of the company but it seems to have come from a boot-making workshop, family-owned workshop that started in the 1800s and then sometime in I think the 1980s two brothers succeeded from their father and coined the name Astor Flex then for the family business. The company is now run by the son of one of these men and appears to remain a family-owned and run business based out of northern Italy. The current owner Fabio Travanzoli has updated some of their manufacturing methods but still based on stitch down construction and above all value in comfort and a sustainable approach to their products. I said that they use the stitch down method of construction so let's take a look at that. The sole of the boot is made up of a crate rubber outsole and the leather midsole and the uppers are flanged out and stitched down all the way around the boot directly to the midsole after which the crate rubber is glued on to the bottom of the midsole. The stitch down method of construction is super traditional used long before Goodyear weltered shoes were invented by Charles Goodyear Jr. It is reasonably water resistant in that water on the top should flow off the splayed out uppers and off the boot. It's arguably not as water resistant as Goodyear welting as it doesn't have that wealth as an additional barrier. Stitch down is also re-solable but arguably not as easily re-solable as Goodyear weltered shoes because it takes a bit of skill to cut through the stitches, replace the sole and then stitch back into the old stitch holes to avoid damaging the uppers. The crepe sole is natural rubber not the blown rubber on red-winged wage soles which some people call crepe soles. Real crepe soles or sometimes called plantation soles are basically natural rubber that is tapped from rubber trees mixed with acids and hardness at their plantation before it cures and then poured into large flat tins like extremely large baking trays to harden into sheets that look like these with all the knobbly bits. As they dry the sheets are rolled through rollers called crepe ears a French word like crepes Suzette because they invented the method in Indochina. The sheets of crepe are then shipped off to rubber manufacturers. Some of them are chipped at a factory and mixed with chemicals to make vulcanized rubber and other rubber products. Some are left as crepe and used for making shoes and boots the most famous example being the Clark's Desert Boot. Like the Clark's this one is a one-piece sole with a very low heel carved into the sheet. The advantages of crepe rubber soles is that they are cheap, soft and comfy and very grippy. The disadvantages are that they are, look at them, super ugly once used and dirty. They are so grippy that they pick up all sorts of things that you walk and I probably shouldn't touch them with my fingers. They pick up carpet fibres, they pick up sand and dirt, they pick up hair and dead insects and they probably stick enough to pick up small dead animals. I mean blimey look at them but they are spongy and so comfortable yet they're like walking on a big sheet of chewed bubblegum. They're glued onto a veg-tanned leather midsole that's about four or five mils thick so it's quite substantial and then the uppers are stitched down onto the midsole all around the edge. They use a thick thread and it's not particularly careful stitching but it will do for boots like this. Inside the boot is a fibre bored insole and then a removable leather comfort insole with a little rubber on the underside. The inside of the boot is fully lined with what looks like a millimeter thick veg-tanned natural calf leather. It's quite soft and smooth so your feet will slip in easily. They do put a little patch of rough out inside of the heel, I'm not sure you can see that, to grip your heel or sock which is a nice touch. At the top of the collar is another layer of the same suede, quite a broad strip to give that collar its shape and strength. Outside the uppers are made of a soft suede, it's about two mils thick. It's from an unnamed Tuscan tannery. I have owned these boots for a year and a half now and I think I can objectively say that while it's a nice leather they don't wear as well as suede from Charles O'Stead in the UK. They do crease and look like they pick up more patina more quickly. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. On boots like this patina on suede looks good on a casual ruffy look. You can see, I hope the camera picks this up, the suede nap is a little longer than the fine soft suede from O'Stead. The nap can be easily brushed one way and the other to create a dark and light effect. The pattern is super simple, just two quarter pieces and a vamp piece and the tongue. There's not even a backstay, the seam up the back is exposed but that's okay I think for this look. Stitching around the eyes and quarters are double stitched and pretty neat and tidy. They look secure and no loose stitches that I've come across. The toe box is unstructured but the heel has a stiff counter which is an internal counter covered up on the inside by the lining and that patch of rough out. I'm pretty sure from the feel of it that it's a stiff celastic. That's one complaint I have about the comfort. Celastic is a fabric material that's impregnated with plastic. When you warm it up either in an oven or with a heat gun it becomes pliable and moldable but when it cools it takes the shape you've molded it into and it becomes hard and not very supple. Unlike a leather heel counter or even a weather board heel counter, celastic can be quite ungiving. Sometimes if you cut the piece too big or you don't quite slip it down far enough the edge of it can cut into your Achilles tendon as you walk. This pair has that tendency. I haven't bothered because I haven't worn these that much but you can use your hairdryer or in my case my wife's hairdryer to heat the heel and when it's warm enough you can just press and mold it so that it flares out a little bit to not cut into your Achilles tendon. That's interesting thought. I don't wear these as much as I'd like to because they're not quite comfortable at the heels and maybe I should... I think I'll do that. I'll do that straight after the video. The tongue. The tongue is lined so it's comfortable and although it's not gusseted they do give you a little lace loop to keep the tongue in place. There are eight blind eyelets. Blind eyelets are where there's no hardware or sometimes where it's backed by some hidden metal but unmetalled on the outside. In this case nothing just holes in the leather but there are three pieces of leather there. The outside upper, the lining and the suede strip at the inside. All in all that's about five or six mils so it's pretty secure and it won't tear. These boots do have a cloth pull tab at the back but that's worse than useless. Only a small child could get their finger through that loop and it's a little too short to just pull on it easily. Really it's only good for getting in the way and scrunching up the back of your pants if you wear slim pants. At least they're only cloth so I usually tuck them into the back of my boot after I put them on. Being suede leather care can be easy or a pain depending on what you want from these boots. If you see them as a casual boot that looks best as their age in patina where the suede gets a bit marked and uneven you don't have to do much. You do need to get a suede brush and a suede eraser. A suede brush is a small brush made of very stiff bristles or sometimes copper bristles. A suede eraser is well it's just that it's an eraser exactly the same as what we used to use at school especially if you're my age. I have affiliate links to both in the description below. You won't pay any more than usual but if you buy using my link I'll get a bit of a kickback like three or four cents I think. When the suede does get a mark you just use the eraser and you well erase the mark you know. As the nap gets a bit worn you brush it with a suede brush first one way against the grain to clean it and then with the grain to smooth it out. If you want to keep the suede cleaner that's a little more work. All of the above applies but you can also use a suede shampoo from time to time. Suede shampoo is a little less aggressive than saddle soap and you should clean up the dirt that accumulates with it quite easily. If you want to keep the suede looking pristine like you know brand new don't bother. In fact don't buy these and instead get the boot flex in one of your smooth leathers. Being in European company these come in European sizes. I bought these from Huckbury so they were listed on the website in US sizes but you can see the European sizing stamped on the tongue. Basically get half size down from your brannock size. That's not your sneaker size. Sneakers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Go and get your feet measured on a brannock device. That's one of those aluminium things you stand on at the shoe store where the sales clerk then slides levers around to size your feet. So my brannock size is a US 8.5 in D width. That's equal to a European 41.5 and a UK 7.5 in medium width. However most of my heritage boots are a half size down from my brannock making them usually a US 8 D or a European 41 medium or a UK 7 medium. These are size 41 and a good fit. There's a thumbs width in front of the toe and because of the rounded toes no hot spots at my toes. The ball of the foot is nicely snug like the proverbial firm handshake. There was not a lot of breaking in because of the softness of the suede and lining and the crepe rubber sole but I did have to spend maybe two weeks to wear in the stitch right at the corner of the outside of the quarters. Those did take a while to stretch out. I've already told you about the discomfort of the heel counters. Underfoot they are surprisingly not that comfortable. The shock absorption is fine because the crepe is soft and bouncy but arch support is non-existent. The inside of the boot is flat and there's no shack that holds up the gap between the heel and the ball of the foot. So despite the low heel my arches collapse into that gap. I had to buy some stick-on arch wedges to put under my arches. Now that I've decided to do something about the heel counters later on maybe that will improve the comfort. Not the best but okay. As for value these cost me US $130 on sale in Huckbury. They normally list for 215 US dollars but they're always on sale in Huckbury when they're listed. On Aussie site fashionlane.com.au they sell for around 220 Aussie and elsewhere. I've seen them listed for more but again always on sale. At over 200 US or over 300 Aussie I think you'd be struggling to say that they're worth that value. I'm pleased to have bought them at 130 US or under 200 Aussie at the time but I don't think I'd buy them for much more. All in all these are a pretty pair of boots. They are casual boots so you wouldn't want to beat them up but worn casually they're reasonably comfortable, stylish and will wear into a very nice patina. The crepe rubber sole is soft but it doesn't have great arch support and boy it picks up dirt like a vacuum. For what I paid I'm happy. I'm glad to have a boot like this in my rotation but I wouldn't run out to get another pair at the full price. So there you are. Love them or leave them? Tell you what don't love me and leave me. Click on the like button and if you haven't subscribed click on the subscribe button. This is not my profession. I make these videos because I love boots and it's fun to share that with you. But growing my channel means that I get a bit of ad revenue come back to me and that helps me to defray my cost and time making these videos. So help me out. Click on like and subscribe. Until next time take care and see you soon.