 G'day everyone, how you all going? Welcome to Bootlossophy, my channel about boots and really about the philosophy of bootmakers and what drives them to make well-made boots. If we haven't met, my name is Tech. And before we start, I just want to acknowledge the Wajik people on whose traditional lands I live and work. Today, I'm taking a look at this iconic service boot from a company that's been making boots since 1853. This is the MP boot from White's boots or rather to be exact, this is the MP Sherman toe cap half lug boot. To recognize it as an MP Sherman rather than an MP M1 boot, which is what they used to call the MP Stuart, you identified by the two piece backstay. The MP M1 has a single piece backstay and both versions come in either plain toe or cap toe and on day night soles or on these half lug soles. As I said at the beginning, this is the iconic service boot that looks like a World War two military boot, but in fact is quite a new design. In the 2000s when the Americana trend started around the world, boot companies without a service boot pattern felt the gap in their offerings. White's was no different and introduced this MP service boot as their service boot design. I'll talk about White's in a moment but taking a look at this MP Sherman, you can clearly see the genesis of it, clearly based on the boots issued to service men and women in the mid 20th century before the advent of the technical nylon and Gore-Tax tactical boots that you get these days. While still looking chunky, it's obviously been slimmed down and made sleeker for a modern aesthetic as a casual lifestyle boot, although still built to White's exacting work boot standards. Looking at this, I'd swear that this is what the Thursday founders looked at when they first designed the Thursday captain. The cap toe is not particularly bulbous, I'd describe it as a rounded almond. The thick leather mid soles and the lug half outsole make this look like the tough boot that it really is. The leather is a natural, it means undyed chrome excel, some may call it a dude leather, but it was used as seals in World War II tank engines, so nah, it's tough. Although White's placed these boots in their lifestyle range, they are built tough and I have no doubt that if you wanted to wear these as work boots, you wouldn't have a problem. It's logical then that you wouldn't wear these boots with a suit, not even a nice navy suit, nor in fact anything approximating business casual. However, smart casuals fine because these can anchor a relaxed casual look like jeans, a button down and a vest or a jacket, or in fact any kind of chinos and a button down. They'd certainly go with rugged outdoorsy casual, you know, jeans and flannels, wax jackets, that sort of thing. Even jeans and t-shirts or a Henley would be pretty cool with these. You know, I can feel the steam coming out of some viewers ears. On the whole, the boot community is very generous and happy to talk boot related things like outfits and informed newbies. But there is a cohort of YouTube viewers who stumble on channels like mine and their masculinity feels affronted when we talk about fashion with these boots. Now don't get me wrong, I do not laugh at the men and women who work in the trades or with their hands more generally. My grandfather was one of them. My father started in the trades and I understand why in some parts of the world they feel their lifestyles and livelihoods are being threatened. Not in Australia by the way, where the tradie is well thought of and well respected and earns a good income. But if your lifestyle is being threatened and one of the last things to make you stand out as a breadwinner is your tools like your boots and that's been taken away from you, yet that can be threatening. I only wish to understand that as a boot collector I can appreciate the boot as a tool as well as a built piece of beauty and yet try to use it in my lifestyle without wanting to denigrate any working man's lifestyle or masculinity. Anyway, let's take a look at White's boots. So depending on when you define White started, the earliest date would be 1853 when Edward White started making shoes with the name White's on them. He made them in northeastern United States in Connecticut at first. In 1880 his son John moved the business to Virginia making boots for loggers and then in 1902 the company moved to Idaho and then eventually moved again in 1915 to Spokane in Washington State in the northeastern United States. John's son Otto eventually took over the business which by then was famous for supplying Pacific Northwest loggers and packers and also becoming famous for Otto's development of the Arch-Ease Arch support system that he invented as well as being famous for their hand-welded construction which I'll go into when we look at construction. Throughout their history White's have stayed manufacturing their boots in Spokane and using traditional handmade methods to make boots that are hand-lasted, hand-bottomed and hand-welded. They currently offer a range of boots including fire boots for smoke jumpers which are American forest fire fighters, a range of work boots also a range of what they call legacy boots as a category of their original boots as well as their lifestyle range which includes the MP as well as some other lighter boots which in my opinion are still capable of being used as great and sturdy work boots but also capable of being dressed up after work. White's remained a family business until being bought out by La Crosse Footwear of Portland in 2014 who are in turn owned by multi-conglomerate company Amart of Tokyo in Japan. While some customers struggle with what they see as a drop in quality since the takeover by what is ultimately a Japanese company, other commentators on Reddit and reviewers and elsewhere haven't seen this. On the one hand that may be simply a reaction to foreign ownership but it should be noted that Japanese shoemakers whether they're large conglomerates or small handmade makers they make some of the best shoes and boots in the world and their prices sometimes reflect that. From what I can see White's is being treated as a well-performing subsidiary that's left alone with their own local management and their company values. On social media White's boots do sometimes ship out with a defect not spotted during QC inspections who doesn't but by most accounts customer service is excellent. I've heard of instances where the customer has been told to keep the defects and had another pair made for them or where they received a discount for the defective pair as well as a discount on another pair if they wished. By all accounts the solution seems to be negotiable for the reasonable buyer. Now let's turn to construction. Let's start at the bottom. This is built on a lugged rubber half sole that is attached to a leather midsole that for others would be considered an outsole. That in turn is attached to another slab of leather as another midsole. The rubber lugged sole is softer than you'd expect commando lugs to be and is shock absorbing and very grippy. The uppers are attached to the sole with what is essentially a 270 degree stitch down construction but with a twist. This is where the hand-welded rolled welt comes in. Okay let's deal with stitch down construction first. Usually that's where the uppers are flanged out and then stitched down into a welt or directly into the midsole and you can see that here but this piece of chrome excel that you see here isn't actually the uppers flanged out it's actually another piece of chrome excel that's used as the welt. So a strip of additional chrome excel is stitched to the uppers which are themselves rolled inwards and stitched on the inside to the midsole. That extra flap of chrome excel think of it as the welt now is it then flanged outwards and that's what gets stitched down into the midsole. That's what causes this I don't know what you could call it a ridge right up against the edge of the uppers kind of like a rolled storm welt. It is really strange and it is very hard to explain it's probably best if you search youtube for white's videos and how that's made in one of your factory tours or watch Trenton and Heath or Beatles Leatherworks actually I think that might have been a stride wise video where those gentlemen take one of these apart and discuss that rolled welt. So basically the stitching that goes through the rolled welt at the front as well as a bit beyond that to the heel area goes through two leather midsole and the rubber half sole. That sole is not going to move especially as you also consider the tons of nails used to attach the all leather heel block to the uppers at the heel and the glue that's in and amongst all of that lot. The heel is topped by a hefty 15 millimeter rubber commander lug top lift that provides comfort and grip. Moving upwards on the inside there is a slab of vegetarian leather insole covering a leather shank. Now I say a leather shank it's actually a very heavy leather that's carved into a shank that's really an architectural wonder and not just a strip of leather. It's carved to shape under your arch so that every single square millimeter of your arch feels supported with no gap between skin, sock and leather. You can see how built up it is from the bow that you can see under the arch. You are standing on half a cow in these boots. Still inside the boot the back half of the sole is covered with a leather sock liner for comfort and to protect you from the clinch nails used to hold the heels there. The front half of the boot is lined with smooth but thick cow hide leather but the shaft itself is unlined. The wide semi-gusseted tongue is also unlined but the top of the collar has a strip of chrome excel that reinforces the edge there. The unlined chrome excel is over two mils thick a decent thickness so with the lining parts of the boot are actually over four millimeters thick. The tongue is a little thinner for comfort and the very wide nature of it means that it fits very nicely around your ankle to protect it. The tongue is gusseted up to the fourth eyelet and stays where you put it. It doesn't slip. Now the outside. As I've already said this is natural chrome excel. Chrome excel is a staple of the Halloween leather company out of Chicago in the States. Halloween itself is an old family-owned company started also in 1905 when whites were in Idaho mid-move. I think there's lots of information out there about chrome excel but for those new to it just very quickly it's a combination tan leather meaning it is chrome tanned and then oil tanned to finish and pack it with oils and waxes so that it is the ultimate pull-up weather where you can pull up on the leather and see the oils and waxes moving around. For a soft and supple leather that even looks delicate it's actually remarkably tough and as I said earlier it was used as engine seals in World War II tanks. This undyed version is finished in the same way but not dyed. When new it's a light brown color but it will take on a darker patina with the warmth of your feet and will even tan in the sun. Over time these are less than six months old they get to a mid honey brown and as you wear them more and more over time they will become a deep molasses colored brown with rolls of lighter and darker colors in the patina. It is not a light brown boot so if you bought it wanting to preserve the original color it ain't going to happen. As befits a company with work boot origins the clicking or the leather selection on these is good but not done with an eye for a dressy finish. Unlike my Oak Street boot makers natural chrome excel trench boots which I swear have the best leather selection I have ever seen these do show grainier creasing than the classic chrome excel sugary brake. That's the one overall impression I get with the White's MP boots. They are made to be dressier but they're made by the same people who every day make work boots and they make them with the same amount of care and attention as their work boots but not like some dressy must be very carefully made do it a bit finer shoe. You can see that in the way the roll welt is trimmed. It's not going to fall apart but it was trimmed quickly as befits a work boot. That being said stitching overall is good. Triple and quadruple stitch where it matches on the toe cap the backstays and the quarters. The stitching is even and of a reasonable stitch density. The heel counter is external covered up by the two piece backstay and it is made of leather. I think the toe cap is a real toe cap. I haven't seen one taken apart and I haven't been able to research it but if you feel inside the boot I can't feel an obvious seam it feels like the toe box is one piece and then the lump of the toe cap is sewn on top of it. Finishing at the top the eyelets are interesting really hard antique solid brass eyelets the four bottom eyelets are sturdy although not backed and large enough to take the flat cotton or leather laces that both come with the boot. Then there's these three speed hooks above them they are just as tough and solid also not backed but quite small. So with these leather laces it's not super easy to fit them under the the hooks and pull them tight. Finally at the very top is another eyelet. I believe this is what's called a fireman's eyelet where a cotton lace can be looped through so that the knot is laced through the loop itself and not the eyelet. No chance of doing that with these fat leather laces. Taking care of chrome excel is reasonably easy it feels delicate but it's a tough leather choice because it's so packed with oils and waxes it takes a lot to dry out and in many ways it's self-healing meaning that if you scuff it which is a very easy thing to do don't panic you can use your thumb to rub at it and move the oils and waxes underneath back over the scuff to kind of self repair it. Don't expect this to be like smooth calfskin leather which can withstand reasonable scuffing without showing a mark this is not a dress leather. As with any boot the key is to keep it dust free and clean that means brushing it every two to four wears with a horsehair brush just to get grit and dust off. If it gets dirty you can just use a damp cloth to wipe it clean. If it really needs it you can use saddle soap with impunity. Depending on how frequently you wear it it may not need conditioning all that often. As a boot collector we all like to get our conditioners out but honestly I just feel the leather if it's oily and waxy don't do it. If you don't wear it on construction sites it will probably not need conditioning for a year or so maybe six months if you wear it really frequently. When you do condition it there's any number of conditioners that you can use on chrome excel. You can use Knitzfoot oil in liquid or cream form you can use Sophia's renovator cream or their oily leather cream. My go-to is Venetian shoe cream. One thing to know some oils and creams will really darken this natural chrome excel quickly and perhaps a little unnaturally you know just a flat surface. If you don't want to do that steer clear of the open offs and other really oily conditioners stick to VSC Venetian shoe cream or even just big four. From time to time clean and condition the leather underneath. Their loss of protected from water damage. So that's how they're made but how do they feel on foot? They are extremely comfortable. They are a heavy boot with all that cow all over them and in them but despite the weight they don't feel like you have weight strapped to your feet rather they just feel sturdy on your feet like you're well protected. The arch support is phenomenal. I literally feel as if these boots were made for my arches and every inch under my foot is supported. The chrome excel is a slightly stretchy leather so if there is any part that is snug the braking period will adjust the shape to your foot and talking braking there were no particular hot spots in braking although there was heel slip quite a lot of it to start with actually. I put that down to the extremely stiff vegetarian midsoles. When you first put them on the midsoles don't bend very much so when you walk and your foot naturally tries to bend at the ball of your feet the boot doesn't bend and you end up rising inside the boot hence the heel slip. Six months later I've worn these maybe over some I don't know 20 or 30 days during that time. Don't look at me like that I have to rotate over 70 pairs of boots. Anyway after six months the uppers are well broken in but the sole is still a bit stiff and while not as bad as at the start there is still a little heel slip and sizing might be part of why. This is built-in white MP last which is a modified berry last. That last is strangely long and slim shaped a bit like a cigar or submarine. My true size as measured on a brand device is a US 8.5D. In most heritage boots I wear an 8 because most heritage boot makers make boots that measure in inches or centimeters the same as a Brannock size 8.5 but they stamp their boots 8. So I wear an 8 in iron ranges, Grant Stone, Ellen Edmonds, Wolverine, Thursday even Timberland. There are only a few exceptions where I need true to size at 8.5 so in these I thought I'd be the same. Okay so it fits but that's not the best fit. You can check out my MP fit video up here I'm not sloshing around in them even though I believe they're a half size off and that I think is a testimony to the last and how well-made they are to fit a human foot. However at the end of the day I think I should have sized a 7.5 in an E width so at my true to size being an 8.5D I believe my size in MP boots in the MP last is to go down a full size to 7.5 and to go up one width from a D to an E. Now to value discount that I got a bargain on eBay for these in unused condition. They're listed on the White's website at 670 US dollars then there's postage to Australia which is around 60 or 70 US dollars. You can buy them here in Australia in a Melbourne store in Collingwood called the Urahara store for an Aussie 900 dollars if they're in stock. Now that is a lot of money. Not many similar boots cost that much and you'd have to look at more Pacific Northwest brands like Knicks and Weiberg or handmade to order boots so in a sense they are unique and you're paying for it but in another sense how much does half a cow cost because that's what is packed in here. How much does it cost to get your boots handmade hand bottomed hand sewn hand welted by what a 180 euro company and yes in another sense these things are the proverbial tough as Sherman tanks. See what I did there no literally if these fall apart in you you deserve a prize I just don't see how that's even physically possible and with some difficulty they are re-solable so these could last generations you could hand them down on a cost per wear basis assuming you don't have 70 pairs of boots that could equate to only a dollar a wear so yes these are my grill boots but hell yeah they're worth it would I buy it at 900 dollars if I didn't have an insane number of boots and I only wanted one service boot yes I could save my ice cream money and buy them and that's it then what do you think of them they are honestly so well made so solid that if these were your only pair of boots perhaps in a different color to make them more versatile they would be an everyday wear for sure from my point of view not too many cons other than the price but I am convinced they are worth that price what do you think and while you're scratching your head if you're still here you must like this video right so go on click on the like button if you haven't already click on subscribe too in order to do two things for me first to be notified by youtube and I upload more interesting boot information and I have a ton more to come second to help me grow my channel so that I can afford to spend all this time it takes me to write rehearse and film and then edit these videos believe it or not I have to earn a living in my day job you know so click on like and subscribe take care and I'll see you again soon