Flame Panda Monkey Boot

When I’m ordering the flame panda, I’m seeking an original design from the brand, I did not know well much of the history revolves around boots. But this lace to toe design looks original to me, and the 131 last they named it (gu) in Mandarin means stable in translation; it looks stable, tough, and well balanced in my eye, and yet, a single type of natural vegetable tanned leather isn’t just about it; to add in more complexity, I chose Tochigi natural veg tanned on the upper, Maryam horsebutt natural veg tanned on the other parts, and a low profile olive dr sole half sole to make it slightly sleeker on the middle of the outsole; it will be shown from the side of the boots, so it does make me want that slightly sleek feeling. As a Chinese guy in Malaysia, I am affected by the philosophy of ancient Chinese culture. To truly salute Peng, it was thinking about yinyang in Chinese culture applied to the boots; I want them to be lower profile, solid, and balanced between everything else. Horsebutt and cowhide have their own different characteristics, and a low-profile outsole makes it possible to showcase my idea. At the time, my speculation about the chosen leather was that horsebutt had a denser and more reddish brown tone, making it a tougher choice to represent yin, and tochigi leather reminded me of yang, showing more delicate and shinier leather. I wasn’t sure about it, but I'm going to make it happen and let the time tell.

I snap photos and compare what I have worn to Peng, he suggest me 7.5E. I told him my wesco 9109 last 7.5D is abit too tight for me, so he added width to my boots

The process is quite long, it took me about 2 weeks from decision making which last and model. After payment Is done, he will guide me what information he needed for the boots and any custom I would like to choose. After all information had given, he mentioned the lead time is within a year but ended up one year seven months due to his injury of his hand and he doesn’t satisfied with the first batch tochigi arrival