Midas Thunderboot II

These boots were a bit of an audible for me. I had developed an absolute beauty of a Leder Ogawa royal blue shell tanker boot from a different maker, but they had to remake them and delivered 4 months late. When I got the notification about the delay, I reached out to House of Agin. I had never ordered from Winson/Midas, but I'd had my eyes on their wholecut Thunderboot makeup for a while. My work requires a balance of class and hardiness, and the Thunderboot II with a chonkier midsole and solid yet elegant almond-toe last seemed to fit the bill. I took a flyer on sizing, and after explaining my situation I got a solid commitment for a Dome-time delivery. The leather article on these was also a first for me. The oiled HB had lovely figuring, and a warm med-brown tone. With a firm temper and stout build, these took 3-5 days to break in, but were glove-like and solid underfoot. The vamp started to break pretty evenly within a few hours. There was a suction-like effect, and a bit of a whooshing noise for the first few weeks from the full lining and the wholecut design only allowing air to escape through the tongue/shaft. Two hiccups I encountered early: 1) These do not breathe well and get quite sweaty, quite fast. They need a full 24+ hours to dry after wearing for a full 12-16hr day. As such, an issue I've never seen. White mold on the insole, especially in the forefoot, after a month or two. The first time I hit it with a spray of Isopropyl alcohol and scrubbed them out, then coated the insole with oil. Issue came back in Jan. After a little research, I tried white vinegar this time, let it soak for a couple hours, then stuffed paper towels in the toes. This got me through the rest of the Dome. 2) Went through 3 pairs broken laces on these. Still haven't settled on laces dressy/hardy enough. Final Word: I love how versatile these are: jeans or slacks, blacks/blues/neutrals. They just work. A good conditioning soon. Highly recommend Midas' design and service.