Kinda forced myself to dome these.

At the start of my boot collecting journey, I wanted to start with Marikina brands. Marikina is a city in Metro Manila that was once famous for their shoemaking. After a disappointing experience with my first boot build with RE Craftsman (fit issues), I found a brand named Black Wing Shoes and on their IG page was their captoe homage to the iron rangers. I visited their shop on March 4, 2023 and got measured by the owner himself. I asked that he make me a pair using a leather insole and a plain toe version of the boots on their IG page. He offered recycled tire outsoles and I agreed. I picked a museum finish grey leather that he had on his catalog.

I was measured at their store.

This was a bad experience. I was told a lead time of about 4 to 6 weeks. After numerous follow ups and angry messages, they called me to fit on June 24, 2023, 3 months and 3 weeks after I got measured and paid the down payment. When I got there, it was burgundy in color. They had messed up the leather and tried to put the blame on me. When I showed the message thread and even picked out the leather again on their catalog, they changed their tone and became uncomfortable yet still kinda unapologetic. I told them if they fit, I'd just take them anyway because I didn't want to go through that wait again. Unfortunately, it didn't fit. it was way too loose and I saw that the eyelets and the speedhooks were flimsy so i asked for a sturdier kind. I also saw that the insole was fiberboard. The owner promised to redo the boots, and agreed to the specs I asked for and even promised that he would put leather insoles. He said he had a grey crazy horse leather that he had been keeping and he would break that out for me. After even more angry follow ups, I finally got them on September 25 but they still didn't fit. they were loose around the vamp even when the facings touch. It also came in a weird nubuck charcoal leather and fiberboard insoles with a cheap foam insert. The eyelets and hooks were still the same flimsy kind and one broke on my first pull. As I didn't want to deal with them again, i took them to Willie's and he changed the eyelets and added thick leather insoles and they worked. he didn't change the speedhooks because they weren't attached well and was worried about tearing the leather if he took them out.