I mainly used it in the office taking care of the onsite IT infrastructure. I usually commute with my old fixed gear bike. When it rains, I usually catch a bus. Shoutout to the horrible English weather for speeding up the patina process.
The evolution felt slow at first but suddenly ramped up after a few months. Then patina is sort of a ‘global’ patina. However, the toe area darkened the most and the top of the shaft the least. The top vamp has dark line from the peddle strap which I both love and hate. The side has a dark bit probably from colliding with the wheel of my bike or, again, rubbing the pedal. There’s also some dark spots on the right pair from the stuff that came off the chain during a commute with particularly bad weather. For some reason the break-in on these felt harder then my Diesel in Badalassi Saddle Tan Minerva. Hmm maybe it’s cause I had to wear these daily vs spacing out my wear? As for care, I hit with a horsehair brush and old cotton T-shirt every two to five-ish weeks. I know, pretty lazy on my part. But they did hold up well. Usually I place shoe trees overnight when I remember.
Comfy with lightweight socks and the toes cramp a bit with mid weight socks. Heel feel locked in when I lace them well. Love the locked in heel sensation. Sizing is very good. Support is somewhat there but nothing compared to my PNW boots. Not that I’d need with high arch support with occasionally walking around the office and into server rooms.
Good. I mean, it did hold up well with getting two nicks/scuffs from cycling.
I love leather soles now - comfy. Well just for when I’m in the city. I had leather sole on my Diesel’s as well but I, regrettably, got a cobbler to install a rubber layer there to slow down the wear so this is my first time getting an unaltered leather sole. I actually copped a Grant Stone loafer and look forward to wearing it this spring/summer.
Nice smart pair that holds up well but slightly harder to break-in (though not a biggie). The laces were the only let down. After about four or five months they started to come apart. GS added another pair of laces so threw those on but I’ll be looking for a backup soon.