Funky strapless wedged engineer

This was/is my every day work boot on construction sites, at least five days a week 10 to 12 hour days. Up to my ankles in mud, concrete, Georgia Red Clay and tons of gravel.

Surprisingly(to me) zero break-in or any sort of hotspots with this leather. My last experience with Nick’s engineers was the double stuffed natural. A completely different leather but I was expecting several days of breaking the boots in and being uncomfortable. I’ve heard the double shot compared to Horween CXL but to me it’s completely different. DS is much more durable than the CXL, easier to brush out scratches, scuffs, abrasions. The oils really come to the surface with some brisk brushing. I found that I had to use very little product on these boots and that brushing would bring back them back to life. That being said I did use Bick 4 several times, the environment that these boots were in gravel, gravel dust dirt, etc. on construction sites really can dry out the leather. Overall, the patina of these boots to me is just the richness of the leather, some cool crocking and some burnished areas like the toe that really kind of stand out. I don’t know if it’s fortunately or unfortunately, but with a little bit of care these boots do not show any “abuse”… just a really great, durable and beautiful leather that can take the tough environment of construction sites.

Really happy with his HNW last with the built-in Delta arch. Zero soreness and break in time with these, I can say at about six months I do not feel the fatigue that I’ve felt with heeled boots after six months of continuous everyday week day wear. I have a messed up gait from an accident several years back so I did add corrective heel inserts for over supination. I kinda wish I would’ve put those in originally as I think the heel wear would be a lot less.

Really happy with the boot overall was pretty flawless when I receive no scuff marks, dings dents, etc. The stitching was very clean no wonky spots or loose threads. The leather that they use for each part of the boot you could tell was selected very carefully no weird creasing or loose grain just a really clean properly made boot. Overall, the boots have been very durable. The Nicks in-house brown wedge sole has held up at least as well as a Vibram wedge if not better.

The wedge has been super comfortable, durability is about what’s expected for a boot that’s been worn for six months and has at least 2 million steps. I’ve had/have a lot of Vibram wedges and Red Wing wedges and I believe these hold up just a bit better.

Super comfortable outsole I couldn’t be more happy with my choice

Probably somewhat of a divisive make up, take a traditional Nicks engineer remove the straps, pull loop and throw it on a wedge/HNW last. The purpose of this was to give me a sleeker tall boot that is super comfortable and easy to pull on and off. I couldn’t be happy with my decision. Also, Nicks ability to MTO boots like this is great. Allowing me to do a 10” boot which at the time wasn’t something that was not an option on their site. Overall, very happy with my boot and the maker