Halfway broken in!

These are my daily boots, mainly at work where anything from bleach to carrot cake can end up on them. I manage a bakery/Coffee shop and spend most of my time on bar or making items. The snow in my area often didn't cause any issues with these, they are essentially water resistant with all the wax. They have gone on many dog walks and wooded trails near my home.

This is a very slow patina leather, hard-wearing, and very resilient. The toe structure of this boot seems like it has some celastic in it based on feel but I understand them to be a soft toe, it's just so thick that you would need to essentially puncture the toe to get through the leather. For the first 3 months the vamp didn't flex much, it relaxed at 6 months. I dont have any issues with overheating in this leather. Care is mostly brushing as this leather dosnt show signs of dryness considering the wax content.

The little patch of the 64 brown shows abuse more directly. I will wipe it down from week to week and have put Nicks's LP on it every 3 months or so. So far the subtle darkening is more apparent around the edges of the patch than as a whole.

This is still a perfect fit for me. The only concern I had was the layers of thick work leather over my metatarsal but after they broke in it doesn't provide any concerns. The shape of the last and slight drop is ideal for my foot, and the sole choice helps reduce any discomfort during longer days. I can fit the shaft of these boots under my tapered jeans just fine, which is pretty common in PNW boots for me. Toes have plenty of room throughout the day and I'm happy with the experiance so far.

I love the look of the boot, a slight two-tone with a solid construction. Its utilitarian enough to not get attention, and now it is broken in, it looks like it fits in with jeans and a good days work. I would say the rubber midsole is maybe the only downside to the experience. The leather sole has compressed to my foot shape but there isnt enough leather there to alleviate all of the pressure points under my toes and I am starting to get uncomfortable calluses in the middle of my toes. If there was a double sole ontop of the midsole that might help, but when I resole these I'm going to just change it to a regular midsole. The finishing is great, no loose threads or concerns with alignment on the ltt pattern. The toung folds work fine and haven't had to be retrained. I do ware kilties with these boots as that helps reduce some volume over my ankles from initial break-in. I might go a week without them to see if the broken in uppers can lock in as well.

I love these soles, they are quiet, don't sponge up water, hold up over time, and have a comfortable squish to them. I can understand why so many new builds are going with these for non-hard labor jobs. They don't slip on wet floors much but do move a little more than expected on fresh ice during the winter. Think ice on flat concrete (worst-case scenario for a city slicker like me).

I would love to try these with a different midsole. The uppers look great after half a year and the internals are holding up quite well so far.