Another year, another dome

I wore these boots about 5 days per week for the entire 6 month period. They saw all types of conditions from prepped hospital operating rooms (with shoe covers on of course) to local dive bars to concerts to light hikes. Being in the northeast, they saw 2 record breaking blizzards in 1 year. They were on my feet when my car got stuck in feet of snow overnight and they were back on when I went to dig said car out a day later. They were on my feet while I stood and rounded for hours in the ICU and they definitely saved my feet, knees, and back. While I don’t work in as harsh conditions as many who participate in the dome, my boots still saw quite a bit of use and took everything I could throw at them and just got better and better. I can’t wait to keep wearing these for years to come.

The leather has undergone an incredible change in just these few months. They started as a deep dark brown and with every crease, scrape, and scratch they revealed more and more of a beautiful light brown that contrasts perfectly with the top coating. I didn’t realize how much this leather would evolve this quickly but I’m absolutely here for it. I conditioned the leather with Bick 4 once around 4.5 months in after the last of the snow was finished; the leather was definitely asking for a bit of care as it had been used trudging through feet of snow on uncleared roads while walking to work and had come in contact with lots of road salt throughout the winter. The lighter parts of the leather darkened a bit after the conditioning but returned to their bright contrasting brown sooner after. It’s been a joy to wear and I feel I couldn’t have picked a better leather as my first foray into horsebutt boots.

Wesco’s MP toe last is just absolutely perfect for my foot. I know others often have issues with the heel but I’ve been lucky to find it fits my heel perfectly without minimal heel slip at the start and zero heel slip after a very brief break in period. I have an easy pass through when putting them on and my foot feels locked in right away. I don’t have a to fight to take them off even after a long day. For reference I am a 10D on the Brannock and these are 10E and I find that to be perfect for me in this last. I wore these with midweight wool socks every day.

Being Wesco, you know the durability and hard wearing nature you’re going to get with a PNW boots. That is absolutely continued here even with the beautiful Maryam horsebutt. I really enjoy the look of stitchdown construction and there were no stitches out of place either in the double row stitchdown or the uppers. Everything was very neat and clean out of the box. The clicking was very very nice with amazing honeycombing on both boot shafts and no loose grain or significant blemishes (other than the known scrapes on the heel that led them to be factory seconds). I feel that the Wesco MP toe engineer (Mr. Lou) is the best USA made engineer design perhaps outside of the single person makers. I think it has a perfect blend of a bit of toe spring, sleek taper towards the toe, and just the right heel height.

Not much to say about the sole. Dr. Sole really makes the best blend of functional yet stylish soles. I like the half sole silhouette and the traction never failed me, even on some slick ice and powdery snow.

It may seem silly but I really do think these boots played some role in helping me tackle a very difficult year in my life. This year was a huge step into a much more senior role at work and these boots helped me feel more comfortable and confident handling that role. In a way, putting on a special pair of boots like these felt like putting on a special uniform or a piece of armor that helped me feel ready for whatever might happen; being a physician, you never know what might happen in the hospital and these boots helped me take control of every situation possible. They even helped build rapport with people going through difficult times; many patients made comments about the boots/asked where they were from and we could sit and bond about something silly like footwear for a moment. These boots have become a bit of a known part of “my look” among my coworkers and team members. In summary, I can’t wait to continue living life in these boots.