White's
Semi-Dress
C461 Last
C461 Last: 9.5D
Baker's Boots and Clothing
I wanted veg-tan leather White’s with the handsewn stitchdown construction. I also wanted a boot that would age structurally as well as develop a cool leather patina. I went with the cap toe because I didn’t have another boot with a cap toe and I thought the extra leather layer would keep the toe from completely collapsing to a dead flat toe. I went with the sprung toe last because I felt it would work nicely with the 1/4 higher woodsman heel. The W&C tan latigo leather was a perfect match for the rest of the build.
Consult and drawings sent to Baker’s. Perfect sizing recommendation from them.
Excellent experience with Bakers! Ordered during the Black Friday White’s sale, so 20% the base price.
These have been my everyday boot, in the sense that they have been used in every aspect of my life. I teach in the sciences, so they have seen office wear, wear in the laboratory as well as in the classroom. I attempt to have 10 000 steps daily, and I’m blessed to live in a location with lots of outdoor trails, so they have seen many miles of hiking. I’ve also used them for working around the house, gardening, and yard care. The boots clean up with a little brushing so well that I can still easily dress them up for more formal occasions in trousers and dress shirts. These are little perfect all-arounders! We had a mild winter this year, so I didn’t get to test these in very wet, snowy, or icy conditions as I would have liked. Other than that, they have risen to every challenge I could throw at them. I wore these nearly 8 hours a day on average for 133 days, just under 75% of possible days in the Dome. I took 934,000 steps, constituting 342 miles walked.
This leather is extremely resilient. It is much like Chromexcel in that it scratches and dents easily, but these brush out almost entirely. I have multiple times had dogs jump on them and claw them, rolled over them with my office chair, stabbed them accidentally with random metal pieces in my garage, or scraped them on something leaving what I was sure would be a permanent and ugly scar. Massaging the leather and brushing essentially removed all traces of these incidents—to the point that I was starting to worry that they would show the aging I was looking for over the course of the Thunderdome. However, the leather did patina and darken nicely. It also acquired that beautiful sheen that only the highest quality leather seems to be able to achieve. The leather is extremely deep in color and the shades of color give an extremely textured look, particularly in soft natural light. Under different lighting conditions the color appears to change significantly, from a reddish brown in some light to a nearly bright red in sunny conditions. I conditioned the boots twice over the course of the Dome with Smith’s leather balm. The leather is stuffed and doesn’t need a huge amount of conditioning, though I would have conditioned more if they had been exposed to more serious winter weather.
Just like a glove. Felt good from first wear and really broke in after a couple of weeks of heavy wear. Now they are like a warm hug for my feet. The arch support has made it unpleasant to wear other footwear without arch support for extended periods of time. I can wear these for 12+ hours a day for multiple days in a row without any discomfort. I can’t even come close to that with my other footwear.
I love everything about the design and construction and wouldn’t change anything about them. The finishing is good, though not as refined as some other brands might have.
Great.
These are absolutely wonderful boots. I will definitely buy more White’s and I’m going to enjoy these for many years to come.