> V****g (I Am Ready for Your Hatred 😂)

I know XBXS holds a (to put it kindly) divisive place in the welted footwear community... and the criticisms about plagiarism and IP theft are, in a lot of ways, reasonable. My intent here isn't to mount a defense of XBXS's less reputable practices, but rather to point out that, whatever inspiration they're drawing from: these guys are really damn good at making boots. This pair was modeled after a 2018 Viberg MTO that was, frankly, the most disappointing boot purchase of my life. Not only did Viberg have to remake them twice, but the final pair was a decidedly "meh" end result: poorly clicked leather on the toe, binding stitches that busted loose with brushing and visible stitching between the welt and insole. The design itself was so good, though, that a Viberg shell derby on the old 2030 became somewhat of a white whale for me. Naturally, Viberg discontinued the derby boot model. So, if I couldn’t get it from them… Enter XBXS. After learning about them and reaching out via IG, I coordinated a custom derby boot build in Horween UV shell. What I received blew away any of the 3 Viberg attempts in attention to detail and in finishing. And they landed on my doorstep about 7 weeks after my first DM. The 007 last is close enough to the original 2030 that the differences are negligible to me, and I actually think it looks better than the tweaked 2030 Viberg uses now - especially in the curvature at the back/heel of the boot. The pattern pretty much nailed the look I wanted (the facings sit closer when laced compared to a mid-2010s service boot example and the vamp might be a touch short, though that could just be the half sole playing tricks on the eye). Stitching throughout is spot-on and the shell is very well clicked. My only "real" critique is that the backstay pieces are skived a bit thinner than I'd like at their far edges. Yes, these were modeled after something else, and some may call them whatever lies beyond being "inspired by." But the quality not only exceeds their design template: it allows them to stand on their own. It's obvious a substantial amount of time, craftsmanship and attention to detail went into making sure these left the shop done right. My favorite boots I own, "knockoffs" or otherwise 🤷‍♂️