Grant Stone's Brass Boot in Earth

 

When Grant Stone first introduced their moc-toe Brass Boot in 2021 it came as a surprise because up to then, Grant Stone was known for their dressy versions of service boots in the Diesel and Edward, and the cap toe version which was simply called the Cap Toe. True, they had introduced moc-toe stitching before in their Norwegian Split Toe model called the Ottawa, but a high-walled, work boot style design that reminded us of classics like the Thorogood Moc-Toe Work Boot and the Red Wing 875 work boot?

 

However, it was clear that in applying their well-recognised quality of construction, their Brass Boot, on top of a wedge sole, could potentially compete against those stalwarts.

 

The makeup I bought was in the waxed suede that they call "Earth", newly put on top of their proprietary Commando outsole. The Earth makeup is a waxy commander, which is a waxed suede from the Charles F Stead tannery in Leeds, England.

 

 

You can see why Grant Stone call it "Earth", because of the dark chocolate and sandy texture of the waxed suede.

 

You can watch my full review of the Brass Boot on YouTube here:

 

 

By the way, if you're new to the boot world, one of the interesting yet frustrating things about boot makers is that while they might source the same leathers from the same tanneries, they will often call their boot models in those leathers by their own, different names. This, for example, is what Stead calls "Waxy Commander" in a colour that I think, from an examination of their unfriendly website at that time, they call "dark brown" or possibly "chocolate".

 

Other bootmakers may use the same leather and call it a different name to suit the design of their boot.

 

It's a little frustrating because you might want to compare different makes in the same leather, but you're never sure if it is the same leather or not. If you have ever struggled with what colour "British Tan" actually is, you'll know what I mean.

 

The Charles F Stead Company Limited - to give them their full name - was started by the titular Charles Stead in the 1890's, and remains a family company based in Leeds, England.

 

Stead is famous for their classic velvety suede leathers, as well as their shrunken suedes like Mohawk and Rambler, and in recent years, their more exotic hides like kudu, antelope, elk and deer. I wasn't aware of this until I looked it up but they also tan smooth grain leathers, mainly calf, but also horse and ox.

 

This waxy commander is a medium nap suede, that's been treated with oils and waxes, and in the finish, is waxed over to smooth down the nap.

 

 

Grant Stone uses it in this Brass Boot makeup, as well as in some of their other styles. In this version of the Brass Boot - of which there are currently 11 styles - they combine the waxy commander with their proprietary commando lugged sole to make a very sturdy looking, feeling, and wearing boot.

 

It is a moc toe style boot, and looks ready for the outdoor world, whether hiking or working.

 

 

I'm not sure I'd necessarily use it as a full-on work boot on a construction site, but it feels tough enough at least, to work in the yard and garden, or in workshops where you're lifting and kicking boxes or need some ankle and foot protection while you're working on the benches.

 

If you haven't heard of Grant Stone, you should have. It’s an American direct-to-customer boot brand, that uses a mainland Chinese factory to make their boots.

 

This can cause a whole lot of controversy as soon as that's mentioned, especially in today's climate where Chinese spy satellites orbit over Australia to monitor military exercises, but let's just look at the quality issue of these boots being made in China.

 

You cannot simply assume that made in China is automatically equivalent to poor quality.

 

As a management consultant, I deal with international businesses, and I can attest to the fact that 

quality is not dependent on geography, but on processes, procedures and the set of specs that the factory receives. Spec out a poor-quality boot, and you will get poor quality even if it's made in Australia, the USA, or Europe.

 

In my opinion, Grant Stone is totally top quality. In fact I believe they punch a good hundred or more dollars above their weight, but I'll get to value later. For now, let's turn to look at their construction.

 

 

At the bottom, this is Grant Stone's proprietary version of the famous commando lugged sole. 

 

 

This pattern of wedge-shaped lugs on the outside edge of the sole, and star pattern lugs on the inside of them, is called the commando pattern and was designed by Vitali Bramani, founder of Italian sole manufacturer, Vibram, in the 1930's. You'll find this design "copied" - I don't know if that's too strong a word, perhaps imitated - by a number of other boot makers sourcing proprietary soles. One that you'll recognise immediately is the Timberland honey-lugged commando sole on their classic 6" waterproof boot. But higher end bootmakers like Truman also use the same pattern, and in fact sole manufacturers Itshide in the UK also make a commando pattern sole for other boot makers as their proprietary soles.

 

The lugged sole and heel toplift are glued and respectively sewn and nailed to real leather heel blocks and veg tanned leather midsoles. The heel has a rubber, leather, rubber combination stack before it hits the midsole, giving the heel strike a softer shock-absorbing feel.

 

The outsole and midsole are attached to the uppers using Goodyear welt construction, in this case, a storm-welted 360-degree Goodyear welt.

 

 

A Goodyear welt is where a strip of leather is sewn to the insole and uppers on the inside edge of the welt, while the outside edge of the welt is sewn through the midsole and outsole. In this case, this is a storm, or more accurately, a split reverse welt, where the inside edge of the welt is split laterally and while the bottom split half is sewn to the uppers inside as usual, the top half is flanged upwards against the outside of the uppers, in this way increasing water resistance.

 

That's the advantage of Goodyear welted boots - they are more water resistant because they don't have stitch holes going right through the boot, and the welt acts as a barrier between water on the outside, and the dry inside of the boot.

 

The other advantage of Goodyear welting is that they are supposed to be easier to re-sole. When you wear out the rubber outsole, the cobbler unpicks the stitching, and glues and sews on a new outsole, without disturbing the uppers.

 

Inside the boot, the welt going around the edge of the boot forms a cavity in the footbed. Grant Stone fills this with cork, inserting a steel shank in the gap between the heel and the ball of the feet to give you arch support and stability. On top of the cork filling is another veg tanned layer of leather as the insole, and on top of the heel area, is another piece of foam backed leather to provide comfort on the heel strike.

 

This leather, cork, leather midsole and insole construction is meant to be gold standard. In many boots these days, particularly from newer direct-to-customer boot companies, you'll find the inclusion of man-made materials like cardboard, compressed leather board, or poron and foam.

 

I don't really have a strong view on this.

 

I find, for example, boots like those from Thursday Boot Company using poron and foam are immediately comfortable underfoot. On the other hand, I find the leather, cork, leather combinations of "premium" boots a little tougher to break in, but once they do, it feels made for your own particular feet.

 

I'm happy to have a bob each way.

 

For longevity though, if you have one pair of boots and you wear them almost every day, the natural materials will probably last you longer. Certainly, where makers use cardboard or compressed leatherboard - that's a bit like chipboard or MDF  in the carpentry world - I wouldn't be too confident that they would last as long.

 

Grant Stone's tendency to use real leather extends to the reinforcement at the toes and heels.

 

 

At the toe, it is structured using a leather toe puff - it's hard, and the heel counter is also a thick piece of leather to shape around and protect your heel.

 

Moving upwards, I've already spoken about the Stead waxy commander leather - it's soft, supple and comfortable despite being quite a tough leather. There's a single-piece backstay, and the stitching all over is immaculate. Double stitched everywhere and triple stitched at the quarter.

 

The hardware is Grant Stone's recognisable large brass hardware, 5 eyelets and 2 speedhooks. The eyelets and speedhooks are backed and just look incredibly finished.

 

Taking a look down at the vamp and toebox, this Floyd last gives a nice wide shape, and the moc toe is - when compared to other moc toe boots like Red Wing or Thorogood - is "same but different".  As you can see, it also is high walled, like the Red Wing 875 Classic Moc Toe and the Thorogood moc toe work boots, but it's more rounded in profile. That's because the moc-toe stitching is more "in board" and not situated right at the edge of the side walls.

 

 

I think this gives it a more versatile look, so that it's not so obviously a work boot. It looks like a work boot, like the Thorogood, but it also looks like an amped up casual boot that you can wear offsite.

 

Moc toe is short for moccassin toe - so called because they look like American First Nations historic mocassin footwear. In this case, it's a mock, moc toe. The contrast stitching does not stitch together two pieces of leather, being the side walls, and the apron at the top of the vamp. It actually puckers the leather on the vamp to create this gathered look and create the moc toe stitchlines.

 

Coming up to the tongue, and the laces and lace facings, Grant Stone provides two pairs of laces that are both flat, waxed cotton laces, which I find confusing, especially for these outdoorsy boots. I preferred leather laces on them, and I replaced the cotton laces with a pair of spare Grant Stone leather laces that came as spares from a Diesel boot.

 

The tongue itself is the same waxy commander suede and is unlined, so thin I suppose, in order to be comfortable on the instep. It's semi-gusseted to the third eyelet, exactly the same as their Diesel boots. However, I find that unlike the thicker, lined leathers on their Diesel boots, the thinner suede tongue does slip to one side on my right foot, despite the semi-gussetting.

 

What I've done is used a chisel to punch slits on the tongue that I can use to lace the laces through, to keep the tongue in place.

 

 

If you have tongue-slipping syndrome, you can also get a cobbler to put a short stitch along one side of the tongue, effectively increasing the gusset depth along one side.

 

Inside, other than the tongue, the whole boot is lined with a soft, full-grain Wisconsin cow leather. 

The lining noticeably increases the comfort factor when you slip your foot in. For a mid-US $300 boot, it really feels properly finished off.

 

The suede on the tongue is about 2 mm thick, and the combination suede and lining on the rest of the uppers is about 4.5 mm thick. Being suede, it's soft and light but the boot still weighs in at 966 gms per boot. 

 

That's a heavy boot - because of all that leather around the toe box and the heel, and underfoot, not to mention the thick, dense rubber outsole.

 

This is not a fashion boot. It means business.

 

 

I have worn this boot hiking on very long, day-long hikes across our forest reserves, along the coast in sandy conditions as well as over limestone rubble rocky trails, and they've taken a beating.

 

 

The leather's waxy covering has scratched and scraped off in parts, but no cuts can be seen, and the grippy outsole got dirty and picked up gravel in the grooves, but got no damage. I think these are tough enough to go on any kind of hike, and certainly tough enough to be used gardening - from mowing the lawn to digging in plants and moving soil. 

 

 

I think they're tough enough to wear in a workshop or your garage, perhaps working with wood or cars and engines, or in a warehouse moving crates and boxes. I'm not sure I'd wear them as construction site boots though.

 

Casually, I think they're pretty versatile.

 

They'd go with carpenter pants, any colour of jeans in dark or light denim, or in brown, grey or black denim. Their dark colour makes them a match to almost any colour and I've even seen them worn with bright red pants!

 

 

They are very casual, so no smart or business casual gear, but certainly, chinos and button-downs and a bomber or leather jacket would work. As would say, denim and a T-shirt or a polo shirt.

 

When it's colder, jeans or thick wool flannel pants with a flannel shirt, jumper and waxed or winter padded jackets will work.

 

 

Stead's website gives no indication of care - thanks!

 

The Grant Stone care page on their website - it's under Help - doesn't deal with waxy commander - bummer!

 

On English sites that discuss caring for waxy commander, they recommend dubbin wax - the English use that a lot.

 

In my opinion, I'd be sparing in product use. The underlying leather is suede. Suede generally does not need the conditioning that smooth leathers need to prevent them from drying out and cracking. The waxed surface will scuff off and I think that is an advantage that creates a lovely worn patina. If they really got scuffed off, I might continue to treasure that look, but if you really had to, or if the suede finally felt really exposed and dry, I might apply a little beeswax or dubbin, or a balm like Smiths Leather Balm.

 

 

In time, you can also rewax the surface with a product like Otter Wax Fabric Wax Bar, and a little heat from a hair dryer.

 

You can check out my "Buy Stuff" page for affiliate links to some of these products.

 

Don't forget of course, if you like the patina caused by the creased, worn look, putting on product will cover it up again.

 

Daily care could simply be a soft damp cloth if it gets muddy and dirty, a regular brushing to remove grit, and then perhaps a brush with a stiff suede brush to raise the nap as it gets exposed. Keeping the boot clean alone will help keep the suede in good condition.

 

 

Now, what about sizing?

 

I measure a US 8 1/2 in D width on the Brannock Device, so I consider my true to size as 8 1/2 D.

 

In this Grant Stone Floyd last, like most of my US boots, and like the Grant Stone Diesel boots' Leo last, I bought an 8D. In most cases, they say to size half down from true. While my Diesel boots in the Leo last are perfect at 8D, these are roomy in the toe box.

 

I think that's to be expected because they have a tall side wall at the toes, and I think this Floyd last is a little roomier in volume as a result. I don't know if I'd size down another half - I think these were probably designed to be roomy in the toes. I think if I went down a full size below true, to 7 and a half D, I think it would be too short.

 

While I've tried a 7 and a half E in the Leo last - and that fit really well with almost no change to an 8D, I'm not sure this Floyd last in a 7 and a half E would be much different to this.

 

So, I think an 8D is the correct size for me - just a half down from true.

 

And how does that feel?

 

The heel is snug and fitted, the waist too. It flares out at the ball of the feet just right and feels comfortable. It's probably the in the toe box volume that feels a little on the large side, and definitely there's lots of room in the toes, not just width-wise, but also volume - or height-wise.

 

 

It's not too bad, it doesn't feel like clown shoes - you just feel "room".

 

I've taken to wearing a thick, 2 mm removable leather insole, and with medium or thick socks, that's fixed it for me. I'd rather feel a little room than to have any pinching anywhere.

 

The last, soft suede upper and design make it a comfortable boot. I didn't really have a break-in except for the sole. It's a very thick sole combining a thick and quite hard rubber commando outsole with all that leather and cork, and a thick welt.

 

There was the slightest of heel slips due to that thick sole, as can sometimes happen when the sole doesn't first flex with your foot. You know, you bend your foot as you walk, but the sole doesn't bend so the heel stays where it is and rubs against your heel.

 

There was a little heel slip but not much, and after a couple of days of wear, it got flexible enough to not feel that it was fighting my stepping rhythm.

 

After a short period, it felt comfortable and felt truly supportive.

 

It's no sneaker though - you know you are in a tough boot and surrounded by leather.

 

The shock absorption is ok but not fantastic, the arch support is pretty good so that compensates when you're walking on rough ground all day.

 

 

Now, turning to the value,

 

I bought this in September 2021 for US $298 - that converted to about 420 Aussie dollars. Today the website lists it at US $328 or nearly AU $500.

 

As a price comparison, you can buy a Red Wing Classic Moc toe here in Australia for AUY $595. You can buy a pair of Thorogood moc toe wedge soles from Amazon for AU $360 to $470 depending on style. I wouldn't compare them with boots you can buy from fashion brands, or even from Timberland - these are heritage style and heritage method construction boots that do not compare with fashion brands for longevity or sturdiness.

 

The Thursday Diplomat moc toe wedge sole still costs US $199 or about Aussie 300 plus.

 

So, price wise they're comparable to other moc toe wedge soles in the class, except perhaps the Thursday Diplomat which has remained freakishly inexpensive.

 

Now, I have boots from Red Wing, Thorogood, Wolverine, Allen Edmonds, Alden - all the top American makers. I also have boots from the new breed, Thursday, Parkhurst, Helm, Oak Street Bootmakers. Whatever the pricing comparison, I can honestly say that the manufacturing quality and attention to detail, the quality control before they are sent out to you - is second to none.

 

Put that together against the manufacturing quality and QC of the others and their relative costs, I truly believe these punch at least 100 US dollars above their weight.

 

Value?

 

You'd better believe it!

 

 

 

In summary, I'd put their quality of construction, the materials used, their comfort and easy break-in into the pro column.

 

In the con section - maybe looking like work boots, they are probably not really work boots and wear them on a construction site with a warning.

 

If you're looking for a sturdy boot to go outdoors in, but not necessarily work in - these are the boots for you. Then, when you're done with your hiking, brush them off, put on a fresh pair of jeans, and see you in the pub!