24December 2021
today we're cutting in half some of my
favorite boots to see why these minimalist boots are so stinkin
comfortable we've got some pretty cool videos coming up you might notice that
the bandsaw is gone it's because I broke it so it was about time that band saw
was struggling through some of the nicer boots we've got some Ariat boots coming up
we got Nick's coming up for shoes we've got common projects I just ordered those
last night so they should be here soon so if you don't want to miss those consider
subscribing because it makes a huge difference and this video is sponsored
by limbs and I know what you're thinking we've all seen it where our YouTube
channel starts getting sponsorships and they start hawking a bunch of terrible
stuff for their own profit but let me give you three quick reasons why you
should trust a sponsored review by me the first reason is the beauty of
cutting these in half as you can see exactly what's in them so even if I was
trying to lie to you guys you would see for yourself that I was lying and you'd
point out the BS so fast the second reason is in the contract with this
company or any companies moving forward because I make sure to include that I'm
gonna give a fair and honest review and point out any and all negative aspects
of the boots and the third reason is I don't make any money if you guys decide
to buy these boots you know most times you see a video that's sponsored the
video creator earns a certain percentage of any sales that go through the video
so instead of doing that I just asked the companies that they put them on sale or
do a discount code for any of the viewers so that you guys can get a
discount for watching my channel that helps me not be swayed to give an
unfair or not honest review and that helps hook you guys up with a discount
and also helps keep me honest because no matter how much I try if I knew I was
making a little bit of money off of every sale I think it would even
subconsciously sway me to talk about these boots
in a different way so those are the three reasons
and speaking of discounts Lems is putting these on sales from- putting
these on sale from now until Monday they're 25% off which is a huge discount
and if you happen to be watching this after the 27th after Monday you can
still get a 10% discount by signing up for their email list and they'll email you a
discount code and now the information on these boots so the company is Lems the
model of this boot is the boulder boot the color is russet the the upper is
made from a full grain leather with the cotton liner and the outsole is a air
injected rubber these are made in China and one really interesting thing about
these is the weight of these is 12 ounces and compared to the Red Wing iron
Rangers that we cut in half these are 1 pound 14 ounces so these are more than a
pound heavier per boot than the Lems which is crazy and the price of these
are anywhere from $125 to $165 depending on which model you get just another side
note is on their site they emphasize you go half the size up because these are
ten and a half what I usually wear and they're too small so I should have got
an 11 so keep that in mind and make sure you get a half a size up because they
definitely run half a size small at least I heard about Lems maybe two or
three years ago and those Lems is that idea of designing a shoe around the foot
really interested me so I bought a pair these are my pretty worn out pair and
they're super comfy I call them my shop slippers because they're so comfy so now
let's talk about like some of those features that make Lems unique
and how they're designed around the foot the first feature that they talk about
is called zero drop which basically means there's no heel it's the same
level from your heel to the ball of your foot unlike a regular pair of
boots where your heel is an inch or so higher than the pad
or the ball of your foot this is supposed to alleviate back issues and
fix your posture for me I don't really have any back issues so I can't really
comment on that but one thing that was really interesting when I started
wearing these boots was my calf and my Achilles tendon got a little sore and I
think it's because in a heel boot your heels raise so you're not stretching those
muscles out as much but as soon as that heel is gone it starts stretching out
and so it's clearly doing something I think they're more comfortable I can't
really attest to if the zero drop does anything but
that's one of their big features the next feature that really got me interested in
was the wider toe box so I hate having my toes squished in boots all day it's the
worst thing I can't I just like focus on it all day if I like feel my toes
being squished so that's the main reason I bought these and they really are
really roomy but the problem is and every time I've ever almost bought a
pair of shoes with a wide toe box you put them on and you look like you have
duck feet and the good thing about these Lems is they're the only minimalist wide
toe box barefoot boot or shoe that I've ever seen that pulls it off really well
and it's because it's a mocktail I think because if this was just a solid piece
of leather around it would look terrible but this mock tail seem kind of breaks up
that wideness of it and makes it a lot more bearable
these still look wide you know compared to the iron Rangers they still look
pretty wide but they're not nearly as bad as some of the other minimalist
shoes and boots I've seen I don't have a problem with them some people might
not like how wide they look but I think they look fine and I like them so there's
there's trade-offs either way they're way comfortable they might not be as
good-looking so you kind of pay for you kind of pay for it that way but they're
really not bad now let's talk about what these boots are for and what they're not
for these are definitely not work boots these are definitely not hiking boots
you know if you compare them to my Chippewa boots with a really heavy lug
sole these are my hiking boots they're a completely different sole these are
going to slip a lot more in a heavy hiking situation and these are going to grip
a lot more so they're not hiking boots so what are they I would consider them a
light hiking boot or a spring and summer boot that's a lot more
lightweight and breathable I bought these for an approach boot for rock
climbing and I liked them so much I just turned them into my shop boot because
they're really lightweight my feet don't get hot they're comfortable and I don't
have to worry about stuff getting into my socks like I would if I was wearing
shoes now let's talk about the pros and cons of this boot and what I like what I
don't like starting with the cons so these boots are minimalist and if you're
walking on really heavy terrain you're gonna feel every rock in your shoe and
every time you step wrong you're gonna feel it the next thing I don't like is I
don't like liners in boots I just want a leather boot cuz fabric wears out way
faster than leather it just adds another layer that's gonna smell the other thing
I don't like about this boot is these aren't as easily resoleable as like a
Goodyear welted boot so once these are worn out like mine are getting they're
basically at the end of their life the pros about these boots is I like how
lightweight and breathable these are especially these ones you know I I
really like my red backs they're probably top of the list for my favorite
most comfortable boots but if I'm working really hard in the shop I get
really hot and my feet get hot versus these are so lightweight you don't really have
to worry about that the next thing is they're super comfortable which I've talked
about like five times already these are so comfy and I'm a sucker for comfort
the other thing I like is how lightweight these are for travel and I
like how easy they are to put on and off they're perfect for like a camp boot
where you're getting in and out of tent a lot or the camper or whatever you don't
want to tie your boots every single time these are a really good boot for that so
now you know a little bit about the boot let's cut them in half and see what's
inside and see how they're built because I'm really curious I've been wanting to
do this since I bought these ones let's do it okay got cut in half let's see what's
inside so very simple on the inside as to be expected from minimalist Footwear
so it's literally just from the outsole up you've got the air infused rubber
you've got the insole is kind of like a lower density foam backed with some fabric
and then you've got the insert and let me just show you the difference between
a regular foot shape on this pair of boots versus these Lems pull the insole
out of this one or the insert okay that compared to so this compared to this so
which one looks more like your foot that's a big part of why these are so
comfortable it's because your feet aren't being squished like you would be in a pair of
Converse isn't that crazy so next I'm just gonna tear the guts out
of this thing so we can get a full breakdown of what's going on inside of
here and then we'll look at the leather and see how good the leather is got the rest of it torn apart and this
is a cemented construction where there's no stitching that holds the outsole and
the upper together it's all glued it's pretty common for this price range and
this is actually a lot better leather than I was expecting
because based on my first pair of boots these this leather's not very good and
it's really thin but this is a little bit thicker of a leather and it's a full
grain leather it's a semi-aniline leather which
basically means they add some pigment to the top layer without completely
covering the layer with a plastic or anything so you get that even and
consistent coloring but you're still able to get some of the natural look of
leather compared to a full aniline leather like this you see all the
natural flaws and characteristics of the leather that red beans are known for and
then for the thickness of this leather I don't have my caliper on me just under
two millimeters 1.8 millimeters 2 millimeter so somewhere between 1.8 and
2 millimeters which is a decent thickness for boots for lightweight boot
in particular and it definitely is a full grain leather because you can see
that layer of grain on the top and you can see a little bit of the pores the
natural characteristics the leather on the outside so yeah not bad another
another thing I noticed about these is there's no arch support in anywhere and
that's kind of a that goes along with the barefoot minimalist ideas where
you're supposed to be strengthened in your feet by wearing these shoes is
supposed to be like walking around barefoot so if you need that higher
support these aren't that and you probably put some custom
orthotics in it to get that heart support if you need it so overall what
do I think of this boot I think it's a really good boot I really like this boot
it's it's a good booth if you're not using it has a really heavy duty work
boot they're really comfortable there's some things I wish they'd improve on
these like I think they ought to get rid of this cotton liner on the inside I
just like all the other boot maybe improve the counter material but other
than that this is one of my favorite boots and those two critiques are being
fairly nitpicky for a very slim minimalist boot this is the one that yet
I love this boot but let me know what you guys think of these boots what do
you think of this breakdown have you had an experience with limbs or any other
the minimus Footwear and how they felt to you shout out to limbs for sponsoring
this video we've put a little faith in the channel and having enough faith in
their own product to have a completely dissected and destroyed on camera good
thanks to you guys for helping support this channel growing as fast as it has
grown if you are subscribed consider subscribing because it helps a lot with
getting these sponsored videos so you guys can see more boots more often and
more brands that you maybe never heard of so thank you guys for everything see
ya you
