8December 2021
I ordered four pairs of Doc Martin boots
and four different leathers that they carry their boots in to give a review or
really just for me to check out which which leather is the best quality all
the different leathers they carry because I was I was wanting to buy some
Doc Martin boots for the shop because they're supposed to be really
comfortable but I've never really liked the quality of their boots anytime I
went to the mall or whatever I tried some on their leather felt really cheap
and so I bought four different four different pairs of their boots in the
four different leathers to check them out for myself and see which boot I
liked the most in which the leather is the best in my opinion because every
time that I would try to look up a review on any types of these boots
online they were all coming from people who have no idea what they're talking
about with leather and so they were just like this leather is the best leather in
the world and I'm like "WHAT" you don't know not basing it on anything
and so yeah I thought I would buy some and actually give an informed review on
the leather quality ok box number one oooh comes with a nice giant bag for some
reason these are definitely the made in England boots because I noticed the
difference in color on the inside of the leather so first impressions yeah they
smell they don't smell great the leather it's definitely a really really finished
leather there's not a whole lot of natural characteristics but I don't know
seems nice it's open the next one then we'll do a
more in-depth review of each one my guess is just they're the regular smooth
boots smell test doesn't just smells like rubber because this is the leather
I don't like where it doesn't even feel like leather you don't it's like got
such a hard plastic Ecover it's such a corrected grain leather that
I hate it so definitely my uh the bane of my existence cheap
leather giant box that has two pairs of boots in them I think I hope let's do
the hard life ones first okay I actually like these a lot a lot
more than the other two this is their hard life leather which is a lot more of
a natural leather you can see some of the natural flaws and stuff in it and
either that or somebody wore these before okay on to
the ones I am the most excited about now yeah this is nice definitely Dublin and
yeah now let's do a more in-depth side-by-side comparison we're gonna look
at the leather quality the construction techniques and quality and just overall look and feel the boots I guess so let's
just go through what they are first 1460 smooth 1460 hard life made in England
and Horween so the first ones are the cheapest option these retail for 140 dollars
these don't have a Goodyear welt I'll try to add a little image of what a good
year welt is these are basically just have the sole glued to them there's no
stitching that's holding the sole to the boot that's part of the reason I've
stayed away from Doc Martens I felt like they were overpriced for what they were
they use cheap leather they don't even use a Goodyear welt and I'm pretty sure
they don't have a shank in the sole the leather quality on this one it's just
that like I said earlier it's a plasticy ultra
refinish leather where they put like almost like a plastic coating on top if
you scratch this leather it's not gonna be able to heal as well because it's
gonna flake up that plasticy coating the stitching looks kind of rough this
leather just doesn't stitch very well it starts to fold and crinkle if you want
Doc Martens and you're on a budget and you have to go with these like go with
them I guess but realize you're not getting a very good constructed boot
boot with very good leather next we've got the hard lifes these usually retail
for a hundred and sixty but they're on sale for ninety let's see 96 dollars
this leather is they advertise it as really hard leather but it's actually
softer than the smooth it's it's definitely not as corrected grain you
can see a lot of the flaws in the leather you can see a lot of like though
the scuffs and the natural grain of the level you can see the pores and where
the leathers been folded which I prefer I don't want a fake looking leather I
want a leather that looks like leather they say this is a Goodyear welt but I
don't I don't know if it is because these two the made in England boots you
can see where the machine has sent that stitching through the sole there's a
little bit of a groove but on this one it looks identical to the smooth and so
I guess if they say it's a Goodyear welt it's a Goodyear welt but it doesn't feel
like one it doesn't look like one that's my that's my biggest concern with this
one if I was positive that this was a Goodyear welt I would say 99 percent of the
time percent of the time just forgo these spend 20 bucks extra and get the
hard life you'll get some decent leather with a with your boot and a Goodyear
welt if it actually is a Goodyear welt worth the 20 bucks extra so this right
now is like the best bargain like this is an awesome pair of boots for ninety
six dollars you get the look of Doc Martens without having to pay the
premium price for a sub premium product I like these boots okay next is the made
in England boots retail for $220 this leather is a corrected grain leather and
that's why you get that really really even
finish it's not quite as plasticky as the smooths you can still see some of the
grain and stuff but it's it's not as obviously real leather as like these
hard lives and then obviously the inside is that natural color and I a lot of
people might not like that but I think it's kind of a cool little feature of
these boots so judging off that this is probably a it's not a drum dyed leather
it's probably hand dyed afterward or spray dyed afterwards so you might not
have as deep of a lasting finish as some of these other boots because like this
these boots are dyed all the way through so if you get a scuff your leathers
gonna look a little flaky and gross but it's not gonna the black it's not gonna
go away with these if you scuff these the black finish has the potential of
disappearing because it's only on the very v ery top surface of the leather so if
you do need if you do buy these boots your you just have to plan for the fact
that you're gonna have to add some shoe polish some black shoe polish on it to
re-dye that leather anytime you get a good scuff okay so another thing that's
interesting is these souls are different you know made in England ones are a
little bit thicker they look like they're made out of a different type of
rubber or plastic or whatever soul stuff you can tell these have a goodyear welt construction because you can see where the needle has gone into the
actual cap of the sole you can see those little tread marks these are a good good
boot they have a little bit of a plasticky feel to them they might that
might change when you start wearing them more you know the leather might break in
and not go wrinkly like a really really refinished leather so if you're actually
going to use the boots for what boots are made for these might be the way to
go over these ones these might be 30% more but you'll probably get more than
30% extra life out of them so if you have the money
these ones are better in my opinion okay and then on to the ones I was most
excited about the Horween leather boots this is their Dublin 260 for the
Dublin this is an interesting leather because we struggle with it a little bit
because it's such a natural leather and it has so much natural character in it
that a lot of people they think leather is like these smooths where it's a
really really even finish and they like almost forget that it it's from a cow
skin so Dublin is a really really character heavy leather it's drum dyed
which is a benefit in a perk that's maybe better than the vintage because on
these ones you get that black dye all the way through the the leather this is
a good year welt this is also made in England the stitching looks really
really good on this this leather stitches really well because it's it's a
top grain leather and you don't get those those wrinkles you get from a
corrected grain leather if you don't know about
Horween leather it's an American tan leather Horween is one of the most
famous tanneries in the world they make amazing stuff and they're as old school
as it gets they're one of the oldest tanneries if not the oldest tannery in
America and we went out there this spring to hand choose our leather for
the harnesses and it is a really really cool operation so I was really really
excited to get these boots I would say that this leather the the Dublin leather
from Horween is similar more similar to the hard life leather and then the
vintage leather is more similar to the smooth leather so it kind of breaks down
into categories if you like the really really corrected grain leather has that
plasticky feel and you're on a budget you might go for the smooths if you like
a really natural feeling leather that's actually feels like leather and you're
on a budget these are your boots to go with if you are looking for a really
good boot and you want that shiny Doc Marten look where it's a corrective
grain leather these vintage ones are nice but if you're a leather aficionado
you probably already know what Dublin is and these are the boots if you actually
care about leather and you like leather and that wraps up the boot review I hope
you enjoyed having an actual leather workers opinion of leather I had tons of
fun doing this so if there's another type of leather product that you would
like to have reviewed from a leather working standpoint let me know because
this was really really fun another thing is I can't always justify doing all
these videos because of their kind of a kind of an expensive process they take a
lot of time to film and edit so if you if you like this channel if you
want me to keep doing some stuff like this do me a favor like and subscribe
and all that other stuff that everyone asks for it helps promote the channel
helps grow the channel and it helps me justify doing this cut this type of
stuff because I would love to do stuff like this more often
thanks
