tan dress black shoes A Serious Boot (Tan Welt)

tan dress black shoes A Serious Boot (Tan Welt)A SERIOUS BOOT (Tan Welt) is the our classic boot upper, with a Vibram Vi Lite sole, and Goodyear welt for strength, durability and ease of sole replacement. The leather It's handmade from a smooth, matt, waxy German bull leather, with calfskin lining, and a tan leather welt and midsole. The sole Vibram's VI LITE sole is designed to blend durability with lightness. According to the boffins at Vibram, it's "the ultimate in lightweight, shock absorption

A SERIOUS BOOT (Tan Welt) is the our classic boot upper, with a Vibram Vi-Lite sole, and Goodyear welt for strength, durability and ease of sole replacement.   

The leather

It's handmade from a smooth, matt, waxy German bull leather, with calfskin lining, and a tan leather welt and midsole. 

The sole

Vibram's VI-LITE sole is designed to blend durability with lightness. According to the boffins at Vibram, it's "the ultimate in lightweight, shock absorption cushioning, for maximum energy conservation".

It has a "proper" heel - you'll be c. 3cm taller than in your bare feet, a whole 1.7cm taller than in our classic DAS BOOT, and generally a lot further from the ground, with cork filling between midsole and outsole making for warmer feet in the depths of winter. 

Speaking of which, this boot has been designed with weather in mind. All the weathers. Vibram originally created this sole grip to increase safety for Swiss mountaineers, but it's truly an all-terrain sole which has seen service in the jungle and desert, as much as on snowy heaths and rocky slopes. This is an all-year-round boot; construction of the leather upper is identical to our breathable-when-they-need-to-be, warm-when-it's-cold, calfskin-lined, full grain upper DAS BOOTs. 

Our Serious Boots offer a slower comfort than our classic Das Boots; most feet instantly feel at home, but the sturdy construction and thicker soles are less flexible at first, compared to what you might have owned from us in the past; so there is a chance you will need to break them in.

They are slightly heavier than our classic Das Boots, but (thanks to the Vi-Lite sole) slightly lighter and more comfortable than our first generation Serious Boots (with their Carrormoto soles, which we continue to used in the Black Welt version). 

Even if takes some adjustment, it's worth it for the eventual comfort, and the solid, protected feeling of elegant loftyness, and general proper bootedness. 

Goodyear Welt

The boots are handmade in a small atelier outside Porto, and their Goodyear welt is perhaps the most exciting departure from of our past construction methods. It's quite complex to explain (we tried at the bottom of this page)*. But rest assured that Goodyear Welted construction is reassuringly expensive and time consuming, requires highly skilled craftsmanship and, after 160 years, is still considered one of the finest methods of shoe construction today.

Sizing

The same as our other shoes. If you're usually 43, then best try 43 here. And if you've never had our shoes, welcome! We're excited for you and here's a size guide. 

* "Goodyear welt construction" involves stitching the upper leather, lining leather and welt (a specially prepared strip of leather) to the ribbing that has already been bonded to the insole as an attach-point for the midsole and outsole. The space enclosed by the welt is then filled with cork (for breathability and cushioning), and the leather outsole is both cemented and stitched to the welt, before the rubber outsole is cemented to the leather outsole. The final stitch is between the welt and the outsole, a stitch that can be cut through enabling complete removal of the sole without causing damage to the upper.