A fickle and delicate beast

It was probably a really poor choice given this leather isn’t a patina monster, but when I began this journey I was working an office job with pretty “business” business casual dress. I always loved the look of Shinki, so when Viberg dropped this makeup I had to strike.

Trial and error. I’m a “one down” guy from brannock.

Typical purchase on a service boot Sunday from Viberg.com

My lifestyle was primarily one of a “five days a week” office job. Carpet and sitting at a desk all day only can provide so much patina, but these boots got plenty of casual (including at boot camp) and weekend wear. As I took a new job at the turn of the year and began a work from home job, the number of wears declined a bit but saw a higher percentage of wear in casual settings. Given I had to wear these in an office environment, I elected to not wear them on rainy days as much as possible to avoid the typical Shinki water spotting.

As a first time domer, this was really an interesting learning experience for me. The leather isn’t really a great patina play, but that was partially intentional with my formal dress. I wanted something that would evolve subtly while still looking classy, and therefore many other leathers worn in the competition wouldn’t be the right fit. The main element of patina is really challenging to photograph in these pairs - the subtle teacore effect from medium brown to the lighter brown underneath. As these didn’t get rugged, off-pavement/carpet wear, this patina was subtle and most noticeable around the heal and upper parts of the quarter. The other element of patina (also difficult to photograph) is some of the typical subtle horsebutt striations which began to come through near the end. Note these were not your typical Shinki striations but deeper variances in the leather, particularly on the quarters and portions of the heel counters. As I continue to wear these boots, I’m most excited to see how these continue to evolve and show more depth in these portion of the boots. While I will likely choose a different leather next year, I really enjoyed the “white collar” patina these developed. They still have years of wear in them and have grown into an option that can be worn well casually or in a dress setting.

Very comfortable and typical 2030 fit. Perhaps broken in has a bit more give in the right areas compared to some of my suede 2030 pairs.

Design, construction, and build is as you’d expect. High quality.

I know aesthetically it’s not for everyone, but I loved how it wore amidst the many different weather conditions and rolling terrain of my home town compared to other rubber soles like dainite. While I didn’t give these much wear in rain, on days where it had previously rained or snowed they did great on wet ground.

This event reaffirmed just how many wears a pair of high quality Goodyear welt (or in this case, stitchdown) footwear can withstand before even needing a resole. I’m already thinking about how to take this principle and apply it to future casual footwear purchases beyond just service boots and my may dress shoes.