TOP 5 in China Patina competition & nothing in thunderdome

When I’m ordering the flame panda, I’m seeking an original design from the brand, I did not know well much of the history revolves around boots. But this lace to toe design looks original to me, and the 131 last they named it (gu) in Mandarin means stable in translation; it looks stable, tough, and well balanced in my eye, and yet, a single type of natural vegetable tanned leather isn’t just about it; to add in more complexity, I chose Tochigi natural veg tanned on the upper, Maryam horsebutt natural veg tanned on the other parts, and a low profile olive dr sole half sole to make it slightly sleeker on the middle of the outsole; it will be shown from the side of the boots, so it does make me want that slightly sleek feeling. As a Chinese guy in Malaysia, I am affected by the philosophy of ancient Chinese culture. To truly salute Peng, it was thinking about yinyang in Chinese culture applied to the boots; I want them to be lower profile, solid, and balanced between everything else. Horsebutt and cowhide have their own different characteristics, and a low-profile outsole makes it possible to showcase my idea. At the time, my speculation about the chosen leather was that horsebutt had a denser and more reddish brown tone, making it a tougher choice to represent yin, and tochigi leather reminded me of yang, showing more delicate and shinier leather. I wasn’t sure about it, but I'm going to make it happen and let the time tell.

I snap photos and compare what I have worn to Peng, he suggest me 7.5E. I told him my wesco 9109 last 7.5D is abit too tight for me, so he added width to my boots

The process is quite long, it took me about 2 weeks from decision making which last and model. After payment Is done, he will guide me what information he needed for the boots and any custom I would like to choose. After all information had given, he mentioned the lead time is within a year but ended up one year seven months due to his injury of his hand and he doesn’t satisfied with the first batch tochigi arrival

In Malaysia, we don’t have 4 seasons. But we do have sunny season, rain season and heavy rain season. I am not saying we got an extreme weather here, and I working in a restaurant/cafe as a barista here. Mostly works indoor, walking on average 4.5k steps a day. There are days I been walking with my friend and have some chat, those days are about 15k steps and hours of walking non stop at the street. I got first attempt to hike with the boot for about 30min and I failed, almost fainted! But a great experience to have. I try my best not to expose to rain, there are a few times expose to water but gently.

Maryam Natural Horsebutt is a dense and tough leather, I placed it at the place where I will easily get scratches like backstay, vamp, side of shaft. They are easily cure with animal fat after scratches, they are perfect to be on the those spots, the result proof me right. It will not creases like cowhide does, but after breaking in, the molding feet character is better in my opinion due to almost no stretching on the leather, making it a good candidates on the parts that should not stretch out. Due to placing them at the spot i need, and molded to my feet, the slightly roomy boots fits very well after lacing tightly. No heel drops at all for me. The reaction to water marks does frightening me on the beginning, but they smoothen out after patina developed and become parts of the marbling effects. I am not so sure its the leather itself or the water marks or both of them altogether to creases some of the marbling, but they looks great! The oil content from new leather is generous, the fat contents to pop out at the surface to shine. The leather patina in a planned way at the beginning, becoming reddish brown with purple undertone on it, it shine easily after each brush especially on the vamp. The patina reaction is very fast compared with the Tochigi cowhide, more glossy look than the cowhide and does not stretch like cowhide, it has a character to mold but not flexible. The care routine is pretty easy, when it looks dull/white/not saturated, it need to be feed by animal fats, i prefers mutton tallow; if it looks rough and lack of shine, i will use product that mix with wax to conditioning them. I conditioned them once a month average, depends on conditions. What I didn’t expect is the final result looks purplish shine like a steel rod feel on it!

Tochigi Natural cowhide starts shine on it, looks delicate, dense but flexible, beautiful yellowish undertone by its nature. The patina starts slowly, stretch quite some amount due to its flexibility and creasing nicely as it should. After patina matured, it looks red brown with yellow undertone, duller surface compare with Maryam horsebutt. The softness makes it a good candidate for great breathability and comfort. It molded to my feet that added complexity on overall looks. I got no painful to break in the leather, it just goes better fitting that holds my fit but comfortable right out of box. The colour change consistently and seems still continuing developing deeper tone. The care routine is similar to my Maryam part, but the first month do not require any conditioning at all.

The 131 don’t need any break in, just perfectly comfort right out of box. I added a hard insole for health purpose, but if I didn’t add that, it’s quite roomy for me. But I did mentioned to peng, I will adding a hard insole and give him the measurement of my insole as a consideration, I guess that’s a great work of estimation. I’m very emphasis the beauty of heel, booty feel balanced not overdoing it with the woodsman heel that’s looks rugged. I wear silver yarn merino wool socks or darn tough double layers, both are heavy duty and thick socks, taken consideration of adding extra thickness, the boots fit very well to me, especially heel counter bending inward to my feet to locking to heel, that’s preventing heel drop, thanks to tochigi flexibility.

The design of 131 last and the model seems very original and well designed. All details seems perfected especially the hand welt, overall robust feel, the overall feeling has to be with all the details combined as a whole, well balanced design. The stitching is flawless, the channel created to protect the welt stitching in outsole is making sense to me. The midsole finished and gently wax, continuing maintaining the midsole makes me an easy task. The clicking from Peng is exceptionally great, both boots looks shine at the right spot, marbling at the right position and good angle colour, stretching at a good alignment, just like he had planned how my boots will patina.

It’s easily the best design I ever seen, modern and rugged! The anti slip on water surface is on point, I don’t feel slip. Great traction and grip when I trying to hike, with great fluffiness feel on feet, but personally I think it wear out quite fast.

While preparing the final shots, I was still not sure which indirect sunlight and background looked the best for the final submission, but I did a saphir pate de lux waxing on the midsole to keep the shine. It really took me days to try and error about the final submission to get proper lighting to showcase the details on the boots. It’s not about worn-down leather; what I prefer is the deeper tone shinier characters shown on the Maryam horsebutt, the purple-red hue that shine by its own, almost looks like a polished steel rod, especially the midsole and Maryam horsebutt, they are the foundation(gu) from Flame Panda meant. The tochigi, on the other hand, is showing duller, more creases, and a yellowish undertone. Creating a contrast but low profile status. Most of the dented parts show a story, and with time and care, I conditioned them to smooth out those scratches, leaving only the dented mark on the leather. The most beautiful thing about boot patina for me personally is the moulding process of daily wear. I’m happy I completed the Patina Thunderdome!!! I’m glad that the boots patina in the way I thought it will.