From Mountains to Mosh Pits

Years ago I found a pair of vintage side zips in an antique store that I really loved, but they were cement constructed and not particularly nice. Eventually they just became too uncomfortable with the rapidly thinning synthetic soles. I had recently finished my PhD and gotten a new job as a professor and felt like I wanted to splurge on something. I have been relatively poor most of my life, and decided to continue that tradition by going to graduate school, for a degree that in a career track that barely earns a living wage. I grew up wearing lots of secondhand, and continued that into adulthood. 99% of my wardrobe is thrifted. And while I’ve definitely thrifted some very nice things (Red Wings, Filson Mackinaw, etc) I almost never spend a lot of money all at once on clothing. So as a reward for finally getting my PhD and a new job, I decided I wanted to find a replacement for my favorite pair of boots. After lots of fruitless searching and finding lots of size zips that were not quite what I was looking for, someone on styleforum recommended Briselblack and they met all the criteria I had in mind. I love the slightly western aesthetic. I love how easy they are to take on and off (perfect for traveling/flying). They are rugged enough for hiking. I can teach in them if I decide to go a bit more casual.

I sent brannock photos and foot tracings and they recommended the size I ended up ordering.

I reached out via WhatsApp and went from there.

I have done a bit of everything in these boots. In the first month of wear I hiked along the Appalachian trail and moshed to my favorite hardcore band who came out of retirement for a one off show in Philadelphia. I wore these all around Manhattan and Brooklyn when visiting family for Thanksgiving. I wore them when teaching. I spent many hours in the darkroom wearing these. But like many domers, most of the miles put on these were around my neighborhood while walking my dog. They performed great in all of these activities and more importantly, they looked great doing it.

The leather darkened pretty significantly after the first month, but in a way that I really like. In the first month they were much closer to a natural leather in color, but with more and more wear, some of the orange undertones started to come through. It has also broken in very nicely in my opinion, I love how it has molded around my heel and ankle. The roughout is extremely resilient.

The fit is great with boot socks. With thinner socks there is some heel slip, but even that is pretty manageable. If given the option I would order the same size again if I was buying laceless boots from Briselblack, but might go half a size up or up to a normal width if I were ordered boots with laces. I have a low instep and narrow feet, so laceless is pretty difficult for me, but these work great for my feet. I wouldn’t hate a little more arch support, but it’s not something I really think about while wearing them and I can spend all day in them without foot fatigue.

This is my first foray into boots nicer than Red Wings, so compared to that, I think they are great all around. I looked at a lot of side zips and imo, these have the best design I came across. Is the finishing as refined as other high end boots? I don’t really know, but you’ll hear no complaints from me. The construction seems great. I went with a Goodyear welt thinking it would be easier for most folks to do a resole in the future, and I plan to go through a lot of resoles on these in my lifetime.

I love these soles. I am wearing through the back of the heel a bit faster than I’d like, but I walk on concrete and asphalt a lot, and apparently drag my heels. But they are surprisingly comfortable, and have more traction than I expected.

I understand that these likely won’t be in contention for any prizes because a) there are a lot of wonderful boots in this contest and b) some people put a lot more wear on theirs than I have. That said, I am in this for the long haul and plan to wear these for the next few decades if they can take it. I doubt I’ll be participating in many future thunderdomes. As fun as this has been, I can’t financially justify buying new pairs of boots very often, I could barely justify these. But I’m really happy that I decided to participate regardless. It has been a blast documenting their progress. And while others are talking about how they are looking forward to wearing other boots, I think I’ll be wearing these regularly for the foreseeable future.