Me and these Oak Street Boots have seen a thing or two.

I work as a photographer/content creator for CoStar Group (Apartments.com, Homes.com, Ten-X.com) where I am in the field 5 days a week shooting stills and videos of huge warehouses, land sales, neighborhoods, US cities. I pound the pavement, walk in gravel, scramble up trails and stand on concrete. I average round about 15,000 steps per day shooting video, flying drones in usually rainy Pacific Northwest conditions. These boots have also performed flawlessly at bars and coffee shops and airports.

The leather has held up fabulously and I assume they will last me many years to come. The break in was easier than a typical PNW that I’m used to. Since these are rough out boots my care routine was mostly brushing off dried mud and rinsing with cold water if needed. I was trying to preserve as much indigo as possible thinking I should treat them similarly to raw indigo jeans. I wanted high contrast fades! An occasional boot drier after particular rainy days in the field. At months 5 and 6 I did a gentle wash with Sapfir Suede soap right before monthly photos were taken.

I think the Elston last is pretty generous without being to wide at the forefoot. My foot is an E width with a moderately high instep. and it was easy to cinch them down with the leather laces. The arch support is low, which I like. The way the pattern is designed it really accommodates different thickness of socks with the lacing. Sometimes I throw a Sapfir leather or cork insert in them with thinner socks and they’re perfect. I could really cinch them up when I want more support or leave them a little loose when I wanted comfort. This last is up there with the Trubalance last or Lucchese’s twisted cone last in my opinion. This is a great last.

Design is terrific. Classic pattern. The eyelets are spaced perfectly. The toe shape is really nice. Much better than a 55 last toes shape IMO. Finishing is very nice. It was super fun pulling these indigo dipped boots out of the box for the first time. I LOVE the fact these are unlined. The eyelets are great. Construction is good. Not as robust as a pair of PNW boots but that’s not a fair comparison. Different world’s. Different consumers. I’m not going to lie. I tried to kill these boots and was unsuccessful. I did have to have a heel re-glued after two days of walking around in deep gravel. My cobbler loves these boots. I also have developed some stitching issues at the point of most stress where the upper is attached to the vamp. Easy fix though. Nothing to be worried about. After the dome I’m planning on sending them back to OSB for a resole because my cobbler only does Vibram.

Very hard wearing sole. I’ve had Dr Sole’s on other boots and I love them.

Hats off the nut job that came up with the idea to dip CXL in indigo. That person created a really fun experience for a fellow boot lover. The patina process has been fun! I think wearing them in the wet Pacific Northwest a lot accelerated the patina process. I think someone living in a drier climate might get higher contrast fades. The natural CXL color underneath is a great contrast to the dark Indio after it runs off. I love these boots. They’re less expensive than a pair of Aldens and have better construction but break in more easily and aren’t over glued like a pair of Grant Stones.