The Armour Archive

Westland kindly sent me a sample of their veg-tan leather Viking boot

(First pic here - http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=112119&highlight=westland )

Arrival was swift, 5 days from shipping bill date.

Quality of boots appears excellent. One piece upper in veg-tan leather stitched part-way across front, about 2 - 2.5mm thick at a guess. Inner liner. Sole - stout look and feel, approx 5mm thick, nailed & glued I would say.

Now, sizing seems to be a concern for people regarding these and I have to admit I was expecting it to be a slight issue. From experience footwear from this part of the world tends to be on the slim side.
I wear a UK size 12 (12.5 US and 47 European I believe), in addition I have pretty wide feet, so I was expecting these to be snug and have to stretch out. Definitely not so. They fit well - sizing with Westland would appear to be no problem. Even people with wide feet should be okay with these.

Overall I can say that these appear to be an excellent product, especially at the price. Recommend that you buy!

Excellent, thanks!

Excellent news!! Seeing how I just ordered a pair of boots earlier this morning, I am very glad to hear this. Was alittle worried but now feel better about the whole deal.

G

Thanks for your kind comments.

Regards,

WestlandCrafts

Did everyone rush a pair of these things?

Well, I just got the ones I was sent (Three days after being mailed? Wow, way to go DHL . . . although, this is from London NOT Pakisatn), and my initial reaction is mostly pretty good.

Construction techniques seem to be good--it's neat, the sewing is well done, and I'd second the analysis that the soles are glued as well as being nailed, and if anything the leather on the soles is thicker and harder than I'd choose for medieval shoes. Overall, I think the quality of construction is very good (for those who read this before I edited, I tend to understate at times, I edited to be more clear).

Sizing seems to be right on. I wear a 10.5 naturally, and while I could wear the pair of 10's (barely), the 11's that I got for myself fit pretty well, although they're maybe slightly long as would be expected. They aren't overly narrow, but they also aren't overly wide . . . people on the wide side of normal should fit these fine, but people with those super extra wide feet probably won't. Sorry. I'm very pleased with the fitting, but I still have three more pairs to deliver to three more people to confirm that initial analysis.

The one thing that I'm not happy about is that the liner that Mike mentioned is a hard(ish) plastic. Still not sure what I think about that, although it doesn't really seem to be bad . . . just not what I would have preferred.

Overall, I'd give these 4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars total quality . . . they're good, and I'm satisfied with the quality and have no real complaints, and you can get a better pair only by spending two, three or more times as much money with Revival, Historic Enterprises, or Bohemond. In my mind, DEFINITELY worth the money, especially considering how really affordable they are.

Westland, that star rating would probably go up a full half point if the inner sole were a thin leather instead of plastic or whatever. That's the only thing I didn't like about these. I'm the sort of person that plastic in my period shoes bugs me, even though it's completely and totally hidden.

Thank you for your kind comments. Please note that the INSOLE YOU ARE MENTIONING IS 100 % LEATHER NOT PLASTIC. Its hard because whole of shoe upper (3mm thick) is constructed on this. Other wise its comfortable .

Regards,

WestlandCrafts.

Westland wrote:Thank you for your kind comments. Please note that the INSOLE YOU ARE MENTIONING IS 100 % LEATHER NOT PLASTIC. Its hard because whole of shoe upper (3mm thick) is constructed on this. Other wise its comfortable .

Regards,

WestlandCrafts.

Really? It sure feels and looks and sounds like plastic to me. I'll have to take a closer look. How has it been treated?

It's worth noting that I'm a metal person not a leather person, though, so I could easily be mistaken.

Yes Is is 100 % Leather. Please re-check it and confirm.

Well, apparently I was wrong. My apologies to Westland, I'd apparently never seen that type of buffalohide before but apparently it's a common feature of imported shoes.

Now that I'm done eating those boots that he's sent me, I'd like to revise my review to somewhere between 4.5 and 5 stars. Quality of construction is great as I said, and having now worn them around for a few hours they wear well in casual situations (although my feet are used to wearing shoes with little to no support . . . those of you who aren't be prepared for some adjustment), we'll hopefully see this weekend about fighting in them.

So, I think everything is on track for this.

Looking forward to the fighting beta test. Positive results could result in doubling or tripling my order!! As a suggestion, have the beta tester run a hard test while legged, 5+ fights in a row from the knees to see if the shoes pinch/bend into the top of the arch. Just a thought...

Thanks for spearheading this talaananthes...

Arg

I will gladly do that when I get mine.

I am planning on using the pair I get exclusively for fighting. I'll try to go through a tough practice and then Gulf and I'll report how it works then. If they work out I'm planning on picking up some more with Talaanthes.