If you have been around the men's clothing forum or blog world for any amount of time, you may remember all of the hubbub surrounding the launch of Wolverine's 1000 Mile Boots. It was to be a collection of boots "pulled from the archives" and "Made in the US"--all of the things that appeal to the "urban woodsman" crowd. People on SF were counting down until they were released and bloggers couldn't wait and kept posting pictures of them with the latest information to be released. When the whole line finally launched, it was with more of a whimper than a bang. Turns out that only the 1000 Mile Boot was made in the US, not the whole collection, and the talk of them eventually disappeared and was replaced by the normal arguments of which boot was more awesome: Red Wings or Alden Indy Boots.
In light of all of the hype and eventual letdown related to it, Wolverine did release some interesting boots as a part of their collection, made in the US or not. Of those, I think that two of the most underrated pairs were in their Gentry collection, the Ramble and the Upland.
The Ramble
The Upland (which I prefer)
Inspired by old school field boots, the Ramble and Upland are fairly understated and feature Pendleton wool insets. I think these are good looking boots and I would love to get my hands on some. However, another thing that really annoys me about all of these "limited collections" and whatnot is just how damn hard it is to actually get your hands on them.
Hey Wolverine: I want to buy your boots, I'm trying to give you money. Why don't you just put them on your damn website like normal companies? Or better yet, why don't you just mail me a pair and I'll talk about how awesome they are on my blog?
Frankly it astounds me. Anyways, ff you know of any places that actually carry these boots, or know of a similar boot that is easy for me to purchase, please let me know.
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5 comments:
The unavailability of the physical product isn't the only thing they screwed up. I read blog feeds on an iPhone. I click the link you provide and it sends me to a lame text-only site with with no information, just a link to the full site. Cripes. I click to the full site and just about the time I'm getting a yen to buy the boots I click the full site's link and...
wait for it...
I get sent back to the text-only site.
Are you getting this? It is -impossible- to buy or even find out HOW to buy these boots from my iPhone. Good job Wolverine! You apparrently don't get the idea that if you don't care enough to not waste my time I don't waste my time. (1)
(1) ( Yes, I'd love to send this to them through the link but... Well, you know...)
Should be easy to buy them, just call up Crane's Country Store, they've been Wolverine dealers since the time of the original 1000 Mile Boots. I can't imagine that Wolverine would cut them off at the knees and refuse to let them sell their "heritage" collection in favor of sending them to Bloomingdales or something...
Yeah, it kinda bothers me that some of these "classic" brands are walking this line of being "exclusive". So tired of that word. Seems like they are trying to act or follow what these "streetwear" brands use to be like. At they end of the day, if you make a great product why not just sell it to a customer that would enjoy using it. I think all of us who are into wearing certain things like this could care less on how limited something is? This is the reason, these brands are hiring showrooms for selling reasons and the sales reps are suggesting this limited hard to find thing, so they have a sales pitch to buyers at larger accounts. Since the limited craze has gone so main stream the suites at "Bloomingdales" for example, only want to hear this.I think its a bit ridiculous.
Seems to me what you really want is a pair of Russells. If you must have that inset cordura fabric, look at these: http://www.russellmoccasin.com/boots_birdshooters/bs_countrysquire_south40.html
Anonymous-
You are correct in that what I really want is a pair of Russells. Clearly they are the kind of boots, and in actuality, if I was going to plunk down $250+ for a pair of boots, I would go there, not Alden or Red Wing or Wolverine.
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