White’s SD Seidel British Tan – NBD
New boot week, more to come. Received ½ of my whites’ order from the Baker’s Father’s Day sale (3.5 months from order to doorstep). New member but longtime goodyear welt enthusiast.
Specs:
- Standard Semi Dress 55 last in Seidel double shot BT
- Single celastic toe
- Cream lined uppers
- 269 Vibram sole.
Impressions:
Seidel BT is chrome tanned unlike my veg tanned dress brown pair. Initial break in of 45 minutes has them ready to taken to the street, this is much shorter than the brown dress. This BT has a red undertone that I know will fade but is lovely. Leather is supple and pliable. Whites QC is hit or miss. Stitching and hide imperfections are acceptable, a bummer on the uppers where the needle appears to have impacted the leather prior to stitching, resulting in a few mm deep channels above 10 stitches. Not sure its formal complaint worthy but likely will be a failure point in 7-10 years. Also you can note the machining marks around the upper stitching, seems to have been an off day.
Sole:
Vibram 269 is my go-to on these boots. The part of the sole above the heel stack is about half as thick as the toe, resulting in a smaller visual “spacer” on the heel stack but offering enough grip for everyday wear. The 269 on my dress brown pair lasted 5 years of all condition wear and was only replaced because that pair suffered the famous squeak from the leather shank. Hoping for a similar outcome here minus the insufferable squeak.
Comparison shots:
Photos are alongside my 8 year old SD in brown dress which are simply perfect and the gateway boot to a lifelong white’s buyer. These veg tanned seidel masterpieces have seen it all: thousands of miles, rain, snow, even disrespect. When freshly conditioned, you’d think they were freshly broken in. I would buy brown dress boots again in a heartbeat, but I simply do not expect to ever need to do so.
Pricing
A lot has happened since 2018; pricing of these boots has followed suit with no surprise. This BT pair came in at $830. Even on the 20% Father’s Day sale, this was 60% more expensive than the brown dress pair without a sale. Part of that is due to double shot leathers being partly excluded from the overall sale. I still believe there is tremendous value in a US handcrafted boot that requires a new sole every 5 years.