Vintage Engineer Boots: RRL STUDDED ENGINEER BOOTS

A good friend of mine recenlty picked up a pair of RRL Studded Engineer Boots and wrote a pretty comprehensive review.

-by Steve C.
"Alexander, the assistant, was super knowledgeable and friendly without "selling" their products (same as at MF). A real enthusiast who not only owned a pair of their non-studded engineers he also recognised my Road Champs straight off. He said these RRL engineers are made by the same person as makes the Road Champs for MF.

I went for a size up so mine are a size 12; I've never had to do this. As I've mentioned before my Road Champs are an 11 and fit nice though they're not as big as other size 11's I have and I no doubt could fit an 11 1/2. All my other boots including my Narrow Wesco's, 2268 Red Wings and Brando Frye's are size 11. Lucky I was at the store to try on these RRL's; otherwise, I may have gone for an 11 and had to return them. To sum all that up I'd say these do run a full size bigger.

These RRL's like the Champs and the Brando's are a touch too high around the instep, all down to my skinny long feet. The Wesco's and 2268's are fine but these I've had to pull in the instep strap one hole. This has meant removing one of the studs and making an extra hole but the mark left from the stud doesn't notice as it's under the buckle.

I'd say the RRL's feel like the same size and have much the same feel as my size 11 Wesco's. The leather is thick and very supple. Alexander said he owns a pair without studs that are worn in and some brown color is starting to come through the black. I'll be interested to see if this happens to mine, I really hope it does. Only two days in and obviously no sign of that yet but they are breaking in nicely. They feel comfortable and light. The heel area might start to rub if I went for a very long walk but I've had them on all day around the house, doing work in the yard and even a walk to the local park, but hasn't caused any issues.

The studs have a dull matt finish and the brass roller buckles have also been given an old tarnished look; typical RRL attention-to-detail.

All in all, a really fantastic pair of boots. The long instep strap and the low toe profile are features that I love loads but there's little less noticeable stuff like the two star RRL logo stamped into the side as well the beautiful black and gold makers tag on the inside top. This is sewn on but there's also some stamping to the leather within the stitching on the other side.

All of the leather sole and heel parts have been stained to give an antique look. I'm not a big fan of this but it will wear of over time.

Since coming home and doing some research, I've found that these are made by Julian of Julian Boots who I had heard of before via Rising Sun & Co blog. As I mentioned before Alexander told me they were made by the same person who makes the Road Champs but I didn't know who made them just what is written on the Mister Freedom website about them being made in California."

Purchased from RRL at the Cross Country Mart, Malibu, California

Price: $1,152.38
Size: 12
Length (with heel against wall): 13"
Width of sole at widest" 4 1/2"
Hight from floor to highest point at back: 12 3/4"
Heel hight: (back) 1 3/4" (front) 1 1/4"
Front sole thickness: 11/16"