Viberg as a brand has been covered here several times in the past. If you’d like to learn a little bit more about them, click here. However, while Viberg’s history is well known, their engineer boot history isn’t. One of the first to produce this was a collab for Himel Bros., that is fairly well know. However, it might surprise you to hear that Viberg has had this pattern since 2014. That’s only three years after their famous service boot in the 2030 last was widely available.
Over the several years I’ve been writing reviews and buying guides, I’ve received plenty of outreach (I love it, by the way, keep it coming!).
You’ve been tracking them for years, but now you’ve decided – you’re going to the Viberg Sample Sale. But where do you start?
There are few places as synonymous with a shoe style as Lewiston, Maine is to the beefroll penny. It’s like Detroit and the car, or Washington D.C. and politics – being born there seems to make you an inherent expert. However, like the GM vs. Ford battle in Detroit or the Democrat vs. Republican battle in D.C., battle lines exist in this small community. Turf wars break out between kids whose dad works at Rancourt vs. their classmates at Quoddy. Slings made of Horween’s Chromexcel can be seen in every grocery store.
The past five years has not been kind to Allen Edmond’s reputation. Especially around QC. In fact, when a recent sale was posted to Reddit, they were described as “great, as long as you’re OK returning 2 or 3 pairs until you get one that is made correctly.”
However, something happened over the past year or so. With inflation going crazy and demand for high quality footwear soaring, Allen Edmonds did something you might not expect. As competitors raised their price, Allen Edmonds started to run more sales. The actual transaction price of their shoes dropped.
Paying $400 for a pair of Allen Edmonds in 2019 when Carmina was $350 is foolish. But paying $180 for a pair of Allen Edmonds in 2022 when Carmina is $500? Well, let’s find out if it makes sense.
Rancourt’s Beefroll loafer is often one of the top recommended choices for people looking to get into the made-in-Maine loafer world. Often mentioned alongside the Alden Leisure Hand Sewn. If you’re looking to get a new beefroll, is this the right one for you? Let’s find out.
Helm as a brand has been around since 2009. While that certainly doesn’t make them the oldest bootmaker out there, that’s older than you might think. Their first boot, built in a service boot style, beat Viberg’s service boot to the market by a year. The same is true of Oak Street Bootmakers, the current iteration of Rancourt, Truman, and many of the other well-known brands of today. All of these came after Helm. While far from ancient, they are certainly among the oldest of the new crop of bootmakers.
EasyMoc did not have an easy birth. Their genesis was through a brand known as the New England Outwear Company, which later rebranded as Maine Mountain Moccasin. To say the reputation of these companies was not great would be an understatement. NEOC famously took numerous preorders, then rebranded as MMM and basically told everyone who had a placed an order over the past 6 months their orders were not coming. Then tried to keep their money anyway. As you can probably imagine, MMM didn’t last long after that.
Oak Street Bootmakers is a brand that is, of course, known for their boots. It’s right in the name. And, despite not being in the name, they are also consistently listed as one of the “big three” in the Maine handsewn world. However, while they have been making those for as long as they’ve been around, they’ve also been making more substantial, goodyear welted shoes. That includes this – one of the first they launched – the Oak Street Bootmakers Wingtip.
With so much ate being thrown towards the loafer, it’s a testament to just how good they can look that tassel loafers are still as popular as they are. Just about every respected shoe brand makes a tassel loafer. From Edward Green to Sperry, there is a tassel loafer made for every price point. In spite of the push back, the tassel loafer has never disappeared from use.