100wears first took a look at the T.B. Phelps Weekender back in July. It seemed like the Weekender used some great materials, but opted for a few things that I wasn’t sure were going to hold up in the long term. This pair have now been worn around 100 times, and have seen more than 100 miles. They really have seen it all, from nice sunny days, to being absolutely soaked through and mud caked after being caught in a hurricane. How did they hold up? Let’s dive in.
The R.M. Williams Craftsman is one of those boots that has taken on a life beyond simply being something stylish to cover your foot. Take it from the Footwear reviewing community’s resident Australian, Nick from Stridewise, who describes it as a “true blue icon of Australiana.” It’s seen as the shoe that rough and tumble Australian men wear, or men in suits who want to pretend they are. Talking to some Aussies, they wax lyrical about them the same way Texans talk about cowboy boots.
If you’re anything like me a few years back or hundreds of other men, you decided you wanted a pair of nice boots. You know there are really only two options here. The Alden Indy and the Viberg Service Boot.
The one question I often get asked that I don’t answer in reviews is how I pick which shoes to wear. How I style them, when I pick one over the other, etc. With 100wears hitting the one-year mark, I thought it might be worth providing a mini update on the current collection from a personal viewpoint.
We first took a look at the Rancourt Read Boat Shoe back in November of 2020. Back then, we noted that this shoe was a classic design, but there were a few flaws that kept them from being perfect. Since then, these shoes have been worn 100 times and more than 100 miles. Let’s see if those concerns grew, or if they were blown out of proportion.
As someone who has had more than a reasonable number of shoes pass through his hands, I’ve started to really appreciate having “classic” design. By a classic, I mean a pair of shoes that you know will work. You’ve worn it. Your dad wore it. And, in the case of this pair here, your grandad wore it. When it comes to classic, there is nothing that fits that bill more than the Alden 975, also known as the Alden Longwing or Alden Gunboat.
I have to admit, I was a bit scared when I ordered these Viberg Service Boots. On some pictures, the boots can look somewhere close to bright orange. Thankfully, these fears were completely unfounded. The leather on the upper is much closer to a typical tan in most lighting – though it is difficult to capture in photos.
Viberg Service Boots almost need no introduction. After breaking onto the scene during the Americana/workwear craze around 10 years ago, they have been the yardstick that many others are graded on. Since that time, countless others from the pacific northwest have followed suit – White’s, Nick’s, and others owe much of their recent success to Viberg.
When Brooks Brothers ended their contracts with Alden, Crockett & Jones, and Alfred Sargent, there was a bit of an uproar. Including from your author. For many men in the United States who prefer to not shop for shoes online, Brooks was the only place to get these brands. Their Golden Fleece Captoes, and others in the line, had the unenviable task of trying to replace these giants of the shoe industry on the Mahogany shelves of Brooks Brothers stores.
If you’re not familiar with the brand, TB Phelps has been around since 1938. Originally starting off making leather bags, they expanded into other leather products over time. You can really tell that the leather choices are at the heart of what they do. Offering a variety of products in sheepskin, deerskin, elk and more, they offer a way to take traditional designs and give them a slightly different style. It’s a look that I feel works best with shoes that lean into that rustic design – and may be best exemplified in the T.B. Phelps Weekender.