-We've seen a lot of these deck boots in the past few years, and given my love of boat shoes, they've appealed to me a great deal. The first pair I saw were from Rogues Gallery, though I think the original deck boot was made by Quoddy (below.) The above pair, from Ronnie Fieg for Sebago, have been floating around the blogosphere in the past week, and even though I'm completely out of money, they're tempting my wallet. As a diehard Sperry aficionado, I really shouldn't be pumping Sebago, but $140 for a limited edition (120 made of both brown and black models,) hand-sewn boot is hard to pass up. The Quoddy version is undoubtedly better made than the Sebago, but it's also $300, and I actually like the look of the leather on the Sebago better. Any of these boots though, even this slightly more expensive but equally dope blue Sebago x Vane pair below, will look great after they've been worn in a bit. The blue boots are icy, but as I'd probably only ever buy one pair of the same style of boot, I'd stick with something a little more workable.
-Depending on how long the supply of the brown model lasts, I may be getting my hands on a pair of these pretty soon. But my one major trepidation is my aforementioned focus on the relationship between leg opening and shoe-width. I'm wondering how a boot that would be so narrow when laced-up would play against the leg opening1. I keep my denim pretty slim, and I probably wouldn't rock these with anything besides jeans, but still think they might be a little to slim for a boot. My general rule when wearing boots is to roll my pants a bit and just let them fall how they may. Laced-up, these wouldn't really have any girth for the pant leg to snag on, and might look a bit contrived. The obvious solution would be to rock the boots a bit looser, a practice I support when one is cognizant of the fine line between rugged nonchalance and streetwear contrivance, but ultimately it would depend on how well the shoe fit below the laces. If they could be worn looser without flopping around, then there's really no issue, but I've obviously thought entirely too much about this. Anybody have experience with deck boots?
1- To recap, I'm all about break. Therefore, if you've got a narrow show, so narrow that your leg opening just hangs without break, you can look clowny. There are places where conflicting proportion can work effectively. I don't think the ankle is one of those places.
-Update: Blackbird recently posted this image of the Quoddy Deck Boot (below) and it shows the details a bit better than the images from the official Quoddy site. The Seattle shop is selling the boots for a $280. I'm not really a fan of black boots, but I didn't previously notice that the tongue on these is deerskin, which I think adds a nice contrast in look/texture to the Chromexcel outer. If you're considering buying Quoddy deck-anythings, be sure to check Jeremy's analysis, which exposes a bit of trouble with the insoles.
11 comments:
The first pair of Sebago's look ace. Honey browns all the way. If you did go with Quoddy I'd say get a camp sole. Also can Quoddy be re-soled? I bet they'd look ace with a vibram sole (like Yuketen often does).
I have a Vibram sole on my Sperry X BoO boots, but I actually really dig the idea of a deck sole on a boot. Also, I forgot to mention this in the post, I've never really dug white soles on boat shoes, which is another reason I'd lean toward sebag vs. quod.
You're right, I think you're way over-thinking this. The Sebagos from David Z look pretty awesome.
You totally lost me on that last paragraph about leg openings. Your jeans are so tight that you don't think they could fit over these boots?
I have a pair of Rogues Gallery deck boots and I understand your worries about shoe width and leg opening. Wearing the boots looser on top to me looks alittle forced but sometimes works with denim and a tshirt. I dont have any problems with them flopping around while being worn looser just as long as the bottom 3 holes are pulled tight (but not too snug).
Trip, what I was trying to say is that the boot is so narrow, that even with slim denim there might be no break, which can look a bit clowny to me. I added a foot note to help clarify, but it will probably just make it more confusing.
I actually think that the Rogues Gallery ones were made by Quoddy..
About the leg opening/shoe-width relationship, my solution would be to lace-up the top, as they won't flop as long as the bottom part is laced tightly enough. Or you could tuck the pants/jeans in and you would get a pretty good break at the opening of the boot which also let's you show of more of the boot.
The Sebago boots are handsome and will be versatile for you. Having seen them everywhere, it would seem that if you don't pull the trigger someone else will.
I ordered a pair of the brown David Z / Sebago deck boots and have been kicking around in them in NYC, sockless, and they are both comfortable and arguably more handsome than the pics. The quality of the leather is very high. I wore them on two nights and got compliments both times. Before these were released, I had already placed a special order for Quoddy deck boots to be made in the style of the pair they make for Rogues Gallery (eg. 8-eyelet) in brown chromexcel leather and brick camp soles. I have a feeling they are going to look identical to the Sebagos but let's hope they just feel much more "handmade" since the pricetag is almost 3x. Oh yeah, and I really am not a fan of the "tuck in your pants" look--- much better to have a pair of jeans hemmed higher than usual.
Thanks for the insight guys, if anybody feels like donating to me so I can snag these, there's a donation button on the side of the page.
The Ronnie Feig Sebagos look fantastic, and I can say from personally handling a pair that the Vane x Sebago stuff is on point, too. So basically, this post has me trying to justify dropping more money on footwear when I really should be concerned with the fact that I have to move in less than 2 weeks. (Thanks, Angelo).
One thing about break vs. shoe width. If I have a wider hem and a slimmer shoe (J. Crew Urban Slim chinos with Topsiders, for example), I always just roll up the pants so that there's enough gap between the shoe and the hem that the proportional incongruity isn't immediately evident. There's no break, of course, but I like the look. Also, it keeps my ankles cool.
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