I agree. China quality is cruddy. But they are catching up. They would rather catch up and capture sale quality. Than economically doe off from tariffs. Also, they are going to hsve massice depopulation issues starting in 2034. 20 years after than. We need to be careful. The upcoming new generation of chinese kids. They are being massively brainwashed to hate the west. Future China will be fascists. Crazy right?
Mfw the cheap ass Chinese product isn't as good quality as something 5 times the price (I wasn't willing to pay more for the product so I chose the cheapest one). You could easily find high quality goods in China made by artisans, it's just more difficult when the world and bosses demand cheap slop.
Quality Control is a big factor. Made in USA, UK, Italy, or whatever, can be poorly made too, if Quality Control isn't there. Materials, construction method etc. of course have an effect, but if QC is not there then they're all wasted. Of course, there's a whole cultural aspect (chabuduo) which explains such a huge variance in quality in Chinese made goods (at least partly), which I will not go into here, but generally, if companies make sure that the goods made in China are up to a standard, then the goods can be as good as anywhere else.
Agreed. Although I do atleast somewhat get people buying chinese made items when on a budget and wanting cheap. I don't really understand buying high end products from China and paying the same amount as you would for native (American in my case). I would personally prefer to pay 15% more for something like a truman that helps hold up the local economy.
Are they running the company like a good small US company, or a good European or Japanese company? Are the workers making high, fully livable wages? I care about those questions more than the location... paying $400 for a boot made in a high quality of life country is fine because of reasons like that, but if the workers are abused and that's all additional profit that's even worse than when they sell the product cheap.
xiamen is a higher cost of living, standard of living area of china. ofc that's not the full story but it's a good indicator people are likely being treated well i think
Grant Stone's history is well documented if you look hard enough. There's no guarantee, same with American or European made goods. Best indicator is that the Gilmore family has worked with this factory in Xiamen long before they partnered up with them to set up Grant Stone.
I have a pair of those exact boots. I have only had them for about a week. They are already breaking in and getting very comfortable. I love them and happy I got them, Thaks for the review!
Saying ‘made in china is inferior’ is so ignorant. If carhartt/wolverine/whoever sells crappy boots that are made in china, the company approved and signed off on that product. The factory, wherever it is, made what they were told and paid to make. The factory doesnt just make what they want. I would much rather support american companies that employ americans. But made in the US doesnt make it automatically a better product. Is that US product made in good conditions? Does that american brand pay its employees a living wage? Neither of those are mandatory for US companies.
This is correct. If companies pay the Chinese manufacturers for superior quality, they will turn out the best there is. But US customers won't pay the premium.
Guarantee the US workers are paid a livable wage (in comparison to what Chinese laborers get paid) with good working conditions compared to literally any Chinese factory that isn’t monitored 24/7 and constantly audited by the US. If anybody tells you China has good working conditions, I promise you it was a factory like Nike or Foxconn that they visited. If they would’ve walked across the street to look at literally any other factory on the block, they would have working conditions comparable if not worse than the Industrial Revolution before labor laws were even thought of.
China is just too huge to be able to group together everything into one label. The government pushed policies that promoted the production of cheap manufactured goods but that doesn't mean that they don't still have quality manufacturing there
China is huge, and most importantly they have historic policies that promoted becoming the cheap manufacturer of the world. That doesn't mean they don't also have quality artisans, they are just grouped in with the cheap manufacturers
Those are nice. I went with the rough out waxed flesh Diesel Earth for my first GS boot. I really only wear them on Sundays and got them back in March, but the insole is starting to break in finally. I really want a Chelsea boot, cause I'm pretty lazy when it comes to boots, since I have to wear boots for my job. I feel like if I get something I can slip on I'd wear them more, but like Weston, I have tiny ankles so I'm worried about that.
That's where I am also. Obviously it's extremely difficult to completely not buy Chicom stuff, but when there are options to not do so, I choose not to buy it. I don't care how high quality it is. I just don't support pinkos, commies and despise Xinnie the Pooh.
I’m worried about that too. They may have to import to Canada or Mexico to then distribute to the US to avoid high tariffs leaning on their US headquarters. The Japanese car companies figured out how to get around the chicken tax, so hopefully grant stone can do it with this. I don’t see Nick’s, White’s, Red Wing, Wolverine, or Alden having the same political pull as the 1960-1990 US big 3 car manufacturers.
well I'd assume say a 20% (whatever the number will be) will cause the price to go up that much. Unless the companies decide to reduce their profit which might happen short term but long term it'll be like grocery prices, after awhile we get used to paying more.
Main reason I bought the Red Waxed Deer Edwards during their Black Friday sale, even though I already own 5 other pairs of Grant Stones. Figured I'd get at least 1 last pair before the tariffs hit.
Being against chinese products is not just a quality issue ( though we know quality is most often poor ), but more importantly an issue of a company taking advantage of the low cost of chinese manufacturing to undercut and hurt domestic manufacturers when you could be paying people in your home country a decent wage to manufacture your products. People claim they just want their products to be affordable, but footwear like this is a luxury not a necessity and there is no humanitarian nobility or anything like that in this situation. The customer who can live without this product may may have to pay more for it, but the benefit that domestic manufacturing has for your home country does far more good than being able to save people money on a product they don't really need and can afford to pay more for. We're not talking about lowering food and gas prices here or boots blue collar people require to earn a living, it's luxury fashion that comfortably living consumerist people can live without.
You just sound like a arbitrary gatekeeper at this point. You're basically saying that since people are poorer they don't deserve to have footware of this quality.
@killerhurtalot No that is not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that most people buying footwear like this are just consumerist buying unnecessary clothing...etc for fashion. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but make no mistake that nobody in need is being helped by having such products made in China instead of paying a living wage to people in ones home country to manufacture them. Grant stone footwear is simply less expensive, it's still not an affordable product made to be affordable to people who need it most or anything like that. People who buy such footwear could still afford it were it not made with lower cost Chinese labor, they just might not be able to have as many pairs in their closet.
@@TylerSnyder305Interesting point but personally I bought grand stone leather boots with more of a durability mindset that a consumerism mindset. I was tired of buying winter shoes for 70€ that reveals absolute crap and start giving me wet feet after 4 months that I would have to throw away after one or two seasons. As a female I own usually 5 pairs of shoes at the time : sandals, sneakers, running shoes, heals for fancy occasions and winter shoes (that I can wear when it's raining, snowing or cold), and I find shopping for footwear a pain because once I have shoes I like I don't want to change and I struggle to find my size in shop, which reduces the choice. So I only buy shoes when I need to, i.e. when they have a hole that can not be repaired and is visible / let's the water go in. Hence the idea of finding shoes I really liked and that would be super quality with the idea of keeping them for hopefully a decade instead of throwing away shoes every 1-2 years. But in general I do largely prefer buying locally to benefit the local economy and craftsmanship. I just could not find something in my country that I Iiked for a reasonable budget. Also I looked passively for about 2 years before deciding which boots to buy as it was a big investment.
Also depends on where the profits that are being made go. Are the majority of profits being paid out to the higher up’s of said company and the laborers getting the scraps? Or are the laborers getting paid a fair wage? In all fairness, a majority of clothing brands outsource their manufacturing and/or materials to other countries, and we don’t even know if the clothing we buy is being made by fairly paid or under paid laborers. It’s something almost unavoidable in day to day life. Also, the American made brands are just that more expensive compared to the rest, and the rest probably make up over 90% of the brands available here in the US. But I get what you’re saying. Why can’t they make this boot in the US and just increase the price to $450? It’s more of a fashion boot, rather than a traditional work boot, but who am I to question businesses? The majority of fashion brands outsource their production already.
I have a solid year on my Grant Stone dress boots. I bought after you reviewed them last fall. Daily wear for my office job. Great boot, wearing well. Thanks.
That's not how economics works. Fact: ANY time you spend money you are contributing to the WORLD economy INCLUDING China. I don't like China either, that's just what living in a globalized world entails
Chinese goods are as good as Western countries are willing to pay. Like iPhones for instance, produced in China and often see as a quality made product, but the majority of companies prefer to order cheap shit that breaks after a month. That being said, I greatly prefer to buy things made and sourced within my home country.
I have a pair of trumans in galluns sand teton stag and the color change on them is insane. They do soften up quicker then most leathers I have experienced, but its really nice to have an easy break in to mix it up. Definitely a leather worth experiencing if you are interested in it.
I may have to get these boots next year, especially as a great lakes outdoorsman. Love the channel, hope you can cut the red wing weekender chukka in half and maybe even the 595 work chukka they have. I own both pairs along with the 875's but the weekender heritage chukkas are so much lighter than the non heritage 595 chukka that Im very interested to see the constructions of the two. Thanks for the good work you do!
Have a pair of Green Kudu Garrisons. I love how they look black in certain light and green proper bright light. In case it's a thing people need to know, in the same size, my Garrisons fit slightly more snug than my Snuff Reverse Kudu Field Boots - but now I'm wondering if that's because the reverse kudu is softer and my Field Boots have a wedge sole, so they flex and make more space than my Garrisons....
After getting my gateway boot, Redwing Iron Rangers, I bought two Brass Boots (black and brown Chromexcel) and black Diesel from Grant Stone. Love them. One point of caution, they run big especially in EEE width. Be prepared to buy and return to get the right size. I had to go down half size from my Iron Rangers. A full size down from my sneaker size. The other good value purchase I'm eyeing, is Jim Green boots. Their Numzeen and new 1709 look like an Iron Ranger with a leather midsole all for $250. I saw a comment where someone got a Numzeen for $160 during black Friday sale. I'll be looking for that next year for my next season purchase to my growing boot collection.
I bought the Red Deer Edwards with the Lug sole. I've worn them maybe 5x so far, still working on the break in but I'm loving the leather and get compliments on the character the Red Deer has vs a smooth CXL or something else.
I have the Brass boot in this Teton Waxy Stag leather, and it’s a great boot leather. Surprisingly stiff for a deerskin. One thing to note: it takes marks pretty easily and marks are kinda hard to brush out. Could be a pro or con, depending on how you feel about the patina that creates.
It looks great. However, you will never convince me that a boot made in China is worth $395, plus tax and shipping. That's WELL into the price range of (mass produced) American made heritage boots, so that means I'm buying American made every time. Granted you're probably not going to get into PNW in that price range. I would rather have a lower cost pair of thorogoods than a Chinese PNW clone boot that's being made by a Chinese subject who's paid 5 cents an hour. I would be absolutely shocked if the total manufacturing of a pair of these exceeded 15 bucks.
For me it is not even a quality issue. Remember "Tank man" from Tiananmen Square. Likely he was executed by the government. Why do business with a country that does not allow its people the basic right of free expression and assembly? Over the past year (and thanks to Rose Anvil and it's MITUSA videos) I have been making a greater effort to buy things made in countries that respect the same values as in our first amendment.
My family used to manufacture in China. I learned something early on. They are capable of making a wide range of products at a huge range in quality. They very often will make anything you ask at the price you ask. If you come in wanting the cheapest whatever, you can find a factory to do it. If you want something very high quality you can find that too. But most American based companies want the best price and in fact our US Based stores will hammer vendors to have the cheapest price and they don't care what it cost.
For most customer around the world, they could be even cheaper if they ship directly from China instead of paying double or even triple import taxes to the US then out to the world again
I wonder about that weird insole (lasting board) that Grant Stone's boots (diesels) had when Steve from Bedo's took them apart. It wasn't fully a veg tanned leather, it had some regular texon board under the heel for some reason. We don't see it here or in the other GS boot cut on Rose Anvil. What was that? GS?
There seems to be a lot of politically driven comments here. Which is fine. My take however is I’m in support of the work the artisans. If you do the research, GS’s staff are well taken care of on top of the quality assurance in place. Regardless of what you think the country’s government, I don’t mix politics and art. That’s the dumbest thing to consider in observing art. But hey, to each their own.
Just cause something is made in a first world country doesn’t mean it’s a quality product look at every GM and Ford vehicles other than vans and trucks and all of them are expensive junk
Gotta correct you when you said "The misconception" about China, because in the shoe sphere, mathematically almost 100% of Chinese shoes ARE inferior to other countries.
It’s wild that the people who cry that Alden Indy’s are $680 also have no problem spending $400 on made in china boots like this. Literally every Alden, Nicks and Whites videos will have a comment that Grant Stone is the best. This should be a $200-300 boot like Thursday. Out of their mind.
CANVAS BETWEEN UPPER AND LINING THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BOOT 😳🙅🏻♂️ Look closely people, Thursday does the same thing. You’ll see the toe structure end, and canvas clearly lining the vamp. This is unheard of in ankle boots, it’s a trick to give tall boots structure.. in this case they’re using it get away with thinner leathers, using the canvas as reinforcement.. not mentioning this is a bad look GS. Wes is cool though, I get it - he’s not out here to flame his sponsors. So we can give the man a break, but this shouldn’t be overlooked in the future.. I know you see it too.
You can say Grant Stone makes the highest quality boots for the money, but I think you should really try Parkhurst. I would say they make a better boot
@@kingofthenoobs I think Parkhurst's finishing has improved recently and is just about on par with Grant Stone, especially their stitchdown boots. This obviously is very anecdotal and varies widely, but all my Parkhurst boots have had excellent clicking, which is not true of my Grant Stone purchases
@@subhasish-m I think GS's clicking is very good, even with CXL which is notoriously random, though I have seen some duds. Parkhurst also doesn't run a ton of smooth steerhide, more suedes and exotics like Kudu which always has fine creasing. I also think GS's patterns are better, but that's pretty subjective.
Please consider doing a collab with Veldskoen. Their styles are really nice and I'm sure you'd make something amazing together. The barefoot shoellies from Jim Green were s tier!
bought a pair of grant stones last christmas. The didnt last through the summer. Understand that I was using them as work boots and I was hard on them. They were very nice boots, they just arent meant for working. I did dig the lining though, now im spoiled ;any future customs I buy will be lined...
What sort of work? I certainly never would've gotten anything like this back when I was doing construction of course, but I would think they would hold up fine in shop environments where the upper doesn't get much abuse(cabinet maker, that kind of thing).
@@RyTrapp0 Ranch work. You name it. Often wet, always dirty...I did take time to clean and oil them every few weeks, but none the less they sheared at the part of the toe box where it bends when walking/kneeling and such. The Horween held up fine everywhere else, and is still beautiful. I bought them not realizing they werent work boots...I have really wide feet (more hoof than foot..), no one else makes a nice boot for the price at EEE (they werent EEE, I dont care what they day, but they were wider than my redwings.) let alone my 5E...so I took a gamble when I should have just had a custom pair made. For normal sized feet and especially a shop enviironment, they would have held up fine. Also -The lining....cant describe how mch I loved being able to just slide my fat foot in and out of a boot without effort...
I recognize the quality however I can’t justify sending any money to the CCP. I’ll gladly keep sending money to Spokane or even South Africa for a pair of Jim Green Razorbacks
So when are you going to stop commuting in your car because there’s at least some product that comes from China? Or even some small things that you use everyday comes from China.
Everyone that does manufacturing in China already knows this lol. China has pretty damn high quality manufacturing along with great quality materials to make it... They literally manufacture it to your specifications... it's literally everyone insisting on the bottom of the barrel prices that forces everyone to crank out bottom tier shit to make the pricing demands...
"made in china" has nothing to do with china, and everything to do with manufacturers demanding the cheapest thing possible. they will make whatever you ask for.
the argument for not buying chinese isnt that its poor quality, its that your paying companies who pay tax to one of the bloodiest authoritarian dictatorships of our time... Politics and capitalism is the same thing.
@Dominicreviews I see, thanks for the info. I'm from Europe so I'm not that familiar how prices are affected there. Only got some limited info from local news.
Same nonsense they used to claim for Japanese products were cheap! The really cheap items made in China are ordered that way by American companies! The Chinese are capable of Craftsmanship
China by itself is fully capable of making the best and the worst. What you get is what US campanies are willing to pay, and what you end up paying depends on how greedy US companies are. For them Chinese in China, $400 will get you far better shit than these.
It's that they have child and unfair forced labor in unsafe conditions. I worked for a furniture company with factories over there. We should demand that they treat the workers better or we won't buy their crap.
@@JJ-zr6fu Not sure what point you're trying to make - a better value product is a better value product, luxury good or otherwise(FYI, most of the goods we have in western life are luxury goods; everyone just takes it for granted...).
Thanks for the suggestion. Can you give a little run down to see if it’s worth paying The NY Times a subscription to read that please? It’s behind a pay wall whichever way I try to get to it. Thanks
Quality is not the main issue. It wouldn’t matter if they were the best quality in the world. Don’t support the enemies industry. Don’t give your money to China
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I agree. China quality is cruddy. But they are catching up. They would rather catch up and capture sale quality. Than economically doe off from tariffs. Also, they are going to hsve massice depopulation issues starting in 2034. 20 years after than. We need to be careful. The upcoming new generation of chinese kids. They are being massively brainwashed to hate the west. Future China will be fascists. Crazy right?
It's all US materials. Basically the opposite of cheap assembled in USA products that have all their components imported.
Mfw the cheap ass Chinese product isn't as good quality as something 5 times the price (I wasn't willing to pay more for the product so I chose the cheapest one).
You could easily find high quality goods in China made by artisans, it's just more difficult when the world and bosses demand cheap slop.
Spot on！
Yeah this exactly lol people wondering why their $1 Temu items made in China are bad
Quality Control is a big factor. Made in USA, UK, Italy, or whatever, can be poorly made too, if Quality Control isn't there. Materials, construction method etc. of course have an effect, but if QC is not there then they're all wasted.
Of course, there's a whole cultural aspect (chabuduo) which explains such a huge variance in quality in Chinese made goods (at least partly), which I will not go into here, but generally, if companies make sure that the goods made in China are up to a standard, then the goods can be as good as anywhere else.
You get what you pay for
Agreed. Although I do atleast somewhat get people buying chinese made items when on a budget and wanting cheap. I don't really understand buying high end products from China and paying the same amount as you would for native (American in my case).
I would personally prefer to pay 15% more for something like a truman that helps hold up the local economy.
Are they running the company like a good small US company, or a good European or Japanese company? Are the workers making high, fully livable wages? I care about those questions more than the location... paying $400 for a boot made in a high quality of life country is fine because of reasons like that, but if the workers are abused and that's all additional profit that's even worse than when they sell the product cheap.
xiamen is a higher cost of living, standard of living area of china. ofc that's not the full story but it's a good indicator people are likely being treated well i think
Grant Stone's history is well documented if you look hard enough. There's no guarantee, same with American or European made goods. Best indicator is that the Gilmore family has worked with this factory in Xiamen long before they partnered up with them to set up Grant Stone.
I have a pair of those exact boots. I have only had them for about a week. They are already breaking in and getting very comfortable. I love them and happy I got them, Thaks for the review!
Saying ‘made in china is inferior’ is so ignorant. If carhartt/wolverine/whoever sells crappy boots that are made in china, the company approved and signed off on that product. The factory, wherever it is, made what they were told and paid to make. The factory doesnt just make what they want.
I would much rather support american companies that employ americans. But made in the US doesnt make it automatically a better product. Is that US product made in good conditions? Does that american brand pay its employees a living wage? Neither of those are mandatory for US companies.
Quality should never be about where something is made but the processes used to make something.
This is correct. If companies pay the Chinese manufacturers for superior quality, they will turn out the best there is. But US customers won't pay the premium.
Guarantee the US workers are paid a livable wage (in comparison to what Chinese laborers get paid) with good working conditions compared to literally any Chinese factory that isn’t monitored 24/7 and constantly audited by the US. If anybody tells you China has good working conditions, I promise you it was a factory like Nike or Foxconn that they visited. If they would’ve walked across the street to look at literally any other factory on the block, they would have working conditions comparable if not worse than the Industrial Revolution before labor laws were even thought of.
China is just too huge to be able to group together everything into one label. The government pushed policies that promoted the production of cheap manufactured goods but that doesn't mean that they don't still have quality manufacturing there
@@BTAJoeagreed. If I am paying the premium for the best product, I would happily pay a few percent more for something produced domestically
Just got my Garrison in Walpier Veg Tan Waxed Burro. These boots are just as heavy and dense as my Brass in Horween Tan Essex.
What's the fit on those tts or did you follow the sizing chart , I've seen ppl all over the place so I was curious
Just got the garrison boots in the red version of this leather yesterday. The colour and the cracks in the wax that form right away are amazing
Editing is on fire today 🔥 great job!
China is huge, and most importantly they have historic policies that promoted becoming the cheap manufacturer of the world. That doesn't mean they don't also have quality artisans, they are just grouped in with the cheap manufacturers
I have Color 8 Diesels. They blew me away when I got them. Been wanting a black pair with a cap toe.
Those are nice. I went with the rough out waxed flesh Diesel Earth for my first GS boot. I really only wear them on Sundays and got them back in March, but the insole is starting to break in finally. I really want a Chelsea boot, cause I'm pretty lazy when it comes to boots, since I have to wear boots for my job. I feel like if I get something I can slip on I'd wear them more, but like Weston, I have tiny ankles so I'm worried about that.
I’m deliberately trying to minimize or stop buying anything from China.
That's where I am also. Obviously it's extremely difficult to completely not buy Chicom stuff, but when there are options to not do so, I choose not to buy it. I don't care how high quality it is. I just don't support pinkos, commies and despise Xinnie the Pooh.
Grant Stone Brass Boot & RW 8138 are the only boots i rotate.
How many of you have ever been to China?
Me, many times and I used to live in HK. Doesn't mean I have any deep insights though
I wonder what the prices are gonna be after the tariffs are put into place for China
I’m worried about that too. They may have to import to Canada or Mexico to then distribute to the US to avoid high tariffs leaning on their US headquarters. The Japanese car companies figured out how to get around the chicken tax, so hopefully grant stone can do it with this. I don’t see Nick’s, White’s, Red Wing, Wolverine, or Alden having the same political pull as the 1960-1990 US big 3 car manufacturers.
Fair. The prices will finally be fair.
well I'd assume say a 20% (whatever the number will be) will cause the price to go up that much. Unless the companies decide to reduce their profit which might happen short term but long term it'll be like grocery prices, after awhile we get used to paying more.
Main reason I bought the Red Waxed Deer Edwards during their Black Friday sale, even though I already own 5 other pairs of Grant Stones. Figured I'd get at least 1 last pair before the tariffs hit.
Isn't Trump proposing tariffs on both Canada and especially Mexico as well?
Being against chinese products is not just a quality issue ( though we know quality is most often poor ), but more importantly an issue of a company taking advantage of the low cost of chinese manufacturing to undercut and hurt domestic manufacturers when you could be paying people in your home country a decent wage to manufacture your products.
People claim they just want their products to be affordable, but footwear like this is a luxury not a necessity and there is no humanitarian nobility or anything like that in this situation.
The customer who can live without this product may may have to pay more for it, but the benefit that domestic manufacturing has for your home country does far more good than being able to save people money on a product they don't really need and can afford to pay more for.
We're not talking about lowering food and gas prices here or boots blue collar people require to earn a living, it's luxury fashion that comfortably living consumerist people can live without.
You just sound like a arbitrary gatekeeper at this point.
You're basically saying that since people are poorer they don't deserve to have footware of this quality.
@killerhurtalot No that is not what I'm saying at all.
What I'm saying is that most people buying footwear like this are just consumerist buying unnecessary clothing...etc for fashion.
There is nothing wrong with doing this, but make no mistake that nobody in need is being helped by having such products made in China instead of paying a living wage to people in ones home country to manufacture them.
Grant stone footwear is simply less expensive, it's still not an affordable product made to be affordable to people who need it most or anything like that.
People who buy such footwear could still afford it were it not made with lower cost Chinese labor, they just might not be able to have as many pairs in their closet.
@@TylerSnyder305Interesting point but personally I bought grand stone leather boots with more of a durability mindset that a consumerism mindset. I was tired of buying winter shoes for 70€ that reveals absolute crap and start giving me wet feet after 4 months that I would have to throw away after one or two seasons.
As a female I own usually 5 pairs of shoes at the time : sandals, sneakers, running shoes, heals for fancy occasions and winter shoes (that I can wear when it's raining, snowing or cold), and I find shopping for footwear a pain because once I have shoes I like I don't want to change and I struggle to find my size in shop, which reduces the choice. So I only buy shoes when I need to, i.e. when they have a hole that can not be repaired and is visible / let's the water go in.
Hence the idea of finding shoes I really liked and that would be super quality with the idea of keeping them for hopefully a decade instead of throwing away shoes every 1-2 years.
But in general I do largely prefer buying locally to benefit the local economy and craftsmanship. I just could not find something in my country that I Iiked for a reasonable budget. Also I looked passively for about 2 years before deciding which boots to buy as it was a big investment.
Also depends on where the profits that are being made go. Are the majority of profits being paid out to the higher up’s of said company and the laborers getting the scraps? Or are the laborers getting paid a fair wage?
In all fairness, a majority of clothing brands outsource their manufacturing and/or materials to other countries, and we don’t even know if the clothing we buy is being made by fairly paid or under paid laborers. It’s something almost unavoidable in day to day life. Also, the American made brands are just that more expensive compared to the rest, and the rest probably make up over 90% of the brands available here in the US.
But I get what you’re saying. Why can’t they make this boot in the US and just increase the price to $450? It’s more of a fashion boot, rather than a traditional work boot, but who am I to question businesses? The majority of fashion brands outsource their production already.
Love the new highlighted graphics of each layer 👌
I have a solid year on my Grant Stone dress boots. I bought after you reviewed them last fall. Daily wear for my office job. Great boot, wearing well. Thanks.
I don't think Chinese goods are inherently bad just because they're made in China I just don't want to contribute money to the Chinese economy.
That's not how economics works. Fact: ANY time you spend money you are contributing to the WORLD economy INCLUDING China. I don't like China either, that's just what living in a globalized world entails
Chinese goods are as good as Western countries are willing to pay. Like iPhones for instance, produced in China and often see as a quality made product, but the majority of companies prefer to order cheap shit that breaks after a month.
That being said, I greatly prefer to buy things made and sourced within my home country.
Everything contributes to the Chinese economy unless your only buying from local businesses
@@ahkosorsomesaykosby9999I think that's his point. He would rather buy from an American company using American labor.
Love the new graphics. Showing all the elements and layers. Can you guys do a new boot cleaning video? Great content.
I love your nails Rose.
Those aren’t Weston’s nails. I won’t assume it’s a woman’s but it’s clearly someone else who works for him doing B roll,
I have a pair of trumans in galluns sand teton stag and the color change on them is insane. They do soften up quicker then most leathers I have experienced, but its really nice to have an easy break in to mix it up. Definitely a leather worth experiencing if you are interested in it.
I may have to get these boots next year, especially as a great lakes outdoorsman. Love the channel, hope you can cut the red wing weekender chukka in half and maybe even the 595 work chukka they have. I own both pairs along with the 875's but the weekender heritage chukkas are so much lighter than the non heritage 595 chukka that Im very interested to see the constructions of the two. Thanks for the good work you do!
That’s crazy I had been eying these boots on their website for weeks
I'm loving my black waxed deer brass boots!
Have a pair of Green Kudu Garrisons. I love how they look black in certain light and green proper bright light. In case it's a thing people need to know, in the same size, my Garrisons fit slightly more snug than my Snuff Reverse Kudu Field Boots - but now I'm wondering if that's because the reverse kudu is softer and my Field Boots have a wedge sole, so they flex and make more space than my Garrisons....
After getting my gateway boot, Redwing Iron Rangers, I bought two Brass Boots (black and brown Chromexcel) and black Diesel from Grant Stone. Love them. One point of caution, they run big especially in EEE width. Be prepared to buy and return to get the right size. I had to go down half size from my Iron Rangers. A full size down from my sneaker size.
The other good value purchase I'm eyeing, is Jim Green boots. Their Numzeen and new 1709 look like an Iron Ranger with a leather midsole all for $250. I saw a comment where someone got a Numzeen for $160 during black Friday sale. I'll be looking for that next year for my next season purchase to my growing boot collection.
I bought the Red Deer Edwards with the Lug sole. I've worn them maybe 5x so far, still working on the break in but I'm loving the leather and get compliments on the character the Red Deer has vs a smooth CXL or something else.
I have a pair of Grant Stone Field Boots and Diesel boots, and for the cost, the quality is second to none
We need Uncle Kev in studio.
I have the Brass boot in this Teton Waxy Stag leather, and it’s a great boot leather. Surprisingly stiff for a deerskin. One thing to note: it takes marks pretty easily and marks are kinda hard to brush out. Could be a pro or con, depending on how you feel about the patina that creates.
4 pairs of GS boots in my closet. I wear them all the time and Love 'em! ❤
Id love to see a review of Meermin shoes. As far as I know they are partially made in china and finished in Spain.
Since deer leather is so soft. Would it be good for making an all leather shoe? Something that doesn't need the ruggedness of a boot.
It looks great.
However, you will never convince me that a boot made in China is worth $395, plus tax and shipping. That's WELL into the price range of (mass produced) American made heritage boots, so that means I'm buying American made every time. Granted you're probably not going to get into PNW in that price range.
I would rather have a lower cost pair of thorogoods than a Chinese PNW clone boot that's being made by a Chinese subject who's paid 5 cents an hour.
I would be absolutely shocked if the total manufacturing of a pair of these exceeded 15 bucks.
Please tell us where we can buy that exact flint and steel pouch
I've got goosebumps, please don't disappoint. ❤ No pressure😂
For me it is not even a quality issue. Remember "Tank man" from Tiananmen Square. Likely he was executed by the government. Why do business with a country that does not allow its people the basic right of free expression and assembly? Over the past year (and thanks to Rose Anvil and it's MITUSA videos) I have been making a greater effort to buy things made in countries that respect the same values as in our first amendment.
My family used to manufacture in China. I learned something early on. They are capable of making a wide range of products at a huge range in quality. They very often will make anything you ask at the price you ask. If you come in wanting the cheapest whatever, you can find a factory to do it. If you want something very high quality you can find that too. But most American based companies want the best price and in fact our US Based stores will hammer vendors to have the cheapest price and they don't care what it cost.
For most customer around the world, they could be even cheaper if they ship directly from China instead of paying double or even triple import taxes to the US then out to the world again
have you looked into Craft and Glory?
How are goodyear welted boots with a steel shank like PNW boots?
Can you take a look at Barker boots from the UK? Made in Northampton I believe
Not gallon, Guh Loon.
Today's episode brought to you by the word "Kip"
The issue isn't quality. Its yet another American business sending jobs over to a place that has a worse sweatshop problem than people understand.
this one felt strangely biased…
What did you feel it was biased?
I wonder about that weird insole (lasting board) that Grant Stone's boots (diesels) had when Steve from Bedo's took them apart. It wasn't fully a veg tanned leather, it had some regular texon board under the heel for some reason. We don't see it here or in the other GS boot cut on Rose Anvil. What was that? GS?
There seems to be a lot of politically driven comments here. Which is fine. My take however is I’m in support of the work the artisans. If you do the research, GS’s staff are well taken care of on top of the quality assurance in place. Regardless of what you think the country’s government, I don’t mix politics and art. That’s the dumbest thing to consider in observing art. But hey, to each their own.
Just cause something is made in a first world country doesn’t mean it’s a quality product look at every GM and Ford vehicles other than vans and trucks and all of them are expensive junk
Gotta correct you when you said "The misconception" about China, because in the shoe sphere, mathematically almost 100% of Chinese shoes ARE inferior to other countries.
That couldn't be further from the truth. You can find shit products from every major manufacturing country.
I would buy a blood core belt if you had it as an option.
I dont think everything made is china is poor quality, i just don'ty want to spend money in china
It’s wild that the people who cry that Alden Indy’s are $680 also have no problem spending $400 on made in china boots like this.
Literally every Alden, Nicks and Whites videos will have a comment that Grant Stone is the best.
This should be a $200-300 boot like Thursday. Out of their mind.
CANVAS BETWEEN UPPER AND LINING THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BOOT 😳🙅🏻♂️
Look closely people, Thursday does the same thing. You’ll see the toe structure end, and canvas clearly lining the vamp.
This is unheard of in ankle boots, it’s a trick to give tall boots structure.. in this case they’re using it get away with thinner leathers, using the canvas as reinforcement.. not mentioning this is a bad look GS.
Wes is cool though, I get it - he’s not out here to flame his sponsors. So we can give the man a break, but this shouldn’t be overlooked in the future.. I know you see it too.
You can say Grant Stone makes the highest quality boots for the money, but I think you should really try Parkhurst. I would say they make a better boot
In my experience GS has better finishing while Parkhurst is more comfortable.
@@kingofthenoobs I think Parkhurst's finishing has improved recently and is just about on par with Grant Stone, especially their stitchdown boots. This obviously is very anecdotal and varies widely, but all my Parkhurst boots have had excellent clicking, which is not true of my Grant Stone purchases
@@subhasish-m I think GS's clicking is very good, even with CXL which is notoriously random, though I have seen some duds. Parkhurst also doesn't run a ton of smooth steerhide, more suedes and exotics like Kudu which always has fine creasing. I also think GS's patterns are better, but that's pretty subjective.
Please consider doing a collab with Veldskoen. Their styles are really nice and I'm sure you'd make something amazing together. The barefoot shoellies from Jim Green were s tier!
bought a pair of grant stones last christmas. The didnt last through the summer. Understand that I was using them as work boots and I was hard on them. They were very nice boots, they just arent meant for working. I did dig the lining though, now im spoiled ;any future customs I buy will be lined...
What sort of work? I certainly never would've gotten anything like this back when I was doing construction of course, but I would think they would hold up fine in shop environments where the upper doesn't get much abuse(cabinet maker, that kind of thing).
@@RyTrapp0 Ranch work. You name it. Often wet, always dirty...I did take time to clean and oil them every few weeks, but none the less they sheared at the part of the toe box where it bends when walking/kneeling and such. The Horween held up fine everywhere else, and is still beautiful. I bought them not realizing they werent work boots...I have really wide feet (more hoof than foot..), no one else makes a nice boot for the price at EEE (they werent EEE, I dont care what they day, but they were wider than my redwings.) let alone my 5E...so I took a gamble when I should have just had a custom pair made. For normal sized feet and especially a shop enviironment, they would have held up fine. Also -The lining....cant describe how mch I loved being able to just slide my fat foot in and out of a boot without effort...
Hey Weston! We need a review of Courteney Selous gameskin boots made in Zimbabwe
I recognize the quality however I can’t justify sending any money to the CCP. I’ll gladly keep sending money to Spokane or even South Africa for a pair of Jim Green Razorbacks
This
So when are you going to stop commuting in your car because there’s at least some product that comes from China? Or even some small things that you use everyday comes from China.
Everyone that does manufacturing in China already knows this lol. China has pretty damn high quality manufacturing along with great quality materials to make it...
They literally manufacture it to your specifications... it's literally everyone insisting on the bottom of the barrel prices that forces everyone to crank out bottom tier shit to make the pricing demands...
"made in china" has nothing to do with china, and everything to do with manufacturers demanding the cheapest thing possible. they will make whatever you ask for.
the argument for not buying chinese isnt that its poor quality, its that your paying companies who pay tax to one of the bloodiest authoritarian dictatorships of our time... Politics and capitalism is the same thing.
There's way more to buying USA made goods, but a couple of the biggest are they're made by people paid a decent wage and helps local economies.
Cycle of Life ?? How do you create a deer from shoes??
Or the organizations support the wild life in some way from the profits earned..??
Bucking the trend, nice pun there. Booys got my attention now
I wonder if these will face a price hike and if so how severe due to upcoming changes in US customs?
Grant Stone have been raising their prices every year for the past 3 years. Trump or no trump, prices will go up
@Dominicreviews I see, thanks for the info. I'm from Europe so I'm not that familiar how prices are affected there. Only got some limited info from local news.
*Hi,* Will yoü please do a *Harness Boot* review. *Durango Harness Boots,* and *Frye Harness Boots* preferably. Thanks, and *Toaster 🐈Rocks !*
Communist boots. I will not buy red Chinese things, especially my boots.
Same nonsense they used to claim for Japanese products were cheap! The really cheap items made in China are ordered that way by American companies! The Chinese are capable of Craftsmanship
I have many GS footwear, I will have many more
Quality yes but still made in China, I am sticking with made in UK or USA
Or Made in Canada
Australia too
I’m sure you knowingly or unknowingly own and use thousands of items made in China so it’s funny you draw the line with boots. 😂
It’s a beautiful shoe but did they move to China so they don’t have to pay living wages to their workers?
China by itself is fully capable of making the best and the worst. What you get is what US campanies are willing to pay, and what you end up paying depends on how greedy US companies are.
For them Chinese in China, $400 will get you far better shit than these.
It's that they have child and unfair forced labor in unsafe conditions. I worked for a furniture company with factories over there. We should demand that they treat the workers better or we won't buy their crap.
Can't imagine paying $400 for chinese made shoes. Thanks but no thanks.
You don't understand Grant Stone. These rival $800 boots from other companies
@Bluerig-qf2xc if you’re buying a $400 boot it’s a luxury item. That’s not an excuse to say it’s better value.
1000% grant stones are well worth over 5-600$ boots. This company gives you so much value for the price it’s #1 #2 and #3
@@JJ-zr6fu Not sure what point you're trying to make - a better value product is a better value product, luxury good or otherwise(FYI, most of the goods we have in western life are luxury goods; everyone just takes it for granted...).
Enjoy your brand names over quality or value 🙃
Read NY Times 12-17-2024 opinion article by Thomas L. Friedman. It made me think twice about willfully purchasing Chinese products.
Thanks for the suggestion. Can you give a little run down to see if it’s worth paying The NY Times a subscription to read that please? It’s behind a pay wall whichever way I try to get to it. Thanks
That piece is garbage. Musk fluff piece.
That is one insanely ugly boot, might be subjective, but 1/10
The ghosting on the neon at 0:45 is SO distracting for people with astigmatism..would be nice if you could remove the effect.
$319….made in China? That’s a don’t even consider for me, even if they’re decent. Ever review any Royer boots from Canada?
Canada is a third world country
Quality is not the main issue. It wouldn’t matter if they were the best quality in the world. Don’t support the enemies industry. Don’t give your money to China
Im not buying them lol
Why would i pay $400 for a Chinese boot when I can pay the same for a American made boot?
If those were $199 I'd have less to say.
china can make great products when they are held to strict quality control standards on products engineered in the US
Socks to bed = better sleep try once🟩🟥🟪🟨