I recently bought my first pair of Meermins. Got me a pair of split toe boots in Kudu leather (exactly the same design you have in this video) and the break in was absolutely amazing. Very confortable boots from day one and very snug fitting too. I'm thinking maybe the rigidity of the shell cordovan contributed to your painful break in.
It’s possible. I know Meermin adjusted their components recently to make the break-in easier. I’m definitely not the only one whose had challenges with them
Thanks mate. We don't have many GYW options to try in store around here, so have to order online, which means I have to do a lot of research on fit and sizing before ordering as both shipping and returns are quite expensive and take a long time 🙂 I'm eyeing a pair of Meermin shell cordovan boots, but they're what Meermin calls heritage shell cordovan. Any experience/feedback on what they're like, and how would they be any different from a Horween or Shinki Hikaku shell?
These are part of my go-to summer shoe rotation and I wear these sockless or with no-shows often. They’re very lightweight and easy to wear, especially where I live in NY where it can get really humid
Are there any exotic (synthetic or animal based) shoe materials you are excited about trying or have tried? I had never heard of SHELL CORDOVAN and it made me wonder what other materials are being used!
This is a solid question! Outside of cowhide, there are a number of materials used for an upper that I have in my collection currently. Kudu (African antelope) has become very popular recently. I have 2 pairs in Kudu currently, one from Grant Stone and one pair currently being made by Benzein out of Indonesia. What makes Kudu so sought after are a number of things. It's incredibly soft, and has an easy break in compared to other leathers. Also, every kudu hide is incredibly inconsistent compared to another due to scars from the animal's life, bug bites and other little things on the hide. Kudu harvesting is regulated pretty heavily, and the meat is often distributed to locals in the villages they are hunted in. C.F. Stead is a tannery out of England that does amazing stuff with it. It comes in all sorts of colors, and my favorite Kudu using shoemaker right now is Parkhurstbrand.com (Based out of Buffalo NY with shoes made in Batavia!) Andrew is an amazing guy, and has designed some great stuff. Plain old horsehide and Moose hide are 2 materials I would be interested in seeing, but I really don't need MORE shoes currently :P Kangaroo leather is also really interesting, as it's very versatile and tough, but also thin & light weight. Stingray leather makes some VERY interesting shoes, but calls for a hefty price because of how challenging it is to work with. I think the benefit of using a properly tanned animal hide is longevity and maintainability. I have pairs that are 30+ years old that dont look a year over 1. Leather can be very resilient, and requires only some care and some investment to really go far. Shoe construction like this (welted / blake stitched) allows for recrafting of the shoes, I haven't thrown out a quality pair of shoes in my life. If I feel the need to get rid of them, I sell to another enthusiast or donate them. A lot of the shoes in my collection were used from ebay as well and recrafted at a local cobbler, after cleaning the uppers, you'd never know they were owned by somebody else. Synthetic / Manmade materials for uppers are interesting, and I actually quite like some options out there. I have a pair from Taftclothing.com called the "Kennedy" which is a green-wool upper, but the lining in still leather. Makes for an incredible lightweight summer shoe that I can wear without socks and like sneakers. The challenge with synthetic uppers & welted footwear is that they tend to wear out easily... even vegan leather which just isn't there yet and is treated differently and maintained differently than animal hide. Given that leather is a biproduct of the meat industry, I guess the way I see it is that if it's going to go SOMEWHERE, it should stay out of a landfill or cheap chrome tanning pits that aren't regulated very well. That also carries a high price tag with it, but you know, nobody needs as many shoes as I have... this is just one of the 3 things I'm truly passionate about lol. I think materials that aren't from an animal make incredible casual shoes... see espadrilles or wool woven slippers etc. Anything that doesn't require rigidity or structure, absolutely go for something synthetic. But there's something really quite fantastic about quality shoe making construction that is what got me into this in the first place. I think there's a time and a place for everything, you know? I think material is just as important to me as the maker & construction. There are so many incredible shoemakers in the world that I want to see. Norman Vilalta from Spain, Paolo Scafora from Italy, Acme Shoemaker from China, Gaziano and Girling from the UK. To name a few, hah. Kind of a gigantic word vomit, but I hope that answered your question.
@HaargusMcFargus Wow the rabbit hole gets deeper, so many options I wouldn't have expected! Great answer 👍, feel like you could make a zoo of shoes show with all the different animal hides haha. Those parkhursts are sharp, nice to see quality local stuff
Hey HaargusMcFargus, what dress shoes would you recommend for an event with dress shirt and pants, that are around the 100 dollar range? Would appreciate any insight you could give!
Depending on your shoe size, $100 will go far at a department store like DSW. If you don't wear dress shoes or leather shoes like this often, I would recommend a department store and finding something that fits you well and goes with the style of the event you're attending. I wouldn't really suggest buying an expensive pair of shoes for a one & done situation because I'd suggest you break one of those shoes in. If you want to see SOME options out there around the $100 price range, Grant Stone seconds would fit your bill at around $150 ish if you can find something you like in your size. Allen Edmonds are also on sale often and might go down to the $100 ish range depending on the shoe. But if you don't wear dress shoes often, you might be better suited to a pair from DSW or something you can try on and see in person! Hope that helped!
@@HaargusMcFargus yeah, it helps a lot! I’m not sure if I’m going to be using them a lot, I’ve never really gone out previously, but my girlfriend’s family has a formal event almost every month, so it might be worth considering spending a bit more money for something that’ll last. I never expected to become interested in higher quality shoes from your channel! Love the stuff Haargus, I’ve been watching since I was a shitty 14 year old 8 years ago, and anytime you put anything out it’s a welcome surprise :)
@@Plogle means a lot you say that, I appreciate it :) I think a quality pair of shoes that’s versatile enough to wear outside of formal events is worth it. If it’s formal like black tie then you can’t do much with a pair of black dress shoes. Browns you can though. Reach out on Instagram or twitter if you have questions and I’d be happy to chat!
Question: Does the leather stretch in the lace up boots? I brought a pair and they are so stiff. My foot is really snug in the width of the shoe. Im not sure if they will stretch because the leather is so firm. So im thinking of sending back for a larger size.
Shell won’t stretch, and it’s a bad idea to try to stretch it at a cobbler. The Meermin break-in process in my experience is also just really bad. Is this your first pair of Goodyear Welted Boots? Or is this your first pair of Shell boots? (If they’re shell?)
@@Terminatortx33 returning for a bigger size won’t help unless you’re wearing the wrong size to begin with. If the shoe fits and you just need to break them in, just wear them around your house in whatever intervals work for you. Depending on which shell they used, shinki or horween shell in my experience is generally thicker than maryam or “domestic american shell” or whatever else they called it. What pair did you get? Shell doesn’t stretch, like at all in my experience. So I guess my final advice is just break them in at your own pace and they should become more easily wearable.
@@Terminatortx33 For sure my man. Hope it’s helpful. If I were you, the biggest concern with shell or any boots is fit. If the boots fit (heel is snug, the ball of your foot lines up with the ball / flex point of the boot, your toes aren’t totally scrunched in) what I would do is put on a pair of reasonably thick socks and just wear them around your house. Once they start to feel a little uncomfortable, if you can, leave them on but sit in them. Just let your feet stay in the boots for as long as possible at a time for like 36 hours of total wear. That’s a long time, but especially for meermins it seems to be the formula to make them comfy. My shinki shell boots are quite comfy now.
when he said the break-in was awful, i felt that 😂😂
So much blood
literally needed weeks between the first couple of wears to recover my feet.
HaargusMcFargus sells me fucking health insurance
I recently bought my first pair of Meermins. Got me a pair of split toe boots in Kudu leather (exactly the same design you have in this video) and the break in was absolutely amazing. Very confortable boots from day one and very snug fitting too. I'm thinking maybe the rigidity of the shell cordovan contributed to your painful break in.
It’s possible. I know Meermin adjusted their components recently to make the break-in easier. I’m definitely not the only one whose had challenges with them
Wear them in good health though & enjoy your new boots!!
Thanks mate. We don't have many GYW options to try in store around here, so have to order online, which means I have to do a lot of research on fit and sizing before ordering as both shipping and returns are quite expensive and take a long time 🙂
I'm eyeing a pair of Meermin shell cordovan boots, but they're what Meermin calls heritage shell cordovan. Any experience/feedback on what they're like, and how would they be any different from a Horween or Shinki Hikaku shell?
Best one yet
i would pay a lot of money i don't have to get you to redo my entire wardrobe. stylish and sophisticated. a real dreamy hunk of a man
That intro was gold. I love it
It was so bad 🤣
Thank you for the video! Is shell very warm to wear? Can you wear the loafers on a summer day and be fine?
These are part of my go-to summer shoe rotation and I wear these sockless or with no-shows often. They’re very lightweight and easy to wear, especially where I live in NY where it can get really humid
@@HaargusMcFargus I see! That is so helpful. Thank you 😊
@@kylegosiaco5318 You got it!
Are there any exotic (synthetic or animal based) shoe materials you are excited about trying or have tried? I had never heard of SHELL CORDOVAN and it made me wonder what other materials are being used!
This is a solid question! Outside of cowhide, there are a number of materials used for an upper that I have in my collection currently. Kudu (African antelope) has become very popular recently. I have 2 pairs in Kudu currently, one from Grant Stone and one pair currently being made by Benzein out of Indonesia. What makes Kudu so sought after are a number of things. It's incredibly soft, and has an easy break in compared to other leathers. Also, every kudu hide is incredibly inconsistent compared to another due to scars from the animal's life, bug bites and other little things on the hide. Kudu harvesting is regulated pretty heavily, and the meat is often distributed to locals in the villages they are hunted in. C.F. Stead is a tannery out of England that does amazing stuff with it. It comes in all sorts of colors, and my favorite Kudu using shoemaker right now is Parkhurstbrand.com (Based out of Buffalo NY with shoes made in Batavia!) Andrew is an amazing guy, and has designed some great stuff.
Plain old horsehide and Moose hide are 2 materials I would be interested in seeing, but I really don't need MORE shoes currently :P Kangaroo leather is also really interesting, as it's very versatile and tough, but also thin & light weight.
Stingray leather makes some VERY interesting shoes, but calls for a hefty price because of how challenging it is to work with.
I think the benefit of using a properly tanned animal hide is longevity and maintainability. I have pairs that are 30+ years old that dont look a year over 1. Leather can be very resilient, and requires only some care and some investment to really go far. Shoe construction like this (welted / blake stitched) allows for recrafting of the shoes, I haven't thrown out a quality pair of shoes in my life. If I feel the need to get rid of them, I sell to another enthusiast or donate them. A lot of the shoes in my collection were used from ebay as well and recrafted at a local cobbler, after cleaning the uppers, you'd never know they were owned by somebody else.
Synthetic / Manmade materials for uppers are interesting, and I actually quite like some options out there. I have a pair from Taftclothing.com called the "Kennedy" which is a green-wool upper, but the lining in still leather. Makes for an incredible lightweight summer shoe that I can wear without socks and like sneakers. The challenge with synthetic uppers & welted footwear is that they tend to wear out easily... even vegan leather which just isn't there yet and is treated differently and maintained differently than animal hide. Given that leather is a biproduct of the meat industry, I guess the way I see it is that if it's going to go SOMEWHERE, it should stay out of a landfill or cheap chrome tanning pits that aren't regulated very well. That also carries a high price tag with it, but you know, nobody needs as many shoes as I have... this is just one of the 3 things I'm truly passionate about lol.
I think materials that aren't from an animal make incredible casual shoes... see espadrilles or wool woven slippers etc. Anything that doesn't require rigidity or structure, absolutely go for something synthetic. But there's something really quite fantastic about quality shoe making construction that is what got me into this in the first place. I think there's a time and a place for everything, you know?
I think material is just as important to me as the maker & construction. There are so many incredible shoemakers in the world that I want to see. Norman Vilalta from Spain, Paolo Scafora from Italy, Acme Shoemaker from China, Gaziano and Girling from the UK. To name a few, hah.
Kind of a gigantic word vomit, but I hope that answered your question.
@HaargusMcFargus Wow the rabbit hole gets deeper, so many options I wouldn't have expected! Great answer 👍, feel like you could make a zoo of shoes show with all the different animal hides haha.
Those parkhursts are sharp, nice to see quality local stuff
@@lkvideorang True that. Quality shoe enthusiasts are few & far between but man we like our stuff.
This man leathers.
POGGERSSSSSSSSSSSSS
How was the sizing?
Hey HaargusMcFargus, what dress shoes would you recommend for an event with dress shirt and pants, that are around the 100 dollar range? Would appreciate any insight you could give!
Depending on your shoe size, $100 will go far at a department store like DSW. If you don't wear dress shoes or leather shoes like this often, I would recommend a department store and finding something that fits you well and goes with the style of the event you're attending. I wouldn't really suggest buying an expensive pair of shoes for a one & done situation because I'd suggest you break one of those shoes in.
If you want to see SOME options out there around the $100 price range, Grant Stone seconds would fit your bill at around $150 ish if you can find something you like in your size. Allen Edmonds are also on sale often and might go down to the $100 ish range depending on the shoe. But if you don't wear dress shoes often, you might be better suited to a pair from DSW or something you can try on and see in person!
Hope that helped!
@@HaargusMcFargus yeah, it helps a lot! I’m not sure if I’m going to be using them a lot, I’ve never really gone out previously, but my girlfriend’s family has a formal event almost every month, so it might be worth considering spending a bit more money for something that’ll last. I never expected to become interested in higher quality shoes from your channel! Love the stuff Haargus, I’ve been watching since I was a shitty 14 year old 8 years ago, and anytime you put anything out it’s a welcome surprise :)
@@Plogle means a lot you say that, I appreciate it :)
I think a quality pair of shoes that’s versatile enough to wear outside of formal events is worth it. If it’s formal like black tie then you can’t do much with a pair of black dress shoes. Browns you can though. Reach out on Instagram or twitter if you have questions and I’d be happy to chat!
Question: Does the leather stretch in the lace up boots?
I brought a pair and they are so stiff. My foot is really snug in the width of the shoe. Im not sure if they will stretch because the leather is so firm. So im thinking of sending back for a larger size.
Shell won’t stretch, and it’s a bad idea to try to stretch it at a cobbler. The Meermin break-in process in my experience is also just really bad. Is this your first pair of Goodyear Welted Boots? Or is this your first pair of Shell boots? (If they’re shell?)
@@HaargusMcFargus its my first pair of Shell meermin boots. Got them 2 days ago delivered - and im in Australia.
@@Terminatortx33 returning for a bigger size won’t help unless you’re wearing the wrong size to begin with. If the shoe fits and you just need to break them in, just wear them around your house in whatever intervals work for you.
Depending on which shell they used, shinki or horween shell in my experience is generally thicker than maryam or “domestic american shell” or whatever else they called it. What pair did you get?
Shell doesn’t stretch, like at all in my experience.
So I guess my final advice is just break them in at your own pace and they should become more easily wearable.
@@HaargusMcFargus i got 116210 - Burgundy Heritage Shell Cordovans - E ( ULTRAFLEX SYSTEM). Thank you for your replies on this also.
@@Terminatortx33 For sure my man. Hope it’s helpful. If I were you, the biggest concern with shell or any boots is fit.
If the boots fit (heel is snug, the ball of your foot lines up with the ball / flex point of the boot, your toes aren’t totally scrunched in) what I would do is put on a pair of reasonably thick socks and just wear them around your house. Once they start to feel a little uncomfortable, if you can, leave them on but sit in them. Just let your feet stay in the boots for as long as possible at a time for like 36 hours of total wear. That’s a long time, but especially for meermins it seems to be the formula to make them comfy.
My shinki shell boots are quite comfy now.
S H E L L C O R D O V A N
Why is meermin priced so low but clearly such great quality?
Manufacturing in China is really it, and some less expensive components in the shoe such as celastic heel counters instead of leather.
My guess is the leather. Its very stiff
👏Shoe 👏 review! 👏