these are the most iconic chukka boots
in the world allegedly some people love
them some people hate them some people
say they're the most comfortable boots in
the world some people say they're super
uncomfortable so let's cut some in half
and see what's going on inside of them
we're getting super close to that
100,000 subscriber mark and we're doing
the thousand dollar Jordans
when we get to that point they're
already ordered they're on the way I
think but until then we've got the
comfort version of the Vans and then
also the Chuck Taylor 70's these
are supposed to be the better versions
the more premium version of classic
chucks so I think these are coming out
Friday so if you want to see those and
other videos and $100,000 thousand
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liking and subscribing so now to the
boots so first we'll go over what the boot
is and then we'll talk about the sole
and then to the leather and then we'll
talk about my initial impressions for
wearing for a couple days and then we'll
finally cut them in half and do kind of
an analysis of what's inside the boot so
these are the clark desert boots I got
them in the tan leather usually you'd
see these in kind of a suede like the
fuzzy looking leather but I really like
this leather and I thought I would
review it since it's so different from
all the other other leathers that they
usually offer they're $130 online and
they're made in Vietnam and one of the
probably the most distinguishing feature
of these boots that kind of set them
apart from all the other styles of boots
is that they have a crepe sole and crepe
soles are really interesting because
they actually come from or they're made
for the raw material harvested from a
rubber tree a lot of people would assume
if you're harvesting something from a
tree that they would kill a tree but they
actually have little taps that they've
built into a tree that they can harvest
up to 19 pounds of raw rubber material
per tree per year which is crazy there
are some pros and cons to
this type of sole one of the biggest
pros with this type of crepe sole is
they're really really comfortable it's a
really soft squishy compound they're pretty
grippy unless it's wet and they're
really affordable compared to like a
really expensive leather sole or some of
the other more expensive soles but there
are some cons associated with it one of
them being that it gets a little
slippery when it's wet
these don't last quite as long as a
really hard dense rubber and sometimes
you can lose chunks of the heel or
certain areas if you hit it wrong on a
rock or if you're not being careful with
these soles so that's something to
consider if you're considering these
boots these look like shoes to me I
don't even know why they call them boots
do you guys consider these boots or shoes
because to me they look like shoes I
guess they've got a heel so maybe that
makes them a boot and now to a leather
so this is their tan leather it's a it's
either a full grain or top grain leather
if you look at the cross-section you can
see a little bit of the grain in there
which is nice I think it's a pretty good
leather actually for the price of these
boots I think it's a chrome tanned leather
and it would be considered a pull up
leather and being a pull up leather it's
gonna age really nicely it's gonna
develop a nice patina with age pretty
water-resistant because there's there's
so much wax and oil forced into the
leather it doesn't take as much
conditioning it doesn't take as much
care because it's kind of a self
conditioning leather and a lot of the
scratches you get in in this leather you
can pretty easily buff out with just a
little bit of pressure one question I
always get is like what is pull up
leather and a lot of people think it's a
type of leather a type of tanning but
it's more of just a characteristic that
can be in basically any type of leather
and all it really means is that when
you bend or stretch or pull a piece
of leather that the leather lightens up
and the reason it does that is there's
so much wax and oil worked into the
leather that when you bend it or pull it
some of those waxes either separate or
rise to the surface or cause some
discoloration which usually isn't a
permanent thing and people like it
because in the bends of the leather in like
the toe creases it gets lighter and one
unique thing about it is once you've got
a discoloration from
bending it or stretching it you can put a
little bit of pressure and friction on
it heat up those oils and
reseparates and or brings it back to the
surface or whatever is happening on the
inside and the color kind of returns now
to the construction of these boots so
this is a stitch down construction where
instead of having a separate piece be
the welt the upper is actually rolled
out kind of flanged out and then that is
stitched to the insole there's some pros
and cons to this some of the pros are
it's a cheaper and faster way to build a
pair of shoes or boots but some of the
cons are once you've worn that out since
it's the upper is part of the welt
the shoe or boot is pretty much worn out
unlike a typical boot with a separate
piece being the welt
once that welt worn out all you do is
stitch a new welt on and you're good to
go
so these don't have as much longevity as
like a typical Goodyear welted boot so
that kind of brings us to my initial
impression of these and a lot of people
say these are super comfortable but
these were so uncomfortable for me right
off the bat and I think I know why
they're uncomfortable I think it has to
do with this little sock liner in here
and I'll show you that when we get cut
in half and another thing that it might
be causing that is these don't have a
shank or at least they don't seem like
they have a shank that shouldn't like
that it has a shank another thing I
noticed was I got a lot of heel slip in
these and I think they run a little bit
large
I probably should have got this a
half a size down but I still think
you're gonna have a lot of heel slip in
these because they're not really they're
more like slippers rather than boots
like you even though you can tie it
right here you're not really making the
boot any tighter so unless you've got
really big ankles you know these aren't
gonna be really tight boots and I think most
people just slip these on and off anyway
I do like how simple these boots are
though it's just two pieces on the upper
stitched two an insole and then just a layer
of crepe rubber on the outsole so now to
answer any of the other questions and to
see what's inside this we need to cut it
in half so let's cut it in half
cutting the sole was really interesting
so let's see what's inside so pretty
similar to what I expected to see on the
inside it's basically just a layer of
fiber board and then two layers of the
crepe sole with a bigger heel block
layer of the crepe sole that makes the
heel and then you see this little layer
of foam on the sock liner I think that's
where all that discomfort on my heel was
coming from because it's a pretty pretty
steep drop down from that foam down to
the fiber board and I'm sure once it's
worn in it's pretty comfortable but the
first couple days of wearing it was
really bothering me and to see what else
is going on inside here I'm going to
tear out the rest of this so we can see
if there's anything else hiding inside
there but it's pretty apparent there's
no shank in here especially now it's cut
in half
all right I got the upper torn apart I
could not get the insole separated from
the crepe midsole it's really well stuck
on there and really no surprises in here
anywhere I think there's a few ways that
that could this boot could be improved
but for the price point I don't think you
should expect that maybe if this is a
$200 boot you would expect some of these
improvements but one thing I would
do is either add a shank or make this a
complete wedge sole which Clark's
already has a wedge sole version of this
so if you're trying to choose between
the wedge sole and the heel get the
wedge sole it's going to be more comfortable I
really don't like this little pad for
the heel of your foot it's gonna make
the boot more uncomfortable for the
first few days and in the long run it's
not going to make really any difference
so I'd like to see them remove that but
the leather is really good I'm really
impressed with this leather for a
hundred thirty bucks it's a nice pretty
durable pull up leather I would say it's
a full grain leather you can see some of
the natural characteristics and it
doesn't look like it's been buffed it's
a really pretty leather it's got a
really nice finish to it and I'm
surprised they don't sell this boot for $200 not
saying it's worth $200 but a lot of
times you see brands really relying on
their brand to sell a boot rather than
the boot selling the boot so I think this is
a fair priced boot
I think it's there's some ways to
improve it but for the price you know
it's not bad quickly before we go I'll
show you just in case you didn't watch
the why a boot needs a shank video why
this boot needs a shank okay so if I
take my solid steel I use this as a
jeweler's anvil and this probably
weighs 10 pounds and I roll this over
top of this area where there's no
support of the shank you can see the
entire boot collapses and the reason you
need a shank in there is without the
support of a shank that little gap area
just collapses and you get all that
pressure right on your heel where the
heel stops versus if it was a wedge
sole you'd have even pressure all the way
through or if there was a shank
supporting it you wouldn't have that
drop-off creating that pressure
point on your heel so let me show you one
with a shank if that doesn't roll off the table okay we got these $500
RM Williams boots with a composite shank
and as you can see when I roll this weight
over top of that that gap area it
doesn't really deform as much and
you've got a lot of support there so
that's why you need a shank or a wedge
sole in your Clarks
if you want to be comfortable but if not it
is what it is
I'm sure you're happy with them so that
pretty much wraps up the Clarks desert
boot I think there are pretty decent boot
for the price and if you have them let
me know what your experiences are with
them do you have any of that pressure
point right at the heel where there's no
support from the shank let me know what
you thought of this video and consider
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see ya oh I forgot to mention all the
people who are new patrons on the
patreon I'm still working on getting all
the reward tiers up but you can still go
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this week are Alden J. Caleb H. Chris B.
Dole
Jonas B. Maria B. Michael S. Philip S. so
thank you guys for supporting even
without a reward see ya
