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F-22 said

Those are really nice, I still want a pair of Iron Rangers too. For summer wear I must say the Jim Green African Rangers are really good. It’s just one layer of leather so they breathe a lot and they are super flexible under foot. I never tried the barefoot version, though I heard good things too it’s just very different. Probably the closest that a boot ever came to a high top sneaker like vans or air jordans.

I think it’s 5 year old Solovair Docs, 15 years old Docs and ~30 year old Docs on that photo. I have one pair of the Czech military boots that they call the "kanady" (canadians). They are good boots for the motorcycle but I wouldn’t wear them normally (a bit too much for me with the top loop style). I also have a pair of Austrian police boots, very good quality too, double layer of leather.

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I don’t even wear socks in the summer.

I’m not a wealthy guy by any stretch. In 2020 I took a truly questionable risk and made some equally questionable sacrifices to buy a 900-square-foot cottage on Kauai. The level of stupidity involved cannot be overstated. The only reason it happened at all was that the world briefly caught fire during Covid and the market fell apart just long enough for me to sneak in and steal a deal. Even then, affording it has been a constant grind.

I keep grinding because Kauai is the only place where I feel right. Not happy, not relaxed, right. I need to be there as much as possible to feel whole. Between kids, school, and family gravity, that usually means most of the summer. And when I’m on island, I’m barefoot or in flops, even in the shop, whether that’s smart or not. So far, all toes accounted for.

Back in Texas, once it’s over about 85 degrees I’m in Vans or Jordans. Drop below that and it’s Iron Rangers or 1178s. Different places, different uniforms, same idiot walking around in all of them.

My boot rotation consists of a pair of 1178s that are at least 25 years old and have been resoled three times:

And a pair of Iron Rangers that are only a couple of years old:

]]> https://www.garagejournal.com/a-cobblers-shop/#comment-38988 Fri, 12 Dec 2025 13:39:23 +0000 https://www.garagejournal.com/?p=5189#comment-38988

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F-22 said

I have a few really nice boots. Redwing Moc Toes, British made Solovairs (original spec Doc Martens…), some old army boots from various European armies…

However in the last few years I got really deep into Jim Green. I had the chance to buy them when visiting South Africa. Really honest quality for the price.

My first was a pair of Vellie shoes from them, just to check out the sizing. Then a year later I got a pair of African Rangers and Stockmans for myself and Razorbacks for my father, and also a few pairs for my neighbour (AR8, African Rangers and Vellies).

Another year later they really blew up in popularity and made a bunch of cool new styles. Prices went up and I tried to keep back because I already had so many nice boots. But I still got the Numzaan last year, and ladies stockmans for my fiancee.

Well, I’m going down to Cape Town again next week and already pre ordered some boots to the address we’re staying at. Black friday deal, veg tan African Rangers for 70€ (my old pair has worn out soles, I’ll send them in for a resole too), a pair of tiny Numzaans on a 70% clearance for my fiancee to use on a motorcycle and also a pair of the new moccasin Meander boots for 150€ because they’re just so cool.

The new moccasins are very intriguing to me. They are true moccasing boots, hand stitched together like Russel Moccasin company boots. I think there’s only a handful of manufacturers in the world doing true moccasin footwear where the bottom leather wraps around your foot like this. A lot are just fake "moc toe" style like the Redwings. Supposedly these should be very soft and comfortable to wear. The reason why moccasins are so rare is because the manufacturing is very labour intensive and expensive.

It’s like making a boot backwards. Normally you just stretch the upper over the last and stitch on the bottom. But here you need to make the upper, sew a complex stitch by hand to the correctly sized bottom leather (too complex to automate this stitch), then squeeze in a special expanding metal last shape and basically hammer and force the leather into the correct shape. Jim Green bought and set up the lasting machine just to make this shoe. Really excited to try them out…

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I’ve never had a pair of Jim Greens, but really want to try a pair. I just can’t bring myself to buy any until my Iron Rangers wear out… and that could take decades. :/

I’ve heard the craftsmanship is amazing on em…