Willie's Leathers / Willie's Handmade Boots (Phillipines)

[TartuWolf]

I ordered a pair of boondockers in Maryam toscenello horse ****. Communication with Willie on Instagram was efficient but some patience was required as sometimes it would take a day or two for him to reply which is understandable to me. It took about 3 months to get them which is reasonable. They fit me perfect and the leather is amazing. The quality and workmanship of the boots are on par or better than any big name brands and I have owned a lot of them. Also his prices are very reasonable. I would buy from him again.

Thanks for the input. Laced boots are much safer to order for sure. Would love to see more pictures of your pair!

 

[Drzdave58]

Thanks for the input. Laced boots are much safer to order for sure. Would love to see more pictures of your pair!

I'd like to try his engineers but I already have 2 pairs of engineers and am trying to keep my boot count down.

 

[Drzdave58]

These look like boots to keep on a shelf and look at, not boots to walk in... (they do look great, thought)

IMO straps on engineers are purely decorative and should not be relied on to achieve a good fit.
If the boot feels bad without having to tighten the strap it doesn't fit right.
Relying on the strap will only create pressure points on the top of your foot and make an uncomfortable boot bearable for a short time.

Also, that front sole is so thin! you are going to wear through that thing in months if you wear them daily.

I don't want to sound rude, but i don't get these boots, to me they have a weird "luxury workboot cosplay" thing going on.

How heavy are they?

I have 2 pairs of engineers and I use the bottom ******** both of them. For me , it provides just enough adjustment to make a difference in fit.
Does not create pressure points at all.

 

[herculance]

As a Filipino living in Chicago, I've been eyeing a CXL boot made by them.

The Philippines has a rich tradition of leathercraft and shoe-making especially in Marikina City within Metro Manila.

It’s great to see Willie’s getting some recognition on the international stage as Filipino craftsmanship often gets overshadowed by our Southeast Asian neighbors (we've been eating their dust lately), not helped by the lack of government support for the industry in recent years.

 

[TartuWolf]

As a Filipino living in Chicago, I've been eyeing a CXL boot made by them.

The Philippines has a rich tradition of leathercraft and shoe-making especially in Marikina City within Metro Manila.

It’s great to see Willie’s getting some recognition on the international stage as Filipino craftsmanship often gets overshadowed by our Southeast Asian neighbors (we've been eating their dust lately), not helped by the lack of government support for the industry in recent years.

Sounds like it's pretty mandatory for you to order something from them heh.
Willie's leatherworks is the only boot maker from Philippines that I have heard of. Indonesia is full of them on the other hand.

 

[herculance]

Sounds like it's pretty mandatory for you to order something from them heh.

I should say this to my wife haha! Definitely getting one next time I visit home to save on shipping costs. I can just have them delivered to my mom's place in the meantime lol

Yeah, Willie's is the only one that I know that's in that upper tier, working with renowned leathers, etc.
A company called Sapatero I've heard good things about but they specialize more on dress shoes.

I have a pair of boots from a company called Marquina Shoemaker in the PH, still with me after 5 years of regular wear, blake-stitched, but they're just on the okay tier.

Indonesia is full of them on the other hand.

Yeah, they've been doing a great job. I'm optimistic though as I've noticed more Filipinos back home get into the heritage/amekaji stuff and hopefully the other local makers follow Willie's lead.

 

[Bart666]

Also, here are two STUNNING pairs of Willie himself. These are the ones that finally pushed me to order.
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[Bart666]

Also, here are two STUNNING pairs of Willie himself. These are the ones that finally pushed me to order.
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Hej, where can I buy sweet skulls to be placed on shoelaces like these?

 

[TartuWolf]

Hej, where can I buy sweet skulls to be placed on shoelaces like these?

Contact Willie, as if it's in stock. I've waited ~7months for them to come back to stock, but no luck.

 

[3.14nche]

I like them too.
Found these with a quick search on Etsy as a cheap alternative (10€), not solid brass

Skull Shoelace Fastener Leather Boot Tie Fasten Buckle 2pcs/pair - Etsy

This Buckles item by CraftCollectionNL has 4 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from The Netherlands. Listed on Aug 16, 2025

www.etsy.com

 

[TartuWolf]

I like them too.
Found these with a quick search on Etsy as a cheap alternative (10€), not solid brass

Skull Shoelace Fastener Leather Boot Tie Fasten Buckle 2pcs/pair - Etsy

This Buckles item by CraftCollectionNL has 4 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from The Netherlands. Listed on Aug 16, 2025

www.etsy.com

View attachment 725363

Nice find, copper ain't too bad either. Willie's are ~60$ for a pair. Nice that these are in EU too, I think I'll order a pair.
I love how the same shop has this for sale too:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1754123939/brass-*****-statuedick-statuestudent

 

[3.14nche]

Nice find, copper ain't too bad either. Willie's are ~60$ for a pair. Nice that these are in EU too, I think I'll order a pair.
I love how the same shop has this for sale too:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1754123939/brass-*****-statuedick-statuestudent

how cute!

 

[TartuWolf]

I like them too.
Found these with a quick search on Etsy as a cheap alternative (10€), not solid brass

http://[URL][URL]https://www.etsy.com/listing/4352985285/skull-shoelace-fastener-leather-boot-tie

[/URL][/URL]
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Got a package from that etsy shop.

 

[3.14nche]

Got a package from that etsy shop.
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Looks good!
I'll probably pick up a pair as well along with their cavalry belt I've been curious about.

 

[jchance]

Got a package from that etsy shop.
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That looks pretty edgy, I love it!

 

[Edward]

You can also get some beautiful brass lace keeprs from him, but they were out of stock when I was ordering. I'd still love to own a pair!
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Those are cool. Do they have a practical purpose, or are they just decoration? (I'm not against the purely aesthetic by any means!) I remember m brother had a pair of metal (probably pressed steel or aluminium) one on a pair of Levis trainers back in the early eighties which I thought were cool then. I don't think I've ever had them on shoes of my own, though.

They look great, but I hate how allergic so many makers are towards having a proper website and instead they run things via IG with zero effort.

It would make me wary of dealing with a business. This is the sort of thing I'd like the support of an Etsy page or similar with. Though I can understand doing it the IG way on the basis that IG don't, so far as I know, take a cut of sales. Probably as likely to have people find you on IG as well, given how poor Etsy's search tool is. (Maybe I don't know how to use it, but it seems to run counter to any other search tool I've ever used - the more search terms you input, the wider the return rather than narrowing it down... 'boot' gets you boots, 'leather boots' gets you boots and anything else that might be made of leather).

Good to hear your thoughts Carlos!

I completely disagree regarding the straps - not using them functionally is missing the whole point of engineer boots (as opposed to pure slip-on boots) entirely. But there is definitely a limit to their functionality and over-strapping creates folds and pressure points that might be uncomfortable as you mentioned.
The first pair I had was unacceptable in this regard, this pair is acceptable even if not ideal.
Sure you can luck out and find a pair with just the right instep and have very minimal need for the straps, but that's pretty rare in my opinion. The straps broaden the margin for error in this regard.
Best fitting pair I've had was actually moderately difficult to slip into - that's basically the ideal.
This pair is too easy to slip into but the straps (barely) make it work.
That's what I mean by "good enough" fit

The sole is not thin, it's a normal thickness leather sole. The sole protector or topy is thin and it's design to be that way. That's the whole point and that's what I like about it. I won't wear these daily but will probably need to replace the protectors after a year or two. But that's a 10$ job - peel off the old one and glue on a new one. No need to re-stitch anything. For me that's the perfect configuration for urban wear living in a country with no cobblers that would agree to do a real resole.

Not sure what makes you think they are not proper boots. Sure they are not lugged hard wearing thick pigment black engineers, but CXL is not some very delicate leather (apart from scratches and scuffs visually). The outsole I already explained. Hardware is robust, stitching is proper. So what do you mean? No offense taken of course. These are no less robust than JP or Indonesian boots. Nowhere near PNW boots - even if I go for the waxed flesh lugged 8" loggers they won't be as knuckleheaded as PNW stuff. I know you're a fan or Red Wing and I've had around 7 pairs of Red Wings - nothing makes these feel any less robust than any RW pair that I had.

Overall these will be my more "fancy" or "dressy" boots, true. I have pigmented lugged Sendra engineers for mud and off-road duty, White's C350 which seem rather indestructible and a pair of White's semi-dress (also leather sole + topy) for black "nice" boots. Very happy to have arrived at 2 black + 2 brown pairs as my total collection. I'm pretty done with boots.

Weight : ~2kg or ~4.4lbs for the pair

I like how they look. It's the sort of thing I'd love to try. The combination of shipping and duties and VAT on top of that though would make them more expensive than RedWings here in England - and a lot more than I'd want to risk without trying them on first. Same reason I've never pulled the trigger on a pair of custom Wescos. Still, if ever I made it out that way in person... I had a pair of shoes made in Beijing years ago, and they fitted like a glove, beautiful things.

I like a stick on-sole protector myself. I have them done on pretty much every pair of leather soled shoes I buy. Used to have it done when they first needed heeling, though now I mostly get it done after they've been worn just one or twice - enough to scuff the underside sufficiently to give the glue something to hold to. After that, they last years for me, certainly they wear slower than the leather sole would alone.

 

[Zoro]

given how poor Etsy's search tool is. (Maybe I don't know how to use it, but it seems to run counter to any other search tool I've ever used - the more search terms you input, the wider the return rather than narrowing it down... 'boot' gets you boots, 'leather boots' gets you boots and anything else that might be made of leather).

I haven't used Etsy much, but it sounds like their search engine is quite rudimentary. You might want to give it a try searching terms on google adding site:etsy.com to limit it to Etsy results, although you would miss any possible additional search features that Etsy may have such as filtering by location.

 

[Edward]

I haven't used Etsy much, but it sounds like their search engine is quite rudimentary. You might want to give it a try searching terms on google adding site:etsy.com to limit it to Etsy results, although you would miss any possible additional search features that Etsy may have such as filtering by location.

Good idea. I don't think Etsy have a location filter, which is becoming more of an issue as they site has an awful lot of drop-shipped cheap stuff now, rather than the original vision (albeit it's still much closer the original idea than eBay has been for some years).

 

[TartuWolf]

@Edward
Those are purely decorative. Who doesn't want brass skulls on their black boots?
Etsy takes each word you write separately and bases the search on ANY of those, rather than taking them as a phrase or making the search results include ALL of the words (in any order for example).
I don't mind dealing with businesses via IG, especially if they are small makers like this one.
A sole-protector / topy is fantastic. Easiest and cheapest way to delay the need for a proper resole.

 

[Worf]

Interesting posts. I REALLY like some of the boot styles. My problem is I've wide feet... I mean WIDE feet. Double or triple E's depending on who's making em and how, and a high instep to boot. I'm a little leery about ordering bespoke boots from overseas without having my foot directly measured. There is a boot/shoe repair here in town... Perhaps have them take direct measurements have them built from that? Just curious.

Worf