Laugh to keep from crying Chippewa engineer boots

SCSS, I just ordered the Chippewa Street Warrior boots from Amazon, mainly for the reasons you gave at the beginning of this thread and also because they had a pair in my size at a pretty decent price ($179.00). They're supposed to be brand new with tags, etc., so I'll be interested in seeing what shows up. I should get them by Thursday, so I'll post about them then. Anyone have any experience with this particular boot?

Fingers crossed for you, Bob. Hopefully my one bad experience was an anomaly because of Amazon hijinks.

Nice,but what a hassle.

Ordered the exact same boots from a specialty online retailer ( can't recall which ) and the sewn in part of the male strap on the uppers ( the triangle of stitches ) was way off, only 2-3 stitches were lined up with both strap and upper, and the strap immediately ripped off on first use. They were sent back, via pre-paid return label sent from seller, and replaced with a solid pair. Chippewa makes great boots but I've found these stitches really have to be inspected before final purchase. I also find that the stitches are too fine at times and maybe a thicker waxed thread should be used.

Sorry to revive this topic but as i really loved Chippewa engineer boots and unlined 8" Loggers ( discontinued ,like the 25510 super loggers that seemed to be similar in 10") to ride my motorbike in the 90's and that i bought another motorbike ,Kawasaki 1200R Roadster a few months ago ( after many years without any) , i searched for some Chippewa boots everywhere in Europe but had really hard time finding some and among the very few new ones i found , many had defects !
Several ( including the discontinued Harness 27868 ) had some outsoles very badly cut and assymetrical on one boot compared to the other , stitches misaligned and waving on the outsole and some engineer boots had two different types of buckles ( top one was nickel ,bottom one was newer Zamac ) !
So, difficult to choose one ,as on top of that ,sizing was all over the place for a 10D ; nearly going from 9,5 to 10,5 !
It's a pity the control quality has become so bad through years at Chippewa and i even wondered if they were factory second or so but i saw many people writing disapointing reviews on the net ,specifyig the same problems or worst ( stitches going south , badly glued heels , bad leathers used from the belly of the cow that should not be used and totaly loose ,too soft with creases and wrinkles ...etc ) .
And obviously ,some important différences on the leathers used ,some much thinner than others !
When they are well made ,those Chippewa boots are great for the price ( although in Europe they cost about 380 euros but when they show those types of defects it's really disapointing !

What’s the thickness of the leather on 27899? My experience with their “heritage” models have been disappointing.


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I have a pair that are identical (in good condition, without defects) to the Chippewa engineer's the OP has in this thread. All's well with them, but I picked them up second hand offline. So the true age is not known. Other than having a rather flat profile inside (no real arch support) they are great. Even fit fairly well for 11.5D Engineer boots. Too bad it sounds thier QC is out to lunch of late.

Schott is practically giving them away right now.

regius said:

What’s the thickness of the leather on 27899? My experience with their “heritage” models have been disappointing.


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As it is Black Odessa leather like their 27863 model, i would say that it is the same thickness for both .
From what i saw the thickness vary from a pair to another of the same model ( depending on the thickness of the cowhide and part of the particular animal used for each pair ) , some are thick enough and some are thinner and unfortunately it is impossible to know what you will get unless you see precisely the pair you will get and have them in your hand !
The leather seems to have been thicker in the past in general ,although some of the recent production ,of these last years that were of good quality ,that i had in my hand ,had a correct thickness .
Unfortunately it seems they sometimes use the belly of some cow whereas from what i read on another forum in the review of a guy who bought some Chippewa boots and who works in the leather business ,this part of the animal should never be used as it is too loose to make good boots !

Here is what he wrote ,that seems to make sense :

" I am a leather worker by trade. I make high quality purses and satchels. Given this, I am familiar with cowhide and what parts of the hide should never be used for high quality items.

Loose grain usually occurs at the belly portion of the hide. Belly leather has a characteristic wrinkling and veining at the surface of the grain. It is weaker and stretches easily. This is very different than deeper creases that will occur in a boot as it breaks in over time. Cowhide bellies should never be used in high quality items.

The wrinkling in the pictures occurred after lacing the boots up. They hadn't even been worn yet. I am really disappointed because I had high hopes for these. Given the cost, this type of craftsmanship is unacceptable. I've had my Red wings for three years now and the only creases in it are due to the normal breaking in of the leather."

Although i suppose it might happen with Redwings boots as well if ever they have that type of quality control ( and only happens on some Chippewa for which the leather used was not good enough but not all of them fortunately !). And i think Chippewa produces more engineer boots than redwings .
The type of belly cowhide he speaks about seems to be the same as what the person who opened this topic had on the vamp of the right boot of the pair he got in replacement ( shown in a picture on the previous page ) of the ones with defects he had got at first ( he was unlucky twice !) .

That Odessa leather is a long haired black calf from swiss alps and tanned in germany. I have two boots made from it

The crooked welt stitching in yer OP is alarming, but that can happen if someone on a machine gets distracted I guess.

Glad you got sorted out man.

side note not entirely unrelated... One of my other fav boots is ethically harvested by innuit who hunt harp seal for their very existence, and the hides are just byproduct otherwise burned en masse 12k at a time if nobody decides to make somethin with it. Its super thin, but strong, and amazing for its water resistance (wouldnt call it waterproof, but it doesnt stretch and shrink like cow leather for sure. Seal hide has a stigma, so its usually used under a heavy disguise, and I'm a little shy about sayin what I have it on.