Reducing the shaft circumference on Engineer boots

Vintagestyle · Jan 18, 2019

did you already had the shaft circumference reduced on your engineer boots ?

I have some for which i would like to have this done and i wonder if some of you already did it and what was the result ( and was it expensive ) ?

Bfd70 · Jan 18, 2019

Spoke to 2 cobblers about that.
Those boots are much thinner without an existing backstrap. The cost, effort, and results will not be worthwhile.

Vintagestyle · Jan 19, 2019

Bfd70 said:
Spoke to 2 cobblers about that.
Those boots are much thinner without an existing backstrap. The cost, effort, and results will not be worthwhile.

Apart from the cost , would it be possible ?

Do you mean the cobblers to,d you the result would not be good ?

Cause as i can't find any 11" Chippewa engineer in my size , i wonder about doing that with taller 17" ones that would be cut shorter , as unfortunately they have a wider shaft which is made to be worn over the pants but i don't like wide shafts on 11" ones !

Bfd70 · Jan 19, 2019

I think you’re reaching too far .

Vintagestyle · Jan 19, 2019

I saw a video where a cobbler reduced the height of some 17" ones ,what seems to be done quite easily but wearing large shaft under some pants is not really nice cause you see the shape of the shaft under the jeans or leather pants if it is not wide enough .
The 11" ones have a smaller shaft circumference ( some people with large calf don't like that but for me it's ok ) but i can't find some anywhere in my size unfortunately .
I suppose you also thought about it if you spoke about it with some cobblers ,didn't you ?
The backstrap, do you mean the strip of leather at the back of the boot ?

Yes, they don't seem to have some at the beginning but he stitches one after reducing their circumference but it is true they are thinner ( in another hand soles are much thicker and they stitch them ).
That said, they have been stitched on the Chippewa so i suppose it can be restitched but it might cost some money.
I'll ask some cobbler and see what they think about it if i really can't find 11" ones in my size .
Here is a video of some tall shaft ones cut to 11" but he keeps the circumference as is .

Mich486 · Jan 19, 2019

With the vast availability of brands offering 11” engineers (the most common height) why focusing so hard on Chippewa? I’d say try another brand. If you are based in France get some Lofgren from Eastman or east west apparel so that if they don’t fit you can return them. Quite a step up from Chippewa anyway.

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Vintagestyle · Jan 19, 2019

You are right , it would be easier for me if i was not focusing on Chippewa but they are the ones i prefer unfortunately !
I tried Red Wing as they are not that different but unfortunately i don't have any shop where i can try , choose and buy them so i have to order them abroad and received some i had to send back for some problems i spoke about in some posts here !
I bought the only pair of Wesco i really liked ,the 100th anniversary 1939 British tan ,which i paid really expensive and obviously they seem to be too small !
I was advised by Wesco andthe shop selling them, to buy the same size as RW and Chippewa but they size shorter due to a lower toe box and unfortunately there are no more left in a 1/2 size bigger and they were only made on pre order for a few weeks and are not available anymore ,so i will have to sell mine i did not even wear as i can't send them back for refund due to import cost ( i would loose half the price i paid in total incl shipping costs and ilport fees and would have to pay shipment back to USA from France ...)!
I like the Buco / Beck but apart from the fact they are really expensive , they don't make sizes over 10 !

Vintagestyle · Jan 19, 2019

I don't like all the other toe box shape of all the other brands making some ,which are much too flat for my taste ( and i don't really like Carolina and the few other brands with steel toe ) .
So unless i can buy some RW and receive some without defects ( i will try but it seems better to go in a shop to choose them although they don't have my size in stock in most of the shops in EU , so they have to order them !) ,what doesn't seem so easy ,as obviously ,they need to sell what they have in stock even if they have defects or small imperfections and it seems they send them when bought online , hoping the customer won't mind receiving some like that but when i pay about 400 euros for some boots , i want to get some that are as expected !
I don't say they only send some with defects but if you don't have luck ,you might get some that have some when ordering online and it can happen several times !
I wonder if i could have some Wesco Boss custom made with steel toe and if the toe box would look exactly like Chippewa but i am not sure they would ! I really love the look and quality of the Chippewa with steel toe ( and wore some since the 80's) when they are well made without defects , although i would prefer a leather insole but once they are broken in , they are comfortable enough.

Vintagestyle · Jan 19, 2019

I am not saying the RW shops do it on purpose but as they don't try the boots they sell ,they might not see some problems , like when a boot instep is really extremely tight , or when some steel toe edge above the forefoot might be uncomfortable because the leather under is not thick enough and you really feel the edginess of the steel toe ( which might get through the leather with wear ) ; or when you notice some loose grain leather once you flex the foot ( and know that it will become even looser with time as the leather used is not good enough quality ). I don't know if they check the boots before sending them but as they are suposed to have gone through thr quality control, they don't bother with it .
And as the manufacturer doesn't want to loose too much money ,they sell some with imperfections when they are not clearly defectuous and impossible to sell at the regular price .
I saw several pairs of Chippewa ( which is known for having problems with stitchings ,soles and other things on some of their boots ) with defects in a shop which had been selling some for decades and they told me they were not bought as factory second ( see some other topics i wrote in ,about RW and Chipp ).

Edward · Jan 19, 2019

Mich486 said:
With the vast availability of brands offering 11” engineers (the most common height) why focusing so hard on Chippewa? I’d say try another brand. If you are based in France get some Lofgren from Eastman or east west apparel so that if they don’t fit you can return them. Quite a step up from Chippewa anyway.

Especially in price! Chippewas can be had in London for GBP275 /pair; Lofgrens are around three times that. Not a like for like comparison on any level.

Mich486 · Jan 19, 2019

Lofgren cost 3 times a pair of Chippewa but are ten times nicer! I know I know it’s all subjective... anyway I think there is a gap in the market when it comes to a “cheap” engineer boot with a sleek profile. It sure can’t be difficult to produce one (start off from a Chelsea boot last?) there probably isn’t the demand.

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Dm101 · Jan 20, 2019

Mich486 said:
Lofgren cost 3 times a pair of Chippewa but are ten times nicer! I know I know it’s all subjective... anyway I think there is a gap in the market when it comes to a “cheap” engineer boot with a sleek profile. It sure can’t be difficult to produce one (start off from a Chelsea boot last?) there probably isn’t the demand.

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I agree.
The prices of these boots goes from
Bad quality 100+ to good quality for 300+.
That's ridiculous. Who the hell is gonna pay a car note for friggin boots??

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Bfd70 · Jan 20, 2019

Well....judging by the the Engineer boots thread lots of people.

Edward · Jan 20, 2019

Mich486 said:
Lofgren cost 3 times a pair of Chippewa but are ten times nicer! I know I know it’s all subjective... anyway I think there is a gap in the market when it comes to a “cheap” engineer boot with a sleek profile. It sure can’t be difficult to produce one (start off from a Chelsea boot last?) there probably isn’t the demand.

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Lofgren are undoubtedly nice, but there's always going to be a limited market for a boot that costs more than a great custom jacket (which, in turn, is one reason why the boot does cost so much: vicious circle).

It's odd, isn't it? You'd think there should be, but then there's the rumour Chippewa are getting out of the engineer boot market altogether.

For my money, though, I wish Aero would do a line of engineers. All they would really need to do would be to do something akin to the Chippewa 1901M48, have it made up in Horween CXL Steer in brown and black (maybe russet, or even cordovan), and it would sell itself! THere's got to be enough of an audience just waiting for Aero to drop these...

There are one or two motorcycle firms making them here and there (TCX remarkably good - ECE rated) for about a ton, but even with the big retro trend in motorcycle gear in recent years, not many seem to be catching on to this style of boot or, like Helston, they make a cool one but then go and ruin it by putting a side-zip in it.

Dm101 said:
That's ridiculous. Who the hell is gonna pay a car note for friggin boots??

Bfd70 said:
Well....judging by the the Engineer boots thread lots of people.

Well, in the same way that 'lots' of us pay out the big bucks for custom jackets, but Schott probably outsell all of of our preferred makers by some way owing in some part to simple economy of scale. It does seem, though, that there is a largely missing / shrinking range of mid-market options a la Red Wing / Chippewa, even as the number of options at crazy money grows.

Vintagestyle · Jan 20, 2019

I can't understand Chippewa decision to stop 11" engineer boots !
I think if they were receiving a request signed by enough people ,to keep on producing at least a small production , they wouldn't loose money and might do it !
I opened a topic on the subject but nearly nobody answered it !
People tought they would be able to still but Chippewa for many years , fashion and trends come and go and even if they might not sale that many for the moment ,the trend might come back !
I suppose if they made the original 1901 serie it was because people were interested buying it ,seeing how they seem to be mostly motivated by money ,i don't see them releasing it before studying the market and it was just a few years ago .
I am sure that there are still some people interested in them and it has become impossible to find some anywhere in the in D width at least !
On top of that they keep producing the 17" ones ,so why stop the 11" as they are made the same way on the same production lines ?
For me , the quality was quite good when they were made without defects, as good as the higher end ones and i clearly prefer them over the other higher brands ones ; especialy for their toe shape and overall look .
Their harness ones were really nice as well ,although difficult to find th eright fit .
And also because for me ,they are the original engineer boots ,the first company making them , the ones used by Marlon Brando in the wild ones and James Dean in Rebel without a cause .
They could have kept the leather insole though.
I think if they started to sell less it is because of their own fault ,the quality control was not good enough these last years and people went on buying other brands because of that i think ,knowing there are some sold for less and people don't like to pay for something for which the quality is not good enough when it is more expensive than other similar products .
So ,some went with higher ends ones and other to cheaper ones or Red Wing that are close enough .

Vintagestyle · Jan 20, 2019

Please, if any of you see a shop anywhere where they still have some 27863 /1901m57 or 27899 in 10,5D , i would be really grateful to know about it cause i desperatly look for buying some but can't find them !

Mich486 · Jan 21, 2019

I just searched ‘chippewa 1901m57 on Rakuten and there is a shop which seems to have them in stock. Check with them (I have had an experience where something is shown as in stock but it turned out not to be). They are pricier than in Europe/US but if this is really what you want...

https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/chippewa/item/1901m57/

handymike · Jan 21, 2019

When I went into the Frye store in NYC, they didn't even have engineers. Amazing to me cuz Frye were always what I thought of as engineers...the good old ones....

Vintagestyle · Jan 22, 2019

Mich486 said:
I just searched ‘chippewa 1901m57 on Rakuten and there is a shop which seems to have them in stock. Check with them (I have had an experience where something is shown as in stock but it turned out not to be). They are pricier than in Europe/US but if this is really what you want...

https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/chippewa/item/1901m57/

Thanks for the information but from what i understand based on their very approximative English translation , it would be ordered from Chippewa USA it seems ( unless i am wrong ) , so i suppose they wouldn't be available to them either !
Is anybody of you already a Rakuten member and could ask
Them if available in 10,5D ?

Cause i once contacted for an item sold on Rakuten and after that i received tons of undesired advertisings mails from Rakuten and it took me months and many mails asking them to remove my mail address from their mail database ,to be able to stop them from sending me those emails !
So if i contact them , i am afraid that it starts again ( especialy if they answer me they are not available anymore ) !
whereas someone who is already member on rakuten would not receive anymore mails than he already receives .

Dm101 · Jan 23, 2019

handymike said:
When I went into the Frye store in NYC, they didn't even have engineers. Amazing to me cuz Frye were always what I thought of as engineers...the good old ones....

Sounds about right.
I went in there back in 1992 looking for engineer boots and they only had loggers.
So I bought a pair of loggers for 200+ dollars...
Had em until last year when I donated them to goodwill...I wasn't wearing them.
Plus my heart had moved back to Engineers again over the years.

Reducing the shaft circumference on Engineer boots

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