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welcome to boot spy my name's william today we're talking about the red wing classic chelsea i'm going to discuss the style leather quality so quality fit and sizing and ultimately whether or not this boot is right for you let's get into it [Music] guys thank you so much for joining me as i said today we are reviewing the red wing classic chelsea this is actually a new boot from red wing in the heritage line it came out in spring 2021 and i'm reviewing this more towards the end of the year so it's been out for a few months and i've had a chance to really break these in wear them around town so i can give you my full unfiltered thoughts start off and talk about the style of the boot now this is built on the same number eight last as the red wing iron ranger and the blacksmith so it has that bump toe which you could probably see here so it is definitely a more roomy more bulky chelsea boot it reminds me a lot of like a blunt stone or there's some other options out there there's a ton of brands that have copied bluntstone uh so it's definitely one of those like bigger work type chelsea boots not nearly as slim and sleek as a thursday boot or many of the other options out there with a more form-fitting chelsea i gotta say you know this type of chelsea boot isn't really my favorite thing uh if i'm gonna go with chelsea boot i think it should be dressier i think it should be slimmer sleeker i prefer that so i'm not really a huge fan of just the bulkier chelsea boot in general but i honestly feel that this you know the heritage line it has some really huge iconic boots i mean we're talking about the red wing iron ranger we're talking about the you know red wing classic mock we got the blacksmith there's just these boots that really stand out they're super unique they're one of a kind when you see somebody wearing them like that's a that's a red wing for sure and to me i don't really get the sense with the red wing classic chelsea that it's that iconic beyond my preference of not really liking bigger bulkier chelsea boots and me not really i don't really find it super unique there are some things to note about the style of this boot now because it is a little bit larger i've noticed that pretty much with all red wing boots you can't wear anything too tapered you know if you're wearing tapered jeans or chinos or anything like that you need to have a wider leg opening just so you can really fit around the boot and you don't look like you have clown shoes on so it's important to get a pair of jeans or something like that that has a wider leg opening so that you avoid that bulbous large foot look the redwing classic chelsea features a 360 degree goodyear welt and it comes in three different colorways so again this is the ebony harness this is the 3191 you can also find a version in the amber harness this is the iron ranger and amber harness but it's the same type of leather that is the 3190 and then you can also find it in hawthorne which is a more rough out leather and that is the 3192.
Like with any chelsea boot you get the elastic goring right here it also has a nylon pull tab this is pretty flexible so you don't end up getting this caught on the back of your pants and then you have the backstay running up back here let's get that in focus right there got the backstay right there and then the upper is pretty interesting it's actually a full separate piece of leather that goes down around the toe so this is a full separate piece of leather and then it's a little bit of leather lining on the inside but then there's also a fabric lining around the toe so let's talk about the leather quality so when i measured this out uh the leather along the heel this this piece of leather right in here that goes around to the back stay that is about two and a half millimeters thick so that's actually a really thick piece of leather it also has a leather lining around the heel and a little bit in the on the instep that's also one and a half millimeters thick so you end up having four millimeters of leather at least around this part right here so that is super super thick and this is ebony harness leather it is super soft super supple it is a really really excellent leather it's been aging really well it's been creasing really well and then especially you know you get into the backstay and this is actually going to come up a little bit later with the break-in but when you get to the backstay you have there's like six or seven millimeters of leather and then you also have the heel counter in there it's like a pretty it gets crazy back in the heel which my heels don't really get messed up i don't have problems with the heels wearing out but if you do uh that's definitely not going to happen with this boot there is so much leather on the back of this boot it gets kind of interesting in the front so there is actually a fabric liner a really really soft fabric liner that runs throughout the whole toe box so it doesn't have the leather lining all the way throughout it's really just in this portion and in the heel but all the way out throughout the toe you get a leather liner and the leather is actually a lot thinner you can tell from this part right here just right at the front of the instep at the top of the inset at the top of the boot shaft that leather is only one and a half millimeters thick so this actual top piece right here the majority of the boot the toe that's one and a half millimeter thickness uh which you know i would have expected it to be two millimeters something a little bit thicker that's not the case maybe they were saving some money i don't know what it was but uh that does make for a really really easy gentle break-in uh it might have i don't think it's going to have any durability issues just because this type of boot you're not going to be really like working in it too much if you do use it for work it's probably light duty so there's not going to be a huge risk of damaging the boot because it's got thinner leather and then what you lack in you know maybe a little bit of durability you're going to make up for in breathability and general comfort moving on to the sole this is a track and tread red wing sole so that is made with crepe rubber this is a very hardened crepe rubber so it's not like if most people's experience is with like a pair of clark's desert boots that's super light super squishy really not very durable crepe rubber at all whereas the red wing track and tread i've i've been you know i've had for longer i've had the classic mock this is the same sole right here this one is in white this one is in black but this sole it has a ton of grip on it ton of traction it's really comfortable and to me i think it offers the best balance of you know durability and then shock absorption comfort and you know it doesn't wear down too quickly in the heel like any other crepe rubber sole wood the insole is made with a leather footbed and a cork midsole so basically that is just going to continue to break in get softer more comfortable over time and then of course this is a 360 degree goodyear world so if you really didn't like this wedge sole you can wear it around a bunch wear it on the heel and you could slap on a new type of sole maybe a vibram you know mini lug sole something like that and really change the look of this boot overall getting the right fit and sizing for this boot is pretty easy pretty straightforward if you've ever shopped with redwing before iron ranger blacksmith classic mocto that's the same sizing here so for me that is a half size smaller than i normally would get with a pair of sneakers i'm a 10 and a half in sneakers i get the size 10 in all of my red wings and it fits really well it's important to note that i believe only the amber harness comes in a double e width the ebony harness and the hawthorne those are just standard d widths so you don't get a variety of widths unless you want to go with amber harness and then even then you only have d and double e so important to note if you do have wide feet one of the benefits of this bump toe last is that say if you have wide feet they're not like super wide but just wide enough to make most shoes uncomfortable you can get your normal sneaker size and then that will leave a little bit extra room in the toe because of the way it's shaped the last is shaped you'll have more room in your toes to wiggle around if you want like a full detailed breakdown of how red wings should fit i have a link down in the description below that goes to bootsby.com you can check out everything about how to size any red wing boot that's our full breakdown our full guide there looking at the break-in period i didn't have a rough break-in period with this based on the you know a pain perspective it was really comfortable as soon as you put it on your foot it's a very comfortable boot right away and then walking there's no blisters no nothing like that but what did take a while was i think it was about 10 miles of walking where this is the loudest boot i've ever worn did you hear that it was kind of hard to get people to take me seriously we're going on a walk maybe i'm telling something serious right i got squeaky shoes i don't know it was it took a long time but after about 10 miles it got a little bit quieter and quieter and now it doesn't squeak so much but that was definitely that's definitely something on my mind because every time i'm taking the steps like so i'm listening to that that took about 10 miles but it broke in it's good that is the only break-in period with this boot here's my final verdict on the red wing classic chelsea now in terms of construction quality materials used and overall just like how this boot feels how it looks i would say absolutely the boot costs about what 280 bucks to either 270 or 280.
So it's up there and if you compare that to blendstone blendstones are 200 i think in terms of quality and construction the red wing absolutely outclasses bluntstone by by a mile so all of those things how it feels and and how the durability is going to go all that stuff this boot is fantastic now if i didn't own a boot channel and if it wasn't my responsibility or i didn't feel it was my responsibility to review these boots for you i probably would never have gotten the red wing classic chelsea just because again like i said um just the bulkier chelsea boot it just i don't i don't know where it fits i like a slimmer sleeker chelsea boot so the style isn't really for me but if it's for you well then everything else checks out so if you like that bigger bulkier chelsea boot if you want something a chelsea boot that you can kind of you could do some work in well then this is an excellent option red wing they're always high quality the leather is excellent it's so soft it basically requires no care at all so if you like the style of this boot then you're not gonna go wrong with the quality if you enjoyed this video please hit the thumbs up and also hit that subscribe button down below you should see some other red wing review videos coming up right here so head over there see what i thought about other red wing boots in the heritage line until next time put your best boot forward
