I’m looking at you, boot nerds.
My sewing machine handwheel finally arrived. Well actually, two did and four more are on their way.
Because my manufacturer was so slow in sourcing a single handwheel, I found other suppliers of 810 machines and bought their handwheels. And these are actually the wheels that’ve arrived.
Nonetheless, they still fit my machine just fine.
Funnily enough, I’ve been doing a lot of sewing this week. Whilst doing so, my mind tends to wander as my hands work on autopilot.
Which brings me to this journal entry. And it’s controversial.
As you can imagine, I watch a lot of content on boot and shoemaking. Even before Outstation was born, before I could dream of making a boot.
And what I’ve noticed over the years is that there’s been an uptrend in boot and shoe snobbery. Particularly in the reviewer side of YouTube. i.e. BootTubers.
So read through, and if you’ve a different opinion, DM me.
A good debate is hard to find thesedays.
Nerding out is a double edged sword.
Particularly when it comes to opinions on ‘quality’. Construction, leather, whatever.
Don’t get me wrong, I myself have been, and still am a boot nerd.
However, after some time bootmaking, building my brand and interacting with normal people (customers), I would say I’m now a very different type of boot nerd. A little more mellowed out in my opinions. More rounded perhaps.
Us boot nerds love geeking out about leather, tannage, welt types, intricate construction, stitching and the like. We love to get into the nitty gritty, particularly when reviewing boots.
What we don’t realise though, is that for non-boot nerds (aka my customers), this nerdery (nerdism? nerdfoolery?) has made the barrier to entry into the boot world very high.
Especially if they’ve been down the BootTube rabbit hole.
The enthusiasm overrides the education.
Much of the BootTube content I’m talking about is so technical in nature, it accidently gatekeeps people from coming in.
It simply isn’t digestible enough for someone who is interested in buying a quality boot but not interested in becoming a boot nerd.
Think of it like this. You may relate.
You’re in a new corporate job. As in most corporates, there is so much jargon that:
a) You feel intimidated;
b) It takes you forever to learn it, and;
c) Maybe you just want a good job (i.e. a good boot) to earn a living (i.e. to wear), but have no interest in becoming indoctrinated into the company culture and jargon (i.e. the boot nerd world).
I totally understand that nerding out is an appreciation of the maker or brand. I just wonder if it’s also possible to make boot reviews easier to digest, so that other people can get in.
But maybe I’m misguided. Perhaps BootTubers simply don’t target the non-boot nerd market.
I don’t know.
When nerding out turns into snobbery (accidental or otherwise).
I feel that when nerds level up into snobs, this is simply bad for everyone.
I’m talking about when people start to sneer or look down on certain boot constructions, material quality, cosmetics and dare I say it, brands.
Previously, my boot nerd tendencies also erred on the snob side. But they quickly disappeared after being a professional Bootmaker, running a company.
Why?
Because I found that my opinions didn’t really have any basis. They didn’t have any hands-on experience of the ‘why’.
That is, why certain characteristics are in a boot or shoe, leading to an ‘ugly’ design or a ‘low quality’ construction method, or a ‘bad’ finish.
Quite often there are technical or commercial reasons for these.
Design a boot. Make it. Snobbery vanishes very fast.
And I don’t mean a single pair. I mean, build a business for customers, who complain about them, love them, have opinions about them etc.
After going through this myself I realised, shit.
Balancing material cost versus ease of manufacture versus quality versus target market versus price versus aesthetic vs functionality versus what my supply chain can provide, it’s almost impossible.
It’s all these things together that make a product the way it is. These are the ‘whys’.
They must be compromised to get a product to the shelf, in the real world.
Yes, it can mean there could be an ‘ugly’ design or a ‘low quality’ construction method, or a ‘bad’ finish. But that’s just how it is.
And that’s before even selling a single pair.
Opinions are fine, just put them into perspective.
There’s a product out there for everyone.
Just because it’s not for you, or it’s ‘cheap’, badly made, looks ugly or whatever else your opinion is, doesn’t mean it should be looked down on.
As an example, BootTubers out there may comment over a few crooked stitches. This is no problem by itself – if you can see it, it’s factual.
But at the same time, when the same piece of content doesn’t mention that the welting was perfect, it leads to imbalance and a lack of rounded opinion on the product.
Because the snob is so caught up in the weeds, they fail to see the forest.
One sided, aesthetically focused content simply accentuates the ‘bad’ without acknowledging the good. Leading to the audience perhaps drawing a wrong impression.
Especially if it’s a non-boot nerd.
Be bigger than the boot.
So balanced, non-technical BootTube content is the first problem. It doesn’t really exist.
The second problem is the rise of excessive boot nerdism or snobbery.
This often comes out in forums, as heated debates rage, putting down brands rather than lifting them up.
Let me be more crude.
By shitting on your most disliked brand, for all you know, their supply chain is also supplying material for other bootmakers.
Because of this, if that brand is a volume manufacturer, I can assure you, if it dies, your favourite indie bootmaker will too.
This leads me into my next point.
The best boot is the boot you can afford.
The Bangladeshi migrant fixing potholes on my street in 35 degree heat doesn’t give a shit if their leather is vegetable tanned.
They have a use case for their boot within a set budget. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that their boot is cemented, pvc coated with cardboard insole and likely to fall apart after one year.
It does the job that it has to do, within the constraints of the user. Meaning, affordability and fit for purpose.
Their boot doesn’t need to be technically compared to the highest quality product available.
By doing so, will of course make their boot seem inferior, when it simply isn’t.
My point here is that there’s always a certain boot, for a certain use at a certain time.
And at a certain price point.
Get new people in. This should be the only target.
I often have potential customers that want to buy Outstation boots, but simply can’t afford to at this point in their life.
When this happens, I have no issue recommending them quality brands within their budget, using what experience I have. It doesn’t matter if the boot is cemented or the leather isn’t the best quality.
My job is to just get them into the boot world. The fact that they found me means they’re interested in quality.
It’s simply a timing topic. Maybe later on in life, they’ll come back to buy a pair of Outstation boots.
Discomfort enters the room.
I do have thoughts that contradict myself. These make me uncomfortable, because they make me question if what I think holds true.
Intentionally misleading details are bad right?
Faux stitching on welts, faux welts, covering cardboard insoles with sock liner leather.
I understand that each of these is done for a reason. Like I said earlier, compromise. The ‘whys’ of manufacturing a product.
However, where these compromises are not disclosed, or allow the customer to draw incorrect conclusions about construction quality, I don’t believe this is right.
What frustrates me more is if these products are being priced based on a brand multiplier.
So the situation becomes worse. Misinformed (uninformed?) customers, maximised margins, minimised information.
But on the other hand, maybe I’m the dinosaur here.
Maybe customers don’t want to be informed anymore. Or maybe they just don’t care? Maybe this is actually what customers want. Brand recognition.
To set the record straight, I have no issue if ‘misleading’ details are present if price and information is also aligned.
A product of certain quality, for a certain use, at an certain price point, for a target market.
Misinformation kills quality.
Regardless of the price point, all this misinformation impacts my business heavily.
It kills businesses who are trying to make a quality product without a brand multiplier.
Non-boot nerds are my target customers. Those who are graduating from the aforementioned products into something like mine.
When they come to me, I have to unwind all the misinformation in their head. Building their knowledge from level 0 to 10, that would be easy. A clean slate to work with.
Instead, there’s so much misinformation damage that the customer actually must go from level -10 to10. They start from a negative knowledge base.
No, a cup sole doesn’t mean it’s more waterproof. No, shiny leather doesn’t mean it’s higher quality. No, a boot doesn’t need to be bulky to be strong. No, boots are not too hot. No, leather is not waterproof.
A million bullshit pieces of misinformation to be unwound.
This is where technical content really shines.
And it’s where I contradict myself once more.
Too much technical content will turn off the average person. But enough technical content is still needed for them to understand the details.
Or at least, create awareness.
Explaining that a typical boot has a cardboard insole, shocks the average person. ‘How can (insert brand here) use this?’
Because of brand loyalty (indoctrination?), hearing such truths first leads to doubt.
But then when they hear it again, from a Bootmaker, it dissipates the doubts and emphasizes the truth.
With correctly targeted technical BootTube content, this is like a million voices of truth for a non-boot nerd.
Gatekeeping can become education.
Look. The traditional bootmaking industry is dying.
I read yesterday that a 100 year old South African bootmaker just closed shop. The reason? Because of changing consumer tastes. Lower quality, more price effective footwear.
I understand from a point of consumer affordability that trends are changing, but what I can’t accept is if it comes from a point of consumer ignorance.
Meaning, people are buying lower priced products with the belief that they’re higher quality products. Because of misinformation, because of brand.
Maybe humans are just becoming less patient to learn, place less value on quality and longevity. I just don’t know.
Lower price products, like I’ve said, are totally fine. They fill a use case. But they shouldn’t be viewed as a substitute for higher quality products.
On the other hand, for all the boot nerds out there, our snobbery also stops people from being welcomed into the boot world.
From being educated on what a higher quality product actually is.
It’s like the BootTube content out there is simply preaching to the already converted, rather than trying to convert the heathens.
At the end of the day, the more people that can be educated and welcomed in, the better it is for the industry, the supply chain and the product.
End.
And that’s all I have to say.
By now, I’ve re-edited this journal entry around 5 times over the course of a week. To refine my thoughts, make it flow, get my point across and not sound too much like a dick.
I’m not sure if I was successful. You can be the judge of that.
p.s. Any BootTubers who want to educate themselves some more, let me know. I hold regular bootmaking workshops.
p.p.s If anyone has a need for one (or five) 15mm bore, 810 postbed machine handwheels, just ask.
