Video summary
In the fourth week of his five-week challenge wearing RM Williams boots, the host Tech reflects on a period dominated by his standard city lifestyle and office routine, noting that he did not undertake any significant travel or extreme conditions this time. He explains that after his previous "12 boots in 12 weeks" series, he realized the importance of selecting footwear that genuinely fits one's daily life rather than just buying boots one loves but rarely uses. Consequently, for this challenge, he limited himself to three specific pairs chosen for their suitability in urban environments and light outdoor tasks like gardening and neighborhood walks. He also mentions considering extending the challenge to a sixth week later on, partly because the first few days of the initial week were spent unwearing the boots after returning from holiday.
The core of his experience focuses on the practical performance of the three pairs: the Comfort Turnout in yearling leather, the popular Comfort Craftsman in chestnut color, and the Comfort Goodwood which he now refers to as the Gardener. Tech highlights the unique advantages of RM Williams' proprietary flat rubber outsoles, praising how easily dirt, sand, and mud can be knocked off without getting trapped in deep lugs or studs. He demonstrates that while these soles are slightly more slippery on wet tiles than cork-nitro alternatives, they excel in dusty conditions and allow for quick cleaning with a simple wipe on a doormat. Additionally, he notes the exceptional comfort provided by the Comfort PON insoles and the lack of a leather midsole, which makes breaking them in significantly easier compared to heavy PNW-style boots or those from other heritage brands like Parkers or Grandstone.
As the week progressed, Tech observed distinct changes in the leather of each boot due to consistent wear, particularly in how they molded to his feet and softened over time. The Goodwood pair showed noticeable color variation and creasing around the ankle areas where movement is most frequent, while the dark chestnut Craftsman hid these changes better but still developed visible folds. Interestingly, he found that the Turnout remained as comfortable from the end of week four as it was when he first unboxed it from eBay, showing minimal change in comfort levels despite heavy use. He also tested the durability and protective qualities of the boots by accidentally dropping a step ladder directly onto the toe of the Craftsman, reporting that he felt nothing, which suggests reasonable protection against light impacts even without steel toes.
Ultimately, Tech concludes that his strategy of choosing office-appropriate boots and a single pair for evening wear was successful and aligned with his actual lifestyle needs. He admits the week might seem less exciting to viewers who expect dramatic adventures like climbing cliffs or trekking through red dust, but he emphasizes the valuable lesson that one should buy boots they need rather than just collecting every boot they want. Despite the lack of extreme terrain testing this week, he feels confident in his choices and is considering whether to extend the experiment beyond five weeks to gain even more long-term experience with these specific models before wrapping up the series.
Read the full video transcript
So, week four of five weeks in RM
Williams boots. Keep watching and I'll
tell you what happened in week four.
[music]
How you doing? Welcome to uh my boot
lovy channel. My name is Tech. Uh my
channel talks about heritage boots made
in the oldfashioned way. And I'm filming
today on Wajuk country. It's uh late on
Saturday afternoon and with the um
spring sun starting to come in, it's
actually quite quite strongly sunny out
there and I've had to close the blinds
because looking this way, I'm looking
out the window and it's really bright.
So unfortunately this time I've just got
some artificial lights because of the uh
lighting conditions.
So, I'm here to talk to you about my
week four experience of my challenge
five weeks in RM Williams. And if you
haven't, go and uh watch all the other
videos, week one, week two, and week
three before you come to this one. And
if you really don't want to do that,
then below this video, there'll be a
link to the playlist where you can watch
the whole lot in one go as a bit of a
binge.
So the concept
um what I decided to do after last year
I did my uh 12 boots in 12 weeks series.
I found that there were a few shortfalls
in my concept being that I chose boots
that I loved but didn't nec naturally
fit uh my lifestyle during those 12
weeks. Uh, and in this case, I chose
five weeks in RM Williams boots. And in
doing so, I only chose three pairs of
boots because they fitted within the
lifestyle that I was going to uh go
through in the um these these five
weeks. Much of that lifestyle is a city
lifestyle. Much of it is going to work.
And already in week four, I'm beginning
to think, you know what, next time I do
one of these challenges, I'm going to
have to change it up a bit and maybe
choose a period when I'm actually doing
some ultimate traveling and maybe choose
a pair of boots or several pairs of
boots that I'd use for those travels as
well as at home. Anyway, this is week
four and let me take tell you about my
experience.
So, first off, let me tell you about um
how I wore these boots.
This week was fundamentally a normal
week for me going to the office. I
didn't do any traveling up to the north
where I often go in order to to work
with my clients on strategic planning or
culture change in uh not for-p profofit
Aboriginal corporations.
So this week a lot of it was spent in
the office. And the three boots that I'm
wearing across this challenge. Um I'll
introduce you to them in a minute. But
these two I wear uh most of the time in
the office this week, swapping between
one and the other, allowing them to dry
overnight. And this one I wore uh in the
evenings when I went for when I usually
go for walks with my wife. And it's
actually quite dirty. I forgot to clean
these um because last Sunday and across
the week um I'd used them out in the in
the yard doing a few things, clearing
up, pruning trees and so on because it's
coming up to spring and needing to do a
lot of that, but also walking around uh
the neighborhood into neighborhood parks
and so on. Um it's it it's really a bit
dusty and and and um quite dirty because
the council around here has started to
work in the parks digging things up. So
we're having to go through some sand
pits. So it's been quite dirty, but I'll
tell you about them. So the three pairs
of boots. The first one is the RM
Williams Comfort Turnout. Uh brilliant
boot. This is in yearling leather. It's
in a color that you can't get anymore,
although you can still get this this
model in the RM Williams website. Um, I
bought these off eBay, new, old stock.
Uh, incredible saving really if you can
if you can get your size in, uh, on
eBay. Um, the Comfort Goodwood is a
round toe boot and it's basically the
same last as it were used to be on the
old gardener boots from beyond two years
ago. Very comfortable boot, flat sole,
which I'll talk about. Um, and it is 270
degree Goodyear welt with a comfort pon
insole. Go and watch last week. Uh, and
and in that video I talked about the PON
insole, what it's made up of, and what
were the pros and cons.
The next boot that I wore is the um much
more regularly popular boot called the
Comfort Craftsman. This is the one that
you see in most RM Williams photographs.
This is their most popular boot and it's
in their most popular color called
chestnut. This also is in yearling. Uh I
bought seconds. There's a hole punch
there to show it's a second.
And I have to say this year leather is
nowhere near as good as this one. Um
because it's a little bit more
prone to wrinkling up and creasing up a
little bit more. Not loose grain, but it
definitely shows the creases as I'm
wearing them. And I have been wearing
these quite a lot and up to now,
including these sort of everyday or
every second day we wares that I've been
uh wearing them for. So, they've really
come through and the wear has come
through. This next one when I bought it
was called the Goodwood in bark, which
is basically a crazy horse leather. Um,
and this is now called the Gardener
because they they RM Williams
discontinued the old style gardener and
made this the gardener. Again, it's a
comfort model. So, it's got that PON
insole. Lovely, gorgeous comfort pon.
And this one has a V-bar um rubber sole
rather than the flat sort of one. And
again, I'll tell you about how easy
these are to keep clean. All right. So,
uh, let me talk about the beauty of
these Ron Williams flat soles. You see,
in both of these models, they have the
proprietary rubber outsole that RM
Williams uses. [snorts] Um, and it's
it's basically a rubber outsole with
corrugations sort of molded into it for
a little bit of extra grip. These are
not cork nitro. They're they're pure
rubber, so they're a little bit more
slippery than those cork nitral um soles
that you can get on say Harold boots,
which are extremely grippy. So, these
can be um a little more challenging if
you're into um sort of slippery
surfaces.
In particular, I think things like um
wet, slippery tiles in shopping centers,
um I it's not as slippery as obviously a
leather sole or even some rubber soles.
and even very hard dayight soles. But
you have to be a little bit careful if
it's wet. If you're out in the concrete,
no problem. If you're out in the grass
or in the dirt, no problem. But one of
the advantages of these soles I've found
this week, because wearing this this
pair, uh the turnout, I had to go and
see a client um on a building site, a
construction site. He's not a builder.
um he's a property investor, but we were
going through uh one of his new
investments which has been built into a
series of flats, uh residential
accommodation and so on. So we we walked
through the site and it was covered in
um the kind of gray clay reddish mud
that you can get in Perth. And when I
got back to the office, I thought I I
better just, you know, give them a good
clean, take them off my feet, give them
a good clean before I got into the
office carpet. But I wiped my sole on
the um doormat, which is just a bit of
rough rough sort of rubber. And when I
did take my boots off, they were not
covered in dirt at all. They were
definitely when I got out of the car.
And just the fact that you can knock the
dirt off because these are flat soles.
You're not you're not getting things
caught in a commando lug. Uh you're not
getting mud caught into dayight studs.
It's a tremendous advantage if you're
doing any sort of bush or country
walking or um being out in the country
in the bush in in dust and dirt and mud
and sand. It's so easy to keep these
clean. I mean, they're not they're still
a little bit dusty, but they're they're
definitely clean. They're not covered in
mud. And I didn't do anything after I
took them off other than take them out
the door and just knock them together to
get more of the sand off.
So, these flat soles actually have a
purpose. Not only do they look dressier
if you're wearing them in the city, uh
certainly dressier than if you have
Commando lugs showing or even if you
have Ridgeway soles where the lugs are
showing. and even dressier than dayight
really. Even though you can't see too
much of a difference, but it's really
quite flat and
not that seriously slippery and so easy
to clean.
These ones, uh, going for walks in the
parks around here and doing some work in
the garden/yard,
these got a bit dusty. that they it
wasn't wet, so I didn't get mud in them,
but they definitely got dusty with dust
in in the um in the cutouts. Now, this
gives you a better grip on soft ground.
This gives you a better grip on mud,
grip on mud and uh clay and so on. Uh
better than these,
but they will get stuff stuck in in the
dirt. And I have uh cleaned this off in
the sense that I ran them under a under
a running tap making sure I didn't get
the uppers wet uh and then brushed them
off. So uh it's just a word about the
fact that RM Williams proprietary
standard outs soles are quite flat and I
quite like them for um keeping things
clean. So you don't have to um you know
clean them before you get in the house.
Just give them a a good um good wipe on
the doormat.
Now, my week four experience in these,
I'm hoping that when I'm doing this
little experiment, I'm actually seeing
boots that I don't get to wear every day
change as I wear them every day. I
realize five weeks is not a very long
time, but even so, I am beginning to see
changes.
Now, let me take this boot.
Out of the three, this is probably the
one I've worn the most before this
challenge. And um I thought I had broken
it in because these don't take much
breaking. They're they're comfort um
style models from RM Williams. So the
padding inside is really nice and soft.
You don't have to uh feel the hard
leather before you start um um uh
molding your foot into them. Uh they
don't have a midsole, all three. So
you'll find that the the uh the breaking
in in terms of the footfall and how your
foot moves is a lot easier than in uh
heavy PNW style boots or even some
something like a Parkers or Grandstone
where they do have a leather midsole.
It's just that much easier.
Um,
in terms of having worn these before, I
had started to see changes in the
leather because of where they rubbed on
my on the cuff of my jeans, for example,
and in some of the creasing and so on.
Um, but certainly in the last four
weeks, I've seen much more of a
variation of color on the leather like
there.
um be just because I've been wearing
them more because I've been in this
particular case this week um sort of
been on my on my um on my hunches as I'm
uh crouched over a a bed um where I'm
digging things up or or you know
chopping things down.
So there is definitely been a change in
this sort of new bucky crazy horse
leather. I have also
felt
like like a um a fitting of my foot into
it. You know when you first get into a
pair of boots, oh very comfortable. Yes,
it wraps around my my foot. But after a
while, if you wear it for a while, the
leather relaxes and your feet tend to
relax into it. And I've found that
effect happening in these.
The next boot that I've worn the most
before this challenge is this one, but
not by that much. If you go and see my
original review of this pair of uh this
model, that's actually an older uh pair
that I bought, which I have now sold.
Oh, no, I haven't. It's available for
sale. Uh and it is a half size smaller,
7 and a half. This is These are eights.
And uh a width wider that was
recommended by the store. Later on, I
found that my size eight under the
normal G width is perfect. So, I bought
these as a replacement for those, which
I'm going to sell. So, I've had these
for about 2 years now, but I haven't
really worn them that much because they
entered my rotation at the same time as
um you know, I have all these other
boots and they that built up to these
other boots, whereas that previous night
went I've worn quite a lot. [snorts]
So whilst I've worn this second most
before this challenge, it really hadn't
been too many times in frequency. So
having worn them for four weeks solid uh
at least other than last week, at least
once every every couple of days, I am
finding these are molding to my feet
really well. Um although they were
comfortable to start with,
the flatness of that sleek sleek toe
does sometimes after eight hours um you
become quite aware of it. But not
anymore. Wearing these solidly on and
off for at least uh once every couple of
days, everything seems to have just
molded to the shape of my feet. Um, in
the uppers
I find the leather
starting to soften where at the very
beginning I said um these were not as
supple as as this yearling. Even though
they're both yearling,
they're beginning to become that way.
Um, they're beginning to become really
pliable and collapsible and and so on.
[snorts] changes in the leather because
it's a dark chocolate chestnut brown.
You don't see a lot of change in
variation in color like you do with this
boot.
You see those the sort of different
color variations.
So that dark color kind of hides it. But
what you do see is you're beginning to
see the folds where your ankle uh moves
a lot. And um some of them are actually
creases. I I repeat, they're not loose
grain. They're just creases, but they
show the creases quite a lot. Um, and
across the top there, you're seeing
where the uh leather actually folds.
The key thing that I'm finding in this
is that more and more I'm finding the
insides,
the bottom of the insides just
beautifully soft. When people say they
find RM Williams comfortable, this
really proves it.
And then in this last week, what have I
noticed most about this? In this war
color, this sort of reddish color, you
do find variations. Now, on the toe
where it's stretched, you do find that
it's getting a little bit lighter. Uh
the lightness is also in the heel where
there's maybe a bit of um not
scratching, but more rubbing AC on the
on the carpet or the the car's footwell,
for example. And I am beginning also to
see slight variations in color of where
as my foot moves, I'm pushing the the
leather out in different places.
It's a very supple leather, which it was
to start with. Um, and I I wore these
the least since this challenge started,
but I can't say I'm feeling the most
change. Like literally this was as as
comfortable as it is now when I first
got them out of the box out of eBay when
I bought them in eBay. So what I do see
change in these is not the comfort
factor. It's much more how this
beautiful soft waxy yearling has changed
in appearance. And I'm really looking
forward to that. In fact, I'm beginning
to think um that I might extend this
challenge to a sixth week. So, I'll tell
you all about that next week.
Um, one of the things I wanted to say to
you about these boots, they're not they
have a structured toe, but they're not
um they're not uh steel toe or anything
like that, but when I was out um doing
some pruning, I dropped a step ladder. I
mean, it's not particularly heavy, but I
dropped a step ladder ladder right
across the top of the toe. And I
thought, oh, I said dropped. I thought,
but I didn't feel a thing.
So on light weights, these are
reasonably protective and I do know that
anyway because I've been crawling around
on concrete and stuff on these.
Okay, so to summarize week number four,
um I'm having a good time. I think I
chose the right boots. It may be a bit
boring for you because all I've done is
wear them to the office. So, I can't
say, "Oh, I climbed Mount Such and such
and, you know, climbed a cliff face or
uh swam through a river in these or
whatever." Uh, I haven't even been up to
the Northern Territory, so I can't say,
"Oh, went through red dust." But my
strategy was right. I I did choose
office boots and a weekend evening boot
and they they suited my lifestyle. So, I
think there's a lesson in that. If
you're not a boot collector going crazy
buying all sorts of boots, I did a video
about don't buy the boots you want. Buy
the boots uh you need. And I think
that's a that's an abject lesson in
that. All right. So, next week is week
five. And I will have a think about it
during the week whether or not I uh turn
this into a six weeks in RM Williams and
do a 5 plus one just to get a little bit
more experience out of them. The reason
I'm thinking of that is because the very
first week was a bit of a cheat. I'd
come back from holiday so the first two
or three days I didn't even wear these.
Anyway, we'll see. Come back next week
and see what I decide. I hope you like
this video and if you do, click a like.
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Put a comment down below about what you
think. Come back next week. Take care.
See you soon.