Blundstone Lace-Up Boots - Leather, Factory 2nds (For Men)

This is my third pair of Blundstones.

I've had their regular pull on boots as well as a pair of tall Wellingtons.

Overall the build quality is what I would expect from Blundstone; well built with quality leather.

It looks like they are only 2nds because of color and texture imperfections in the leather itself. Even in this case, the boots look great and you would have to be picky to call them 2nds.

The toe box in these is larger than the other versions I've had, which is comfortable, but provides little lateral support to the foot-bed when walking. An after market slide-insole may help. The support that the lace-up design provides is a great improvement (obviously) over their other pull-on designs.

The soles are also harder than the prior versions I have had, but again, if you are sensitive, a insert will help and there is plenty of room in the boot for it.

The only other note I would make is that the box showed a build date of October 2015 (this is being written in April 2018). The reason I point this out is that the soles failed on my other Blundstones (after years of use) due to degradation of the sole material. The same failure occurred on both my heavily worn pair and the lightly worn pair and appears to be due to the passage of time and how they are stored rather than anything the soles are exposed to. In fact this new pair comes with a tag attached to them that says as much and recommends storing them in a cool, dark place.

I've got a feeling I'll be wearing these quite a bit, so I'll get my eighty bucks out of them well before they fail.

Anyway.

Overall: Awesome boots for the money!