tankerjohn
A little poofier than I prefer
Hi y’all. Just wanted to rave on a new pair of boots I bought, the White’s Perry Moc Toe workboot. I love boots. And these are great boots! There you go – that’s the BLUF. If you want to follow me down the rabbit hole, here’s a few more details…
Company: White’s Boots. The original “PNW” – Pacific Northwest bootmaker. Started before the Civil War and moved to Spokane, Washington at the beginning of the 20th Century. My mom was born and raised in Spokane, so I love that connection. Sometime in the last few years, White’s was sold to the same Japanese-owned umbrella company that owns Danner and some other American heritage brands. It’s kind of a bummer that it’s not family-owned anymore, but otherwise reports are positive that other than the ownership, everything else stayed the same. Everybody in the factory kept their jobs, and they are still making the boots the same as they always have. White’s is most famous for their logger and fire fighter boots. In fact, that was pretty much all they made until a few years ago when followed Red Wing’s lead making “lifestyle” or “heritage” boots. Maybe that was a move by the new owners, but it seems to have been good for the brand. A year ago, they introduced the Perry as their first boot under $300. Now they have two – the Perry and the Millwood, which is essentially the same boot but with a round toe.
Construction: If you really want to geek out on boot construction, I highly recommend a Youtube channel called Rose Anvil, in which the dude who runs it has made a whole schtick out of cutting boots in half to see the internal components, which I find more entertaining than it sounds. He has done a couple videos on the Perry and if you are really interested in this boot, I would recommend watching that video and maybe his other moc toe boot videos to get a good idea of the market. Short version – these boots are solid. Very thick leather uppers (from the Seidel tannery, if you care about such things). Triple and quadruple stitching all over. Leather and cork insole. Vibram Cristy outsole. There are two areas where they use man-made material instead of leather to control the cost – the heel counter (heavydutycardboard) and the midsole (rubber). On the counter, while leather is of course preferred, apparently, White’s uses this cardboard in their fire boots without issue and, anyway, its sandwiched between two generous hunks of full-grain. I’m not particularly worried about it. The rubber midsole seems to par for the course at this price range and is also used by Red Wing and others. You’ve got to step up to the $500 price point to get all-leather everything in this style of boots. My personal opinion with these on my feet now is they are a solid value for the $279 MSRP and a steal for the sale price I paid. I mean, these are a no-kidding lifetime purchase. I’ll see how fast the Christy wedge sole wears down, but no doubt these uppers a good for quite a few resolings.
Size and fit: In a nutshell, I’m a 11.5 E on the Brannock, and I got an 11E. White’s does recommend going a half-size down from Brannock, but I also traced and measured my feet, following the guidance on the fitting page. It also calculated me at 11E, but I was within a quarter inch or so of 10.5 and pretty close to a D width too. I opted to go at the top end of my sizing spectrum since I need to fit orthotics (getting old sucks). So far, so good. The boots sometimes feel roomy, but once I’ve been walking around a while, my foot swells up and they’re fine. I might have a bit more space in front of my toe than optimal, but that’s just due to the last shape. These have a very large toebox. They’re work boots, after all. No sleekness here. Still, I get a little hypochondrial about the fit – “is it slipping too much? Should I have gotten the 10.5 instead?” If I were doing it again – and I do hope to order more White’s boots in the future – I would call someone at White’s and discuss fitting in person, just to have a little more confidence in the fit since I can’t try them on in person. As it is, I can live with it.
Wear: I’ve been wearing these as much as I can. The boots are very comfortable. From a function perspective, these boots will handle anything I’ll throw at them. They are solid, but not overbuilt for my lifestyle like White’s Smokejumper boots would be. I like to be outdoors, working around my property and running around nearby woods. But I also work in the city and spend plenty of time in built environments. The Christy outsole is quite bouncy and a good choice for the urban jungle. The downside of the wedge roles is they don’t have greattraction in the woods, though I do appreciate that they are quieter and less clunky than a lugged sole. In fact, many bowhunters who hunt on the ground and rely on stealth prefer this type of boot over traditional heavy hunting boots. From a form perspective, the Perry’s are great looking boots. They match the sort of Americana/workwear style I enjoy and fit right in with my jeans and flannels. As my office has become more casual in the post-Covid times, I’ll be able to wear them to work quite a lot. I was thinking about the Perry’s firefighting progeny. In my office, we sometimes say “putting out fires” to mean solving emerging problems quickly. So while the Perrymight not be optimized for real wildfire work, they happen to be quite adept at my sort of “firefighting”, which is to say they enhance my ability to do my job because I look good and feel good.
I would recommend these to anyone looking for a heritage-style boot that can take a good deal of abuse. As a pure workboot, these are an alternative to the Red Wing moc toe and could handle most any job that doesn’t require safety toes. (White’s even makes an 8” version that might be better for actual work than the 6” model I have). For a guy like me – office worker who likes to run around and get dirty on the weekend – they are very practical daily footwear. So there you go, one guy’s opinion on the White’s Perry Moc Toe boot.
Company: White’s Boots. The original “PNW” – Pacific Northwest bootmaker. Started before the Civil War and moved to Spokane, Washington at the beginning of the 20th Century. My mom was born and raised in Spokane, so I love that connection. Sometime in the last few years, White’s was sold to the same Japanese-owned umbrella company that owns Danner and some other American heritage brands. It’s kind of a bummer that it’s not family-owned anymore, but otherwise reports are positive that other than the ownership, everything else stayed the same. Everybody in the factory kept their jobs, and they are still making the boots the same as they always have. White’s is most famous for their logger and fire fighter boots. In fact, that was pretty much all they made until a few years ago when followed Red Wing’s lead making “lifestyle” or “heritage” boots. Maybe that was a move by the new owners, but it seems to have been good for the brand. A year ago, they introduced the Perry as their first boot under $300. Now they have two – the Perry and the Millwood, which is essentially the same boot but with a round toe.
Construction: If you really want to geek out on boot construction, I highly recommend a Youtube channel called Rose Anvil, in which the dude who runs it has made a whole schtick out of cutting boots in half to see the internal components, which I find more entertaining than it sounds. He has done a couple videos on the Perry and if you are really interested in this boot, I would recommend watching that video and maybe his other moc toe boot videos to get a good idea of the market. Short version – these boots are solid. Very thick leather uppers (from the Seidel tannery, if you care about such things). Triple and quadruple stitching all over. Leather and cork insole. Vibram Cristy outsole. There are two areas where they use man-made material instead of leather to control the cost – the heel counter (heavydutycardboard) and the midsole (rubber). On the counter, while leather is of course preferred, apparently, White’s uses this cardboard in their fire boots without issue and, anyway, its sandwiched between two generous hunks of full-grain. I’m not particularly worried about it. The rubber midsole seems to par for the course at this price range and is also used by Red Wing and others. You’ve got to step up to the $500 price point to get all-leather everything in this style of boots. My personal opinion with these on my feet now is they are a solid value for the $279 MSRP and a steal for the sale price I paid. I mean, these are a no-kidding lifetime purchase. I’ll see how fast the Christy wedge sole wears down, but no doubt these uppers a good for quite a few resolings.
Size and fit: In a nutshell, I’m a 11.5 E on the Brannock, and I got an 11E. White’s does recommend going a half-size down from Brannock, but I also traced and measured my feet, following the guidance on the fitting page. It also calculated me at 11E, but I was within a quarter inch or so of 10.5 and pretty close to a D width too. I opted to go at the top end of my sizing spectrum since I need to fit orthotics (getting old sucks). So far, so good. The boots sometimes feel roomy, but once I’ve been walking around a while, my foot swells up and they’re fine. I might have a bit more space in front of my toe than optimal, but that’s just due to the last shape. These have a very large toebox. They’re work boots, after all. No sleekness here. Still, I get a little hypochondrial about the fit – “is it slipping too much? Should I have gotten the 10.5 instead?” If I were doing it again – and I do hope to order more White’s boots in the future – I would call someone at White’s and discuss fitting in person, just to have a little more confidence in the fit since I can’t try them on in person. As it is, I can live with it.
Wear: I’ve been wearing these as much as I can. The boots are very comfortable. From a function perspective, these boots will handle anything I’ll throw at them. They are solid, but not overbuilt for my lifestyle like White’s Smokejumper boots would be. I like to be outdoors, working around my property and running around nearby woods. But I also work in the city and spend plenty of time in built environments. The Christy outsole is quite bouncy and a good choice for the urban jungle. The downside of the wedge roles is they don’t have greattraction in the woods, though I do appreciate that they are quieter and less clunky than a lugged sole. In fact, many bowhunters who hunt on the ground and rely on stealth prefer this type of boot over traditional heavy hunting boots. From a form perspective, the Perry’s are great looking boots. They match the sort of Americana/workwear style I enjoy and fit right in with my jeans and flannels. As my office has become more casual in the post-Covid times, I’ll be able to wear them to work quite a lot. I was thinking about the Perry’s firefighting progeny. In my office, we sometimes say “putting out fires” to mean solving emerging problems quickly. So while the Perrymight not be optimized for real wildfire work, they happen to be quite adept at my sort of “firefighting”, which is to say they enhance my ability to do my job because I look good and feel good.
I would recommend these to anyone looking for a heritage-style boot that can take a good deal of abuse. As a pure workboot, these are an alternative to the Red Wing moc toe and could handle most any job that doesn’t require safety toes. (White’s even makes an 8” version that might be better for actual work than the 6” model I have). For a guy like me – office worker who likes to run around and get dirty on the weekend – they are very practical daily footwear. So there you go, one guy’s opinion on the White’s Perry Moc Toe boot.