My favorite footwear, and one of the most essential shoes extant, is the desert boot. Basically a chukka with crepe soles, the desert boot features a very simple two-piece construction with a loose ankle-high top and four lace eyelets with leather or cord laces. This is one shoe design where form follows function... and it works.
Desert boots are descendants of the South African veldskoen...which became a popular footwear item in Southern Africa due to their robust and simple design. Often being bought by soldiers for use in the various bush wars of the region...
From Wikipedia:
I have two pairs of desert boots, both by Clarks. One traditional beige suede with red crepe soles and one pair of brown suedes with brown rubber soles. I love desert boots because they go with just about anything: jeans, chinos, khakis, and even dress pants if they are a dark color. You can wear them with a nice blazer or sports jacket and trousers, or skinny jeans and a t-shirt. Just leave them home if you are going formal...they don't work with a suit or tux.
You can't lose with desert boots. Just about every shoe maker offers their own version. They are versatile, affordable and stylish. Oh...and damn comfortable too.
Desert boots are descendants of the South African veldskoen...which became a popular footwear item in Southern Africa due to their robust and simple design. Often being bought by soldiers for use in the various bush wars of the region...
From Wikipedia:
Quote:
| "A variant of the Chukka boot is the desert boot, but these always have suede uppers and crepe rubber soles. Desert boots were popularized in the 1950s by UK shoe company C. & J. Clark. Desert boots were officially introduced to the world with the debut of the Clarks' Desert Boot at the 1949 Chicago Shoe Fair. After feature coverage in Esquire magazine, their popularity took off. According to Clarks, inspiration came from "the crepe-soled, rough suede boots made in Cairo's Khan elKhalili bazaar for British Eighth Army officers." These boots were based off the South African veldskoen which became a popular footwear item in Southern Africa due to their robust and simple design. Often being bought by soldiers for use in the various bush wars of the region they have become popular across the world as "desert boots". The year was 1941, and the soldier, well he wasn't just any infantryman, he was Nathan Clark, and he'd been sent to war with two missions. First and foremost to protect his country, and, secondly, to discover some new shoe designs for his family's company. As a member of the Eighth Army, Clark had been deployed to Burma, and it was here that he noticed that the officers in his formation were wearing these strange, sand colored chukkas during their downtime. Clark investigated the shoes and learned that they had originally been commissioned to Cairo cobblers by South African soldiers whose old-military issue boots had failed them out on the desert terrain. They wanted something that was both lightweight and grippy which led to creation of a boot with a suede upper on a crepe sole." —Jake Gallagher, GQ Magazine, August 15, 2012 |
I have two pairs of desert boots, both by Clarks. One traditional beige suede with red crepe soles and one pair of brown suedes with brown rubber soles. I love desert boots because they go with just about anything: jeans, chinos, khakis, and even dress pants if they are a dark color. You can wear them with a nice blazer or sports jacket and trousers, or skinny jeans and a t-shirt. Just leave them home if you are going formal...they don't work with a suit or tux.
You can't lose with desert boots. Just about every shoe maker offers their own version. They are versatile, affordable and stylish. Oh...and damn comfortable too.
Put the internet to work for you.
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