It has been with much concerted effort that I have been wearing my less-worn, or neglected, shoes over the past few days. Included in this list of unhappy-but-now-stoked footwear are my Banana Republic boots. As verastile as they are, meaning I can wear them to work AND out and about, I wouldn’t take them the same places I’d take a Vintage Red Wing ($235). No trudging through the mud of a mountain slope during an afternoon shower. But trudging through a meeting with the board followed by happy hour with the guys from IT? Dig.
Yeah. Have a pair of the same boots bought back in 1973 in Cedar Falls, Iowa; one of the few items that escaped my house fire last December. Loved the photograph. The patina speaks to your appreciation of a product that is nearly as much a part of my history as any non-living thing can be. I’m sure somebody else probably makes them as well today. But you can’t buy the comfort or the smiles that your image conjurs.