It’s not like I needed a new pair of shoes. I do have enough, but I saw these and for the price, I figured, why not? Worst case is I’ll have a fun story to tell. Best case, I’ll upgrade the authenticity of my 15th century footwear.
I took a chance on an Etsy shop based in Ukraine. I’ve seen great things come from there for reenactment, for great prices, so I took a shot. Here’s what I bought:
Could be good. Could be junk. For $150 I was willing to take the plunge. You see, bespoke historical footwear often goes for two to three times that price. This is a pretty simple design and the closest mass produced shoes to these run about $80, so this looked to me like a decent price. I went through checkout and within 24 hours, I got an email asking for more measurements. Ok, this guy is a pro. He linked me to his Facebook page where he had images of how and where to measure. His name is Oleskii and his communication was excellent — better than I usually see from my friends in Eastern Europe. He ended up making the shoes and shipping them to me in considerably less time than I expected and they arrived this morning.
In short? I’m impressed. These are proper turnshoes. The leather uppers is soft, but a little heavier than the ones I have from Bohemond. The soles are heavy, reinforced and feel like they’ll hold up well. The side lacing I wasn’t too sure abut but it works well. You don’t need much. They open a little and are a skin tight but not too tight fit. After verifying the fit, I threw on a coat of my beloved Sno-Seal and took some photos.
Folks, I love Boots by Bohemond. You can’t do better for mass produced historical footwear, but if you’re ready to up your game, I would urge you to talk to Oleskii. His Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/shoesfromfra and his Etsy shop is at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Historicalfootwear
No, this is NOT a paid promotion. I am not getting any kickbacks or revenue from this review.