Parkhurst Richmond Boot in Raiz Reverse Waxed Mohawk
Sep 21, 2022
Sometimes, it all comes together, that apex of Zen-ness, where the vision and values of the bootmaker meet in a divine match with the boot design, the last, the selection of the leather used for the uppers, the outsole that is chosen, and the care and detail of the construction - ending in a boot that is perfect.
If not this, then this comes close - the Parkhurst Richmond in Raiz Reverse Waxed Mohawk, on Parkhurst's old 18 last, and sitting on a Ridgeway swirly lugged outsole, Parkhurst's tough, outdoorsy boot with elegant, dressy lines.
Unfortunately, Parkhurst no longer makes this boot, but it is symbolic of the design aesthetic, the attention, and the appeal of Parkhurst that continues into Parkhurst's current models.
Parkhurst Brand
Parkhurst Brand is a small batch manufacturer of good, mid-range quality Goodyear welted boots.
They use some of the most interesting leathers from Horween, from C F Stead in the UK, from Seidel in the US, from Maryam in Italy, and now, from interesting partner Spanish tanneries. But because they use these unique leathers, and they are a small company and hence make boots in small batches, their models are often sold out, and they are limited runs so many of their makeups are not revisited for many years, or even ever. It can be disappointing to see a particularly attractive Parkhurst model on Instagram or Facebook, and then find that they no longer make them.
I say disappointing, but of course, it's only disappointing if you missed out on a run, because they run out fast due to the relatively few in number but very dedicated fans of the brand. For people who jump as soon as a drop is announced, we are not disappointed at all!
In fact, with the COVID situation, for over a year between 2021 and 2022, it was even harder than usual to get a pair of Parkhurst boots. During that period, if you ventured on their website, you would only have found one or two models showing. The reason has been the squeeze on production due to the supply chain, making access to materials hard to come by, the closure of businesses the brand partnered with to source material and construction, and making the resulting timing of supply and thus manufacture, very unpredictable.
Watch My Review on YouTube:
I keep saying "the Parkhurst Brand", which is the name of the company, making it sound like a large business but it really is one man, Andrew Sivisco, who founded the company in late 2018, and as a stock analyst with an interest in American heritage boots, saw a market niche for American made, quality boots at an affordable price.
In a revealing 2019 interview with Stitchdown, Andrew revealed his "why" - his vision and purpose - for starting the company.
He was inspired to reverse the kind of decline of a community that the loss of jobs could create, such as that he witnessed in his own town of Buffalo, New York, as well as being inspired by his own family history, particularly that of his grandparents. His vision encompassed reviving the American handmade shoe industry - up until the mid-2010s arguably a really declining industry - by ensuring that he made quality boots at an affordable price in America, using the experience and talent of people who were otherwise starting to lose jobs, and stopping the loss of generations of experience in making shoes and boots.
So, as far as possible his mission was to source American-made material as much as possible, but even where the right premium material had to be brought in from overseas like UK-made Dainite soles, for example, he made sure that he bought them from a local supplier so that he kept his supply chain as home-based as possible.
The heritage hand-made Americana-type boot trend seemed to take off from the late 2000s to the mid-2010s with various boot-makers like Thursday Boot Company, Oak Street Boot-makers, and Grant Stone starting their own versions of the service/dress boot/work boot aesthetic at affordable prices.
Parkhurst started growing as part of this interest.
When COVID struck, larger boot-makers who could finance and order hundreds of hides were able to ride the direct-to-consumer, online shopping trends and still do good business. However, from what I can see, Parkhurst as a smaller limited-run manufacturer focused on ordering through US supply chains simply got squeezed out of supply. As COVID hit his suppliers based in the US, as freight from overseas sources started getting costly, as materials suppliers themselves were limited by COVID restrictions or went out of business, Parkhurst's supply chain was particularly hard hit.
The position now looks much better.
Andrew has made announcements in recent times about the entry into Phase 2 of Parkhurst's development. He has made arrangements with a second US factory and partnered with a Spanish factory to provide the manufacturing capacity lost from his original US manufacturing partner, and with the gain of the Spanish factory, there has also been the gain of a new Spanish tannery to supply other leathers. Andrew has said that due to the labour and supply landscape in the US after the pandemic, it was no longer possible to produce the exact type and quality of boots he wanted to make from start to finish in one place and he took the opportunity to diversify his supply chains.
Personally, I find Parkhurst boots so attractive, comfortable and well made, and Andrew is such a nice guy, that I really want to help.
The Aesthetic
Okay, let's now take a look at this boot you can no longer buy!
The Richmond Boot is Parkhurst's cap toe design. This model is on the old last, called the 18 last, which featured a sharper, almond-shaped toe. The replacement 602 last is a combination last with a wider, rounder toebox.
The aesthetic is clearly of an outdoorsy, casual rough and tough, "let's kick something" boot. The combination of the nappy roughout leather, the deep wavy lugs in the Ridgeway sole, the bright brass eyelets and the split reverse welt just calls out "hiking" or "biking" or "let's chop down some trees"!
But despite that, it doesn't have the clunky work-boot toe puff or toe spring of a Red Wing Iron Ranger, or a Truman or Nick's work boot. It may also not be as tough in construction, compared to those other makes. "Outdoor Gentleman" is probably how I'd describe this style.
To that end, if you ask me what I'd wear these with, I'd have to say jeans, maybe some brown or olive-green five-pocket pants and maybe some canvas work pants. They are casual wear.
Although I have worn them with khaki chinos and an Oxford cloth button-down, they are definitely neither smart nor business casual. T-shirts, button-downs, polos, leather jackets, waxed or trucker jackets, sure. But blazers and sports coats?
Unh Unh!
Anything even more dressy than that?
Forget about it.
Construction
These were manufactured by Parkhurst's former factory partner in Batavia, in upstate New York. I believe the factory also made boots for a number of other high-end brands, and I believe they also made the trench boot line from Oak Street Boot-makers.
Here's a fun fact - I can't remember if it was this boot or the Spruce Kudu, but I'd emailed Andrew about the availability of my size and he said that he had one in stock that he had not put as available on the website yet - he just had to nail on the heel in his basement before he was able to release it to me.
Yeah, he finishes his boots off in his own basement.
And, even in Phase 2, even with boots made in the Spanish factory, he will continue to do so in order to really examine each boot from a QC perspective.
So, you can guess that Andrew is ultimately responsible for the final QC inspection, and I can seriously tell you I have not come across any problems with any of his Factory Firsts, of which I own six to date. Not a loose stitch, not any sign of poor selection of leather panels, no wayward stitch lines, no scratches or any other flaws. That's the QC in my experience, now let's look at the construction.
I usually start from the bottom up, but this leather is so unusual that this time, I'm going to start from the top down.
This is Charles F Stead's Raiz Reverse Waxed Mohawk.
Charles F Stead is a renowned English tannery that specialises in the best suede leathers, and by extension, some really innovative matte leathers and roughouts. Their Mohawk range is a bovine flesh side out suede, tanned to highlight all the natural veins and marks just under the surface of the skin or grain side.
To explain this, I need to explain a bit about how suede is made.
Suede is a "split" hide. Imagine a whole hide where the hair or skin or "grain" side is on top and the bottom is the flesh side. After tanning to preserve the leather, the hide is split, by slicing off the smooth grain side and sending it to make smooth leather, while the bottom layer is used to make suede.
The nap can be sanded smooth or remain high so as to create a nappier or rougher surface. In tanning the Mohawk the suede is tanned to shrink it slightly so that all the imperfections stand out. Once waxed, it becomes similar to Stead's Rambler leathers, as seen on many iterations of Truman Boots, all veins and imperfection but not too nappy, almost like a Mars surfaced nubuck.
This version is unique to Parkhurst. It's reversed, in other words, turned inside out. The veiny look that you see on other Rambler or Mohawk tannages is actually on the inside of this boot and what you see on the outside is the reverse flesh-side of that leather, extra nappy and rough.
It's waxed, but from the touch, only lightly waxed. Certainly not layered in wax like Stead's Waxy Commander or Horween's Java Waxed Flesh, which is so heavily waxed it looks like a smooth leather until you knock the wax off with wear, and then the rough out shows as nappy hairy leather patches.
The boot is built around the Parkhurst 18 last, which is snug all around the foot but a little wider around the ball of the foot, and then tapers in at the toe into an almond toe. With that toe, if the ball of the foot and instep were any sleeker, it would be a little too snug for my foot.
It's a 6-inch boot, so the 7 eyelets are just right to cinch the boot and aesthetically correct in proportion to the instep and shaft length. They're all eyelets - no speed hooks.
I don't mind.
Some might complain that it takes longer to do up but to me, the width of the waist and the partially gusseted tongue allows you to open the throat wide to slip your foot in and out easily.
The tongue is gusseted up to the fourth eyelet - actually great not only to help with water resistance - but it also stops the tongue from sliding around, which is something my right foot seems to encourage on ungusseted tongues.
The uppers are leather lined in the vamp, but not up the shaft.
It has an external Celastic heel counter and a two-piece back stay covering it.
Obviously, it has a toe cap - it's a real toe cap, in other words, there are two pieces of leather, not just the toe cap piece sewn onto half a vamp. The toe is structured again with Celastic. There's the original Richmond style stitching on the toe cap - triple stitched in a two plus one pattern. It is triple-stitched at the quarters, double-stitched at the backstays - this boot was made to be tough.
Continuing to move down the boot, the uppers are attached to the sole construction using a 360-degree split reverse Goodyear welt.
A Goodyear welt is a strip of leather that goes all the way around the circumference of the boot, the inside is sewn to the insole and to the edge of the turned-in uppers, and the outside edge is sewn through the midsole and outsoles.
In this case, it's a split reverse Goodyear welt. What this means is that the inside edge of the welt is split. The top half is flanged upwards, and pushed against the outside of the uppers, while the lower half of the split, on the inside, is sewn to the insole and uppers as usual. As you can guess just by looking at it, the split reverse welt - the flange - increases water resistance.
If Goodyear welting is the gold standard of shoe construction, then split reverse Goodyear welting is one of the platinum standards for boots that are to be worn outdoors in rain, mud and snow.
Inside the boot, the welt, if you think about it, being a raised piece of leather around the edge of the sole, creates a cavity.
This is filled with cork, a fibreglass shank inserted, and then the veg-tanned bends leather midsole and the rubber Ridgeway outsole is stitched on.
The cork and the tough veg-tanned midsole should conform to the shape of your footpad as you stand in the boot over time, making it more comfortable as it shapes to the contours of your foot. To help it along, there is a padded leather heel pad inside the boot, running from the heel to just under the arch.
The fibreglass shank that runs from the heel to the footpad helps to support the arch by "bridging" the gap between heel and footpad and to stabilize the boot longitudinally as you step over rough terrain helping to stiffen the boot from twisting.
The outsole is a Ridgeway outsole.
It's made by Harboro Rubber Company in the UK - the same manufacturer of Dainite soles. It's their version - I'd say improvement - of a Commando-lugged sole. While it has deep lugs, they are set back from the edge of the boot, so the side profile doesn't scream "commando". In fact, the depth of the lugs is hidden a bit in the profile view.
The lugs themselves are wavy - and the valleys between the lugs are wider than on a commando pattern. While extremely grippy, this also means that it's less easy to pick up dirt and bits of branches and gravel as they don't get caught between the lugs like they do in commando soles.
All that put together, it's a tough boot, and they weigh a fairly hefty 851 grams each.
Leathercare
Being a roughout, and being waxed, and if you wear this the way they beg you to, they'll probably get dirty and dusty.
How do you take care of the leather?
The Parkhurst website recommends that you treat this with a waterproofing spray first. I followed that advice and used Tarrago's Nano Protector spray which I find useful to waterproof all my suedes and roughouts.
If it does get dirty, I would not saddle soap this leather - I think the saddle soap would just pull out too much of the oils and waxes in it.
I think all I'd do is let any mud dry then brush the caked dirt off as best you can, then use a damp cloth to basically wipe off or pull any remaining dirt off. Treat it like suede - no cleaners. At the very end, use a suede eraser to rub off any dirty spots left, and a suede brush to brush the nap back to life.
If you really did want to condition it - yeah, some of us can't resist - I'd use a natural wax like beeswax, or a balm, maybe a light Bick 4 treatment. Just beware - too much wax, oils or balm will change the texture and look of this leather.
Sizing and Fit
Now, take a look at sizing.
Parkhurst recommends going a half size down from true to size, and I heartily agree! I'm a US 8.5 D on the Brannock measurement - that's the device you stand on in a shoe store and they slide levers around to find your size and foot width.
On most boots, I take a US 8D, and this is no exception. For Australian and UK readers, I'm a 7,5 G true to size, and I take the US equivalent of a 7 here. However, Parkhurst do not have lasts in different widths, so you do tend to have to accommodate wider widths by sizing up.
As I said earlier, the last, which is the foot shape mould that the boot is built around, is a snug fit around my heel and around the sides up to where my toe knuckles or ball of my feet are. It then widens out before it slips back in again into the almond-shaped toes. This means that Parkhurst'sn size 8 fit is really good for me.
I find Parkhurst lasts, whether the old 18 or the current 602, are anatomically perfect for my feet - the 602 more than the 18 because of the rounder toebox.
This translates to hardly any break-in being experienced in these boots. There were no hot spots or painful toes. The sole was pretty solid when it came out of the box so there was a little bit of heel slip, but once the sole trained itself to bend where my feet bend, that settled down quite quickly.
This Ridgeway sole is made of a particularly hard rubber compound. That, combined with the double bends leather midsole and the 2-millimetre welt meant a hard and pretty inflexible sole to start with. Let me just say that it wasn't, and still isn't, particularly comfortable underfoot. It's hard. The shock absorption is not great. The cork bed isn't enough to counter the hard rubber and the tough midsoles. In time, they have got better, but there is a way to go, particularly as I wear these regularly but not frequently enough to really imprint the shape of my foot into all that leather.
Arch support is okay but not the best. The heel pad insert gives a little shock absorption under the heel, but, ends just under the arch so your arches always feel a little ridge under them. I've taken to inserting a thin leather removable insole just to disguise that ridge.
You know you're wearing a boot, not a dress shoe or sneaker.
That's the con.
The pro is that the soles are tough and can take any beating and they provide a lot of stability over rough ground. I have taken these on long walks and hikes over hills with and without trails, over sand and grass and mud and gravel, and the firmness of the sole construction has stopped my ankle from rolling many times.
It steps firmly and provides real stability over rocks and fallen logs and creates a stable platform over any kind of rough ground.
Value
Is it value for money?
Bearing in mind that you can't get this particular model right now, take what I say in the context of if I think Parkhurst provides good value.
I bought these for USD $322 in May of 2021. Similar models now sell for around just under USD $400 now. Compare that with say, the Thursday Captain with Storm King lug soles that sell for USD $199. These have better leather, better sole construction, that split reverse Goodyear welt, and 100% quality control. These represent appropriate pricing against the Captain for the increase in quality from a good entry-level boot.
Compare it with say, a pair of Truman Boots - another well-built tough boot, arguably even tougher construction - but a different price range altogether by around a hundred dollars. As in all things in life, you get what you pay for and you arguably get the extra $100 value in Truman.
Compare them with the Grant Stone Brass Boot with commando soles. Those also sell in the same mid-to-high USD $300 range and are probably the best comparison in terms of leather and construction, especially in the "Earth" makeup, and the Parkhurst compares well.
I think in the mid USD $300 to $400 range, Parkhurst represents good value for money by comparison and what you get is surely worth that price.
Would I buy it again, if it were available again at this price?
Yeah, in a heartbeat.
It's solidly constructed, using premium materials, QC is really good, it's an attractive and quite unique design, and the leather unusual, attractive, and from a small-batch manufacturer it's exclusive.
I'd buy it again.
In Summary
So there you go, I hope you found the review useful.
I have to admit that I love Parkhurst, in no small sum due to owner Andrew Svisco's personality, vision and customer service, and the quality of construction of the products just add on to that.
So, taking that on board, it's hard to be objective whenever I see a pair of Parkhurst boots, but to be objective, my take on these boots is that if you are moving on from your entry-level Thursday or Beckett-Simonon boots, and you're not quite ready to try the old guard Allen Edmonds and Wolverine, Parkhurst boots like these are a very fine way to take the next step up into the over USD $300, under $400 boots.
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