JK Boots Q&A: Responding To Your Comments

We receive a lot of good comments and questions on YouTube or Reddit and other social media so I just want to go over a few of those here and give you some answers and hopefully give you some useful information. So let's get started.

What is the OT and what is the Forefront?

So this is a great question to start with as they are two of most popular and bestselling boot models. We love both of these models and they are excellent and very similar, but they do have their differences.

So we released the OT first around 5 years ago and I actually designed it with a firefighter friend to create a fire boot that was lighter and more flexible than the Fire Inlander. So it would be a lighter weight, more of a hiking boot type, so we took almost everything from our classic logger boot, but the big thing we did was we feathered the midsole at the ball of the foot so it doesn't extend all the way to the toe. Instead there's that rubber slip and outsole that extend all the way to the toe. What this does is gives the boot a lot more flexibility and bend while also cutting down on the weight. It also comes with an 8 inch height along with the 132 sole with a lower heel which makes a lot easier to just move around in. It's still built super tough and durable and I honestly love it a lot.

The Forefront is actually a very similar build where we feather out the midsole at the ball of the foot and is built the exact same way. The differences here are it comes at a 6 inch height and it's got the wedge sole on it. This one is more targeted for your construction or other blue collar type job. It's pretty much us bringing the very high-quality handmade thick leather boot and building it to match what an American blue collar worker wears. So that is pretty much the OT and the Forefront.

Protecting the Midsole?

What do you recommend we apply to help protect the outside of the leather midsole?

There's a few possible different answers for this, however in my experience and from what I've seen, you don't actually need to do anything. It's veg tanned/oak tanned and because of this tanning process it makes it stiff and dense that if you put oil on it for example, that is the opposite of what you actually need to do. In our oiling guides I actually point out the sole area as an area to avoid putting oil on since it's not needing or asking for oil to be put on it. It needs to remain stiff so if it gets oiled it gets softer and possible delamination. Where someone might correct me is if you're in nasty, muddy, wet conditions and you really want to do something a light layer of heavy and thick grease is ok. I've never had to oil or grease a midsole or base on any of my personal boots, however I am mostly in dry conditions so if you aren't then it's possible something like a snow seal or heavy boot grease might help. Definitely stay away from any liquid oil though. 

About the Cost

$600-$800 seems way too expensive. I'd love to see an actual breakdown of true cost and profit margins on the boots... you can get good decent leather boots for half that and get a couple years out of them.

There's many reasons for the cost, but the first thing is the quality of the materials. We are purchasing and using very high quality materials that is top notch and top tier. The leather we use is from USA tanneries, all the insoles and midsoles as well. The soles are Vibram soles, the hardware is brass hardware, the thread is Technora fire thread. Every ounce on these boots, you can't get better quality material and all that just adds up. When you start looking at boots that are around $250-350 they have lower quality and less materials which is why the cost is less. Secondly the process. Our boots are completely hand made so you depend on craftsmen and skilled workers rather than an assembly line or machines. The end result is such a high quality product with the value being so much more. While you could get a year or two out of a cheaper pair, these are built to last multiple more years. So the reason they cost more is they're just much more valuable, you get much more time out of them, they're so much more comfortable. This I believe does make a big difference so that's why they are at that price.

Fit and Pinky Toe Rub

Help! So I'm about one month into breaking in some OT's, when I first wore them the entire day inside the house and they felt great so off to work they went. All of a sudden the last two or three days I have a terrible pinky toe rub that is killing me. I don't know if it was always there and I just didn't realize it or what, but with this thick ass leather I don't see it budging very much but maybe I'm wrong. Did I just size it wrong and I'm screwed...?

I can definitely provide some insight on this and maybe for someone else that is also dealing with this. A leather product is different from a fully synthetic product. When you have a pair of tennis shoes, it's predominantly a synthetic material that has a lot of give. So when you put them on, even if they don't quite fit right and there's pinky toe rub, you won't really feel it because it just warps out. With thick leather, because of the type of material it is, you want your boots to be a little bit on the snug side. This is because over a long period of time as you wear them every day, leather is an organic material so it's going to shape and mold and move around and break in to your foot. Where the boot fits good except for in a couple areas, this just means you have to wear it in. The Bison is a good example, there's a lot of mold and give on it so if you have a small fit issue, it will wear in, although it might take a little bit of time. This is why I always recommend oiling, if they're a little snug, then oil them up and wear them a few times for the leather to loosen up. So the general answer is always just give it time, let the boots mold, oil them, and keep wearing them. In the extreme side where it's a sizing issue and it's bothersome in multiple areas and doesn't change over time, that's where you might come in and get a different size or different model. 

Oil, Grease, and Cracking

I oil and grease my boots at least monthly. Is this cracking from dryness?

I recommend roughly once a month to oil your boots. I also like to suggest to stay away from the grease because it doesn't exactly soak into the leather as well and creates a layer over the top of the leather. So this is from experience of just seeing how boots are when they come in for repairs, where I've seen that on boots that were oiled instead of greased, the leather does better and lasts longer without getting that layer over the top of dirt and grime. Cracking or what looks like cracking is often not the leather but it's actually that layer of grease and dirt and grime that starts to crack. So don't panic if you see a little bit of cracking and in general leather does wear over time. If it's extreme where the leather is actually ripping apart, this is either a defect on the leather, they were over oiled and just wore down, or they're a few years old and they need a rebuild. So cracking and creasing is normal, it happens, if you see it, dialing back on the oiling or greasing especially if it doesn't feel like the leather needs it.

Lasting Spots on the Insole?

Are these spots from lasting?

Yes, those are spots from lasting. Because our lasts have a metal plate on the bottom of the last and we last our boots wet, not dry, which is the correct way so sometimes it's from the moisture and that metal plate. The last is built with a metal plate that is held by pins, so it's just that metal pin leaving an oxidizing mark on the leather insole. It will go away with time and isn't harmful to the boot or sock. So it's just a mark and actually a good thing to see because it means your boots were made really well. 

So that's all for this group of questions, thank you for leaving comments and making posts and asking questions. Always feel free to contact us, send us an email or give us a phone call. We would love to answer all your questions you might have.

Make sure to check out the full video below that gives some more insights and details on these comments and questions.