Review Details

Golden Fox 5" Arizona II Chukka

Product Review (submitted on October 2, 2016):

he quality on these shoes is great. The quality of the leather and construction is better than most generic boot/shoe brands, including Timberland, Carhartt, Doc Martens, etc., and these shoes are at a similar or lower price. The quality of the leather itself is great, and it has a natural look with some variation in coloring on the surface. This assures that the shoes are not "corrected grain" or that the leather has been mechanically evened out for a uniform appearance. The natural leather will make sure your shoes will last longer and the leather will not deteriorate or crack as processed leather will. It will also make sure that the leather will age pretty well and develop some unique character because of the natural grain.

The edges of the leather are also well finished, there are no "unfinished edges", the stitching is all even and high quality, and it's obvious care has gone into the construction. It's obvious to me that the stitching, even the quality of the shoe laces, and the quality of the pigskin lining is much higher than a regular mass-marketed shoe. Heck, even the insole has a leather lining on it!

The shoes are also "goodyear welted" which means the soles are attached in a complex replaceable manner and should be able to be replaced at pretty low cost. This process is pretty rare these days and most boots including Timberland, Carhartt, etc. use a simpler, more cost efficient way of attaching the sole to the top part of the boot.

Normally a pair of boots like this could cost you about $200-$500. These are about $60-80 and are a bargain. The reason they are cheaper than more expensive boots is that it's obvious that there are some synthetic portions to the shoe, including the outer lining on the sole/welt. I do think that there is some inner synthetic lining layered in with the leather as well. However, this will make the shoes significantly lighter and cooler than shoes that are made of 100% thick unlined leather.

You can compare these to a pair of Red Wing chukka boots which run about $260. The leather on the Red Wing shoes will be much thicker but also much more rigid and less breathable since they use a full leather hide. This means the Red Wing boots will last for some time longer but it also means that they will be less comfortable and heavier. I chose to go with the Golden Fox boot for price and comfort.

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Wing-Heritage-Work-Chukka/dp/B0032UYMEU

When I contacted Golden Fox about their shoes I received a quick reply, from a well-spoken native English speaker who was helpful, friendly, and probably not based out of a scripted call center in China or India and who was able to help me select a pair of shoes using their own opinions and actually listened to me. Huge bonus points.

Overall, I support this company. The put out a higher-quality product at a good price and offer a great value. The shoes are made in China, I'm OK with that, we live in a globalized economy, but at least they have a well-organized U.S. based distributor which appears to care about its customers (and hopefully its workers as well).

Ref. http://amzn.to/2cdOhs8 Posted on February 10, 2016