FOOTWEAR FOCUS ROAD TEST
unless I’m wearing my
Chatham Grampians By Henry Harington
f you didn’t get sick of the rain this winter you weren’t in Britain. Dreary grey skies, sheets of persistent rain, soggy ground, puddles and mud have been the order of the day for months. I’ve lived in my wellies for a lot of the winter which, as you know, is not good for the feet that capitulate by seemingly absorbing the ambient dampness with accompanying plagues of fungal infections and smelly socks. But you don’t really want to know that because you've probably had your own tale of woe about the past winter.
I When I say I have spent most of the winter in wellies that is because I live
in the country and its almost the uniform. But when I stray in to town wellies are not de rigueur unless one wants to be identified as a poser striding down Knightsbridge in your famous brand green ones and sporting your threadbare rustic Barbour wax jacket in the most urbanised environment in the world.
So, the arrival of the Chatham Grampian walking boots was well timed.
The winter was too harsh to go hiking in them and I am not sure they are designed for serious walking up Scafell Pike. But for wet weather getting to the car, going shopping, collecting the kids from school, gentle walks in the park – everyday things – they were ideal. In wet conditions you don't want to wear low-slung shoes because the rain and splashes make you socks wet.
Tight lipped
One doesn’t think of walking boots as “fashionable” but the Grampian definitely have a leaning that way. There has been a fashion of wearing unlaced combat boots. Fashion does not have to have a reason and unlaced combat boots probably have less rationale than most fashions other than the fact they look “cool”. It The Grampian boots have short “lacing wings” which mean there is a wide space over the tongue that looks as if the boots may be unlaced or at any event it means the boots are not laced up tight with the laces drawing the two rows of eyelets “eye-to-eye” in a tight-lipped, tight-ass sort of way that military and City men lace their shoes. The effect is a relaxed look when worn with jeans or chinos. One might even go as far as to say it looks “cool”.
10 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JUNE/JULY 2018 The Grampian boot’s exterior is constructed from 100% waterproof
premium, oiled cow leather. The uppers are designed with a bellows tongue to avoid water penetration through the lacing system, the seams are taped to stop water penetrating through the stitch holes. The uppers are then lasted traditionally around an insole board and the outsoles glued on with adhesives. It gives excellent coverage of the ankle which is also protected by a padded collar and the tongue is sewn in a gusset to ensure water does not get in that way. All this is built on a heavy duty, cleated, natural rubber outsole.
So much for the exterior profile of the boot that is designed to keep your
feet dry. The Grampian is so much more: it has been designed to be a “living and breathing” waterproof boot. I mentioned the unspeakable fungal all horrors that before one’s feet when lives in Wellington boots. The shoes are waterproofed using a waterproof membrane lining called Sympatex, this provides total all round waterproofing to the foot, in addition the membrane allows perspiration to be released therefore allowing the foot to breathe.
Product details:
The Chatham Grampian walking boot. Sizes: 6-15
Colourways available: Dark Tan and Dark Brown WSP: £41.25 - RRP: £99.00
E:
info@chatham.co.uk T: 0845 2700 217 W:
www.chatham.co.uk
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