Red Wing Weekender Oxford 3306 Red Maples Review
If you are into boots and shoes, you probably heard of Red Wing, whether you own it or not. I made reviews about Red Wing moc-toe boots before and to be honest they make aesthetically please shoes that is in a reasonable price.
Today, we have Red Wing 3306 weekender oxford in red maple muleskinner. What a great name for a pair of shoes. The weekender oxfords are only produced for the European market. I do not really know why Red Wing does this by distinguishing different markets, but I am sure they have a reason behind it. These are “Oxfords”, but we all know that traditional oxfords actually look quite different from what I am reviewing today. Some will not care about the name as long as the shoes look great. I think we need to get it straight that these are actually derbies. Derbies have upper vamp and tongue leather sewn together but the flap will actually completely open compare to the oxfords. I will most a more detailed review about the differences next time.
Red Wing Weekender Oxford Leather
The muleskinner leather is frequently used on Red Wing shoes and boots. They are not actually leather from Mules, but actually it’s a type of leather roughed out and that is created using a reverse-suede technique. The leather is made from S.B foot tannery in the USA. The rough out leather is very tough and it can feel very stiff when they are not broken in. But once they are broken in, the leather is very flexible and comfortable. Likewise, the shoes were very stiff and uncomfortable at first. I did get some blisters on the heel side of my feet and for a while, I didn’t really want to wear them because of the blisters.
After a few wears, these became really comfortable, and I don’t get any blisters. I think that is one down side of Red Wing shoes. It is painful to actually break Red Wings in. I also hear that red maples muleskinner will age greatly over the time and I cannot wait to see these after new years of wear.
Red Wing weekender oxfords are also made in other leather types such as copper rough and tough, Hawthorne muleskinner so you should check them out.
Red Wing Weekender Oxford Size
The size I got for these is UK 10 or US 11. For your reference, my brannock size is between 11.5 and 12. I wear UK 10 for my Red Wing moc-toes, although I am sure that I can wear UK 10.5. But these weekenders are in UK 10. During the break-in period, I was afraid that I have got a wrong size for my shoes. But now, there is no problem and they are really comfortable too.
For your reference, I would recommend you to go down half a size from your usual dress shoes and a whole size down from sneakers. The width of the shoes are D width, which is a normal medium width for the American sizing.
Check out the sizing comparison at MasterSizeChart
Red Wing Weekender Oxford comfort
The soles are rubber soles with a Red Wing logo. Plus, the foot beds of the shoes are ComfortForce footbed. For anyone who doesn’t know what ComfortForce is, it is Red Wing’s own branded foot beds that is made of polyurethane and suede. As the name suggest, the foot bed is very comfortable and it feel like I am wearing sneakers. Although they are not super bouncy like Nike air, they will do their job if you are looking for something that is comfortable.
Red Wing Weekender Oxford Construction
The shoes are not Goodyear welted, but they are made with a stitchdown construction method. I think the shoes suit the stitch down construction method and it looks great. If you have Clark’s desert boots, they are made with the same method. For stitching down method, the midsole or outsole physically stitched to the upper leather or textile and the outsole is cemented to the midsole.
Overall
The shoes have three eyelets no metal bits show on the upper of the leather. You can only see the metal bit inside of the shoes. The Red Wing Weekender comes with Red Wing’s own Taslan laces. The taslan laces are made of yellow and brown/red threads. I personally think that the laces don’t suit the shoes. But, I didn’t have any chance to buy another laces that I think it’ll look better.
The vamp and the quarter are triple stitched together, this will definitely hold together very well for a long time. White thread is used in the middle and the rest two are black. Other areas are double stitched with black thread. Usually we don’t see triple stitching in shoes. But we all know that Red Wing uses triple stitching on almost all of their shoes. I think that this is why a lot of people like Red Wing shoes and stay with the brand. The triple stitching will give a proper long-lasting construction.
Red Wing Weekender Oxford Price
The price of these lovely shoes is 199 GBP or 220 EUR. I was not able to find this in the US Red Wings website, but they do carry weekender chukkas and Chelsea boots. If you are interested in a light pair of shoes that is not like the traditional Red Wings, I would recommend you to try the weekenders. As the name suggests they are not work shoes, but shoes that you can wear during the weekend.
Check out my Red Wing Moctoe Boots review here!
