I wanted to participate in the first Stitchdown patina thunderdome, but I had too much work and research to do. This year, I will be less busy and I would love to participate in Stitchdown patina thunderdome. I have heard that it starts in September and I already signed up!
For anyone who has no idea what Stitchdown patina thunderdome is, stitchdown patina thunderdome is basically a competition on who wears the boots better and compares the patina of the boots. For most people who have never even heard about this area of interest, it’s a bit of a weird concept. Nevertheless, it’s a very unique opportunity and interesting on how the community is growing. If you bought a new pair of shoes or boots, you should participate in this year’s Stitchdown patina thunderdome.
I had to think very hard to figure out which boots to choose for the Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome. I did a bit of research and checked their Instagram and website to see last year’s winners. Seems like there aren’t many winners with suede boots. Okay, that’s fine because suede shows less patina compared to other leather that ages more beautifully. So I thought about which leather ages well and shoes a beautiful patina. Usually natural tan leather changes colour and gets photo-tanned as you wear the boots more and creates a beautiful patina. Waxed leather will also create its own patina as you wear them because the wax will be stripped off or get scratched off. So at first I decided to search for natural tan leather or waxed leather boots. I would go for shoes, but I prefer to wear boots anyway.
Now I need to choose which boots to wear. From what I have seen, I didn’t see many Chelsea boots featured or won the Stitchdown patina thunderdome. That was disappointing because Chelsea boots are one of my favourite kinds of boots to wear. So I decided to pick a pair of boots that are not Chelsea boots. On a side note, I have been looking at Engineer boots for a very long time. I currently don’t own any engineer boots, I really like how they look but I was too afraid to pull a trigger. The price of engineer boots that are in good quality is really expensive and cheap ones are not usually made of the leather that I chose for Stitchdown patina thunderdome. Also, since I live in the UK now, it’s difficult to get North American made boots such as Wesco, Viberg or White’s boots. Grant stone sounded perfect for this because they have affordable boots in natural veg tan leather. But I decided I wanted to try out engineer boots this time. So I looked at other producers. British shoemakers do not really produce engineer boots and redwing did not have any engineer boots in stock.
So I looked at Indonesian shoemakers. I have heard so many positive things about Indonesian shoemakers and their boots. I read reviews about Indonesian shoemakers and Benzein came into my sight. I straight up went into Benzein’s website and searched if they have any engineer boots on sale. Lucky for me they had a sample and second sale on their website and there was a pair of Shinki Hikaku teacore leather engineer boots in my size on sale. I decided to grab it as soon as I could.
Benzein shoes delivery to the UK
Benzein uses DHL express for their shipment and my god it was really quick. I ordered on Monday and I got it on Friday. They charged $19 for the delivery which was super cheap considering it was all the way from Indonesia.
For the boots I purchase from North America, I often pay $50+ and there were boots that took months to appear. Yes, literally two months. So overall I could say I am very happy with Benzein’s delivery service.
Here is the spec for these Benzein Engineer boots
Last : Parang
Upper : Teacore Horsehide Shinki Hikaku
Lining : Black Half lined
Midsole : Single
Outsole : Dr Sole Black Cord Full Sole
Welt Color : Natural
Edge Color : Natural
Welt Stitch : White
Construction : Veldtschoen 270°
Toebox : Unstructured
Heels : Woodsman Heels
Buckle : Natural Solid Brass
Size: US 11.5E/44.5 Wide
Benzein Engineer Boots Sizing
The last used is parang, parang means chopping knife in Indonesian. Seems like Benzin likes to use types of knife as their last names, because Kujang, which is their another last name, is clever in Indonesian. I guess it helps us to understand if the last will be sharp or more wide.
I tried on the boots, initial sizing seems fine. It’s my first time wearing engineering boots, so I am a tiny bit confused if the belt on the vamp area has to be tight or not. It has a bit of a space so I will tighten it to make it fit. My feet fit well with this last. It’s a wide last. I got a wide last because I find it much more comfortable to wear boots with a wider last due to my permanently injured pinky toes. If it wasn’t for my pinky toes I will get normal width for sure.
Check out my master sizing chart to get a reference on sizing
Benzein Engineer boots Leather
The leather used is teacore horsehide shinki Hikaku leather. I have a pair of Shinki Hikaku’s shell cordovan and I loved the leather so I decided to go for Shinki as well. I will explain more about teacore leather in a separate article.
The Leather is surprisingly thin. The “lining” section explains how the boots are lined. It says it’s half black lined. That means the engineer boots are only lined on the bottom half. Still the Benzein engineer boots are very light and I thought they would be heavier than this. Maybe other leather types are much heavier than Shinki Hikaku teacore leather. Nevertheless the construction is solid and there aren’t any stitches sticking out or quality issues.
Benzein Engineer boots outsoles
The outsoles on these are Dr. Soles in Black Cord Full Sole Dr. Soles is a brand from Taiwan. I am yet to try the outsoles out but I heard so many good things about Dr. Soles. Hopefully they last long. Stay tuned for further review on these soles in the future.
Benzein Engineer boots delivery
As I have mentioned above, the delivery on these boots were very quick and smooth. The delivery was $19 and it came within 5 days. This was quicker and cheaper than any of the delivery that I had before that was coming from overseas. I give 10 out of 10 for Benzein’s delivery. I have never experienced their customer service yet, but I would expect them to have great customer service so contact them if you have any problems!!
Closing remarks
Are Benzein Boots worth it?
Are Benzein Boots legit?
I would say yes they are worth it and they are legit for many reasons. First of all, many of you probably know how tiresome delivery is with some companies because it’ll show up in a few months time and it will cost you a lot and drain your energy too.
Benzein boots construction seems to be on point and there weren’t any quality issues that I have experienced so far.
Benzein boots come in many different leather types, so you can ask them for customisations too.
