The moment I laid my eyes on that old pair of beat-up military boots at a vintage show last year, I had a feeling they were trouble. Not because we all froze to death browsing the 2013 Inspiration Show in Long Beach, but because I knew these beauties would lead to Mister Freedom® second endeavor of footwear manufacturing in the USA. I also knew that passing from a sudden temperature drop would have been the easier option.
The original culprit shoe was a US military Government issued boot, dated 13 June 1955, double buckle type, first pattern jungle boot.
That pair had seen the bush, crossed the tree line in its days.
The story goes that these early jungle boots were nicknamed ‘Okinawa boots‘, as they often shod US advisors flying out of Okinawa en route to mingle with in-Country barefoot montagnards, during the early days(~1955) of the US field involvement in Vietnam.
While shopping on the ice rink, noticing the flat toe box of these Okinawa boots similar to that of the old faithful Road Champs at my feet, I thought of combining a few things for a new shoe to add to the Mister Freedom® “The Sportsman” catalog.
The plan was easy: ruthlessly lift time tested designs from the military, SOP in the fashion world, adding some MF® jungle juice.
We would use the Champs’ lasts and leather, some NOS military heavy canvas bags, some NOS “Nitrene” rubber soles, give the shoe a ‘service boot’ type profile, and call them ‘Trooper’, cause Crocs® was taken.
Bam.
Well, after a year of R&D, we are excited to officially release the FIRST batch, a small run of hand-cut, bench-made, bushwhacking-ready “TROOPER BOOTS”!
The trooper is not for ballet dancing, but will do the bop and behave better in the field than on the runways.
After road testing three protos in 2012, figuring out sole combos, I’ll attest that they are comfortable, although some adults have used that excuse for wearing velour sweatpants.
As the designated test dummy I took a dip in the Pacific Ocean wearing an early pair. The boots reacted well, and the sight of a grown-up advancing in the water fully clothed really amused the children. Some, traumatized, are still running today.
Surprisingly however, the canvas really stiffened while wet, shrinking and compressing the ankle, softening up and loosening up later when fully dried. Go figure.
Our Trooper is an un-lined shoe combining leather and a single layer of sturdy canvas fabric. One of the challenge resided in keeping the junctions clean, in and out, that’s what it’s all about. A complicated origami game of folding and overlapping ensued.
By the way, rest assured that your Trooper Boots off the line will not come with someone’s ID painted on the inside. I usually customize my own footwear, both because I have too much time on my hands and eat at Japanese izakaya at times. I use regular latex paint, and do a sloppy job not unlike what is often seen on old ID’d military boots.
While on R&R in the cold Country over Christmas, I attempted to water-proof my Troopers (along with my Pensacola Jacket) with some Otter Wax heat-activated fabric dressing. A bit involved of a process, but I am quite happy with the result. The waxed canvas ages very nicely, but so will it when left untreated.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the MF® Trooper Boot is in no way intended as a replica of an original US Army “Okinawa” jungle boot. Nor are we claiming they are appropriate on SOG ops.
