On certain corners of the blogosphere in the 2010s, Red Wing boots were ubiquitous. So whisper it quietly if you must, but hallmarks of the #menswear era are steadily creeping back into the fashion psyche. Call it the comfort of heritage pedigree in uncertain times, but a familiar type of rough-hewn burliness is in style again. (It’s on the runway, too: Just look at all those lumberjacks in Junya Watanabe’s recent Paris show.) And while waxed jackets and selvedge jeans are hot topics of discussion, for me it’s the return of Red Wing—the family-owned footwear powerhouse, founded in Red Wing, Minnesota in 1905—that makes the most sense.
I’ve been wearing Red Wings for fourteen years. I bought my first pair of the brand’s chukkas in 2011, when I was working at a boutique in Cleveland, Ohio. Back then, they were the only quality boots I’d ever owned, and I was quickly hooked. Fourteen years later, I own ten (10!) pairs of Red Wing stompers: Moc Toe boots, Shop-Moc oxfords, Iron Rangers, Weekenders, Beckmans, Blacksmiths. What keeps me (along with countless construction workers and Brooklyn baristas) coming back is their craftsmanship and general longevity: these are boots that can take all kinds of beatings, and still polish up enough to wear with a winter-weight suit.
After about a decade of being the only guy at fashion gatherings still wearing them, it appears I have company again. Timothée Chalamet has stuck by them on his wowza of a press tour, and Jase Swalve, Head Merchant and Product Line Manager for Red Wing Heritage, tells me the entire line is “being rediscovered by the Gen-Z and youth markets, especially in places like Japan and East Asia.” (All this buzz motivated Red Wing to reintroduce the Shop Moc last spring—essentially the low-top version of the original Moc Toe boot.)
Not sure where to start with your own collection? The Chukka boot was my gateway into the Red Wing universe, but it’s those Moc Toe boots I’d point you towards now. (They debuted in 1952 at eight inches tall, followed two years later by the now-iconic six-inch version.) What, exactly, makes ’em so irresistible? It’s all in the details: the full-grain leather construction, the iconic Traction Tred rubber outsoles, the Puritan triple-stitching, and the Goodyear welt, which means the soles can be replaced every few years as needed. From drizzly days to full-blown snowpocalypses—or even just long-overdue date nights with my wife—they hold their ground at the entrance to my home from October to April, loyal sentinels of seasonal chaos.
Unlike so many shoe manufacturers, those details haven’t changed in decades. “The heeling machines we use in the factory today are the same ones that have been in operation for over 100 years,” says Swalve. The result is a silhouette that’s “instantly recognizable, and looks just as great from the top-down as it does in profile,” adds Amy Peck, a fellow Red Wing employee. Besides their legendary shape, the fact that the Heritage Moc Toe and the Shop Moc are still handmade in the US—whether in the original factory in Red Wing, Minnesota, or newer factories in Missouri and Arkansas—cements their status as true heritage icons.
Maybe I’m washed when it comes to my fits, but it feels good to have worn these classics all the way from one trend cycle to the next. Back in 2009, Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean snapped a now-iconic photo of Aaron Levine in head-to-toe heritage kit. And honestly, it seems like we’re on the verge of a 2.0 version of that movement. Sure, guys today might not rock the full “blast-from-the-past” look, but all the individual pieces—the waxed jacket, the jeans, and, of course, the boots—are staples once again, just worn in more modern ways.
So if your Red Wing boots have been gathering dust since the last #menswear heyday, now’s the time to polish them up. And if you’ve been rocking them all along, now’s the time to lean back, lace up, and (gently) say, “I told you so.”
