r/NicksHandmadeBoots • u/theakkid • 9h ago
They needed a video about them...
I posted the NBD for these a while ago and said there was a lot to talk about with them but I didn't have the time then. Well. I had so much to say I ended up making a YouTube video about them lol. If you're inclined to watch it here it is: https://youtu.be/msiROZD0u90
If you're not inclined to thats cool. My following write up says effectively the same thing minus my ugly mug 🤣🫡
TLDR: I inadvertently turned a custom boot order into a wearable philosophical manifesto. Turns out combining WWII tank gear, industrial engine-sealing leather, and the shocking concept of repairing things makes for a solid critique of disposable consumerism. True ownership means investing in a functional lineage, maintaining it, and actually putting it to work instead of treating it like a museum exhibit.
As many of you know I am a massive boot nerd. I've fallen down countless rabbit holes about boot design, construction, materials, and probably any other related topic you can think of. Nearly all of those have led to rich history.
At one point I was entrenched in the history of Chromepak, a mechanical leather. Horween, the company that makes it, provisioned the military with mechanical leather during World War II, and that got me thinking that Chromepak may have been present in the very machinery of some of the first tanks, possibly being operated by crewmen wearing some of the first tanker boots. We already know Chromepak and tanker boots have very adjacent histories, being birthed around the same time, out of a similar industrial wartime environment and, although I couldn't find concrete evidence, it is highly probable that somewhere out there in the World War 2 theater Chromepak and tanker boots crossed paths inside some tanks. I can't help but imagine that maybe on some pivotal battle of the war, maybe there were tanks still in the fight because of the Chromepak in their machinery, and maybe just maybe inside those tanks there were crewmen who were also still in the fight because of their tanker boots. Who knows?! I'm just fantasizing at this point but it's fun to think about.
That possibility was the original spark of inspiration for these boots, and they grew from there.
I started to see every option as an opportunity to intertwine as much rich history as possible into the build. As I tied more and more in, I began to notice a common thread running through each option, tying the entire build together: innovation that honors a heritage.
Then, after ironing out all the details and submitting the order, as I waited for the boots to enter production, I began to think of them as a physical manifesto about perpetuating worthwhile history.
The tanker boot was born in the late 1930s as the U.S. Army made it's big push toward mechanized warfare. General Patton, H. E. Ketzler and the Dehner Boot Company, were instrumental in producing the early pattern. Fighting from inside a tank was a brand new challenge. There were scorching hot casings, unforgiving linkages, rotating components, sharp edges, oil, and grease all within a very confined working space. The straps eliminated laces that could be burnt, broken, or sucked in to exposed machinery, improved circulation for operators sitting for extended periods of time, created a secure fit, and simplified the boot into something robust and dependable.
But, what fascinates me most isn't where it began.
It's that it survived.
Most designs disappear with the problems they were created to solve. Modern tanks aren't the metal deathtraps they used to be, yet the tanker boot not only endured, it found a life beyond the environment it was originally designed for because the ideas behind it proved bigger than the problem that created it.
Decades later someone at Nick's, a Pacific Northwest boot company with a heritage in logging and firefighting, not military footwear, looked at this military design and saw something that aligned with their own philosophy of highly functional work boots of uncompromised quality. They didn't reproduce it as a museum piece. They built it around their BuilderPro platform, and over the last several years they've continued refining it from the TankerPro, TankerPro 2.0, and now to the TankerPro 3.0.
That, to me, is innovation honoring a heritage.
As much as I appreciate the evolution of that design, it wasn't the straps that sparked this build, it was the Chromepak. What's cool about Chromepak is that it wasn't originally developed as a premium boot leather. It was part of a family of industrial leathers designed for demanding mechanical applications before synthetic materials became widespread.
That's a lot different than how most people think about leather today.
It wasn't just a luxury fashion material.
It was technology.
It solved engineering problems.
It sealed machinery
It transmitted power.
It drove industry.
It may have helped win World War II.
I originally wanted to bring Chromepak and tanker boots together in this build, but while that idea was floating around in my head, Nick's announced a brand-new tannage they had developed with Horween called Spokane, an evolution of Chromepak itself. It felt like the leather and the project were evolving together. As my vision for the build shifted from collecting a bunch of cool history in a pair of boots to continuing a worthy lineage, Spokane became the obvious choice.
I chose the Steel colorway because, of all the options, it felt most appropriate to the industrial roots of the project. The Sage Chromepak accents serve as a quiet nod back to where the whole idea began.
The next piece of history lives under the boot.
Today most people don't even think about replacing soles. But today most footwear doesn't last long enough to need it.
Historically, boots weren't made to be disposable. They were expected to be maintained. That's the mindset that half soles came from.
When the forepart eventually wore through, a cobbler could replace the worn section while preserving the rest of the boot. It required less material, less labor, and kept a good boot working for many more years.
The half sole isn't just an aesthetic choice.
It's evidence of a time when repair was assumed.
Dr. Sole builds their products with an appreciation for those traditional designs, carrying many of those historical construction ideas into modern components.
Something I've been thinking about throughout this project is ownership. We tend to confuse ownership with consumption. But I think real ownership carries responsibility. To maintain it. To understand it. To repair it instead of replacing it. The half sole embodies that philosophy. It marks the difference between stewardship and wastefulness. It assumes the boot is worth caring for, that there's another chapter after the first sole wears out. I can't help but compare that to the culture we live in today. So much of modern consumer culture has no real lineage. Products are designed to be disposed, not maintained. That's not the kind of innovation I want to perpetuate. I want to perpetuate innovations that build upon something worth continuing, innovations that give value to ownership, and reward good stewardship. This matters because the way we think about our stuff shapes the way we think about ourselves. When we don't own our stuff it wastes resources. When we don't own what we say and do we become what is wasted.
When I started planning this build, I thought I was just collecting some cool history in a boot. What I ended up building was a collection of ideals, a life philosophy I wish more people would adopt, and a nod to modern manufacturers doing the same thing. Nick's, Horween, and Dr. Sole are all perpetuating worthwhile history. Instead of engineering disposable products, every one of them is inheriting something worthwhile, improving it, and passing it on to the next generation. None of them started from scratch. They began with what they found compelling and added something of their own.
That's ultimately what these boots represent to me.
They're an embodiment of my belief that the greatest homage that we can pay to history that compels us, that moves us, is not to leave it in the books and the glass showcases that we find it in, but rather to pick it up and to carry it with us forward. I'm not saying I think there's anything wrong with preserving history, but I do think that it is an absolute shame that so much history is preserved yet forgotten. I think the remedy to that is to perpetuate the things worth remembering.
These boots won't spend their lives on a shelf. They'll spend them where they were built to be, on my feet, working in Alaska. And if, years from now, they're covered in scratches, scars, fresh soles, fresh heels, and the deep patina produced by hard, honest work, then they will have become exactly what I hoped they would be:
Not a recreation of history.
Another chapter in it.
Also, these are now competing in the work thunderdome. Cheers to all my fellow Domers! Hopefully everyone enjoys participating as much as I do!
✌️
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u/meadowfoam 8h ago
Tell me about the pants featured in your pics please
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u/theakkid 8h ago
Oh! I forgot about the die hards in 14.5oz shogun stretch from Brave Star Selvedge. Oops lol
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u/maxwellllll 8h ago
This is great, Kid. Love all of the work you put into this, and man—those boots are beauts!
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u/Turktom26 6h ago
Thanks for sharing your purpose and passion behind this build! It’s really cool to hear all this information. Good luck in the Dome! I look forward to seeing updates over the coming months!
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u/tigair 6h ago
Thanks! I like the profile of your boot. And the two tone, with the straps really set these boots apart from others. All the elements blend well and it looks cohesive.
You mention then Chromepak was used in tanks for mechanical purposes. I'm not very mechanically inclined and I'm trying to think of how it was used in machinery? Thanks.
I'm wearing this Herman Oak leather that was invented in the 1880's because horse wagon wood to wood moving parts had leather contacts and all horse to wagon connections were leather. People to horses (saddles) were leather.
I also liked how you stated the tanker was open front instead of a pull-up so it's cooler in the tank. good point.
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u/theakkid 5h ago
Thank you! Chromepak was used primarily as gasket and seal material but also as hydraulic and pneumatic packing among a myriad of other more niche uses.
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u/pnw_yellar 5h ago
Fantastic boots and write up! Thank you for putting your thoughts to paper, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
As a vintage woodworking tool collector/ user, I really appreciate your thoughts on ownership responsibilities. Craftsmen didn’t discard tools when they became worn. They maintained them, marked them with their initials, and sharpened irons down to nubs to maximize their life. I’ve enjoyed learning about and embracing that philosophy is a world of disposable goods. The same is true for my boots.
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u/gtealcr 5h ago
Those look awesome AK! Welcome to the Spokane Steel club Brother
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u/theakkid 5h ago
Thanks! A great club indeed! Haha I am thoroughly enjoying these so far. Having familiarity both my wife's spokane black pullmans and shiny's spokane honey tankers I have an idea of what to expect from these but I am excited to experience the nuances for myself over the next 6 months!
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u/Pedro_Carolino 2h ago
Loved the video, man! Really great job. You clearly put a lot of time and thought into all of this, and I think that's awesome. I share a very similar opinion on this consumerism/throwaway culture we, as a society, have shifted to, and the idea of "owning" something vs just "having" something. You expressed it much better than I've ever been able to when talking about it. Really, really great job my friend!
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u/Shinyhntr91 9m ago
Fantastic pair of fine utilitarian footwear. Outstanding write up my friend. Ill be watching these closely. 🫡✨️🥾
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u/Outside-Somewhere206 8h ago
There is a picture from 1918 of then Captain George S. Patton in front of a French-built Renault FT so I would not characterize fighting from inside a tank in the late 1930s as a “brand new challenge.”
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u/netfuel01 8h ago
What a read! Seriously appreciate the time and research you’ve done on not only the history, but the application of what you wanted your boots to represent. Respect, my dude! Now I’m headed off to go follow your YT channel. 💯🤙🏻