Courteney boots are about done

[cmk]

Anyone use the "cleat" sole pattern? I find that the tyre-track picks up an awful lot of gravel, clay and dirt.

https://www.courteneyboot.com/courteney-product-care/the-sole-of-a-courteney/

 

[CAustin]

still have my 1st pair bought in 2002,in great shape,we have 4 pairs now.

you need to put them to use again Edward!

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Hi, Sounds like you got a lot of use out of a great pair of boots. I would strongly recommend that you send those boots back to Gail for a rebuild. Living in Zimbabwe quite often I have items shipped to me here both by U.S. mail and Fed Ex. I have great success with Fed Ex and very poor success with U.S. mail, 50% of the packages that I have sent by u.s. mail disappear before they leave the U.S. if they make it out of the "sorting depot", they make it.

If you attend one of the shows maybe they will take them back with you? Or better yet book a hunt with John Sharp (I guess he is in the Rigby booth now) and maybe he will get them back to Zim and I am sure he will have your totally rebuilt boots ready for you when you arrive at the airport!

We have all of our boots rebuilt! Remember to keep plenty of dressing on Courtney boots!!!!

 

[sestoppelman]

The cost and quality of the components are a bargain at $300. They make them by hand, less than 20 pairs a day. If you don’t like the price at $400-$800, you don’t have a problem with Courtney, you don’t like distributors jacking prices.

At $300 they would be overpriced.

 

[rookhawk]

At $300 they would be overpriced.

As a guy that used to be in the exotic leather business, and that has visited the Courtney factory, and had considered dealing of distributing their product, I can tell you that your math is broken.

Start with leather. It’s $6 a square wholesale in Zim. Let’s assume the leather is free to obtain, even though it absolutely is not remotely free! A whole Cape buffalo will yield maybe 6-8 usable square feet of garment grade leather and 35 sq feet of worthless trash. $250-$300 to obtain 8 sq feet. A pair of selous boots is 4 sq feet of buffalo. So there went $150 in material.

We haven’t added the impala, or kudu, or tyre rubber, adhesives, thread, insoles, dubbing, laces, padding, eyelets, grommets, or other hardware.

We didn’t add in labor. Or marketing. Or bank fees. Taxes. Export and excise. Property, plant, and equipment. Shipping and distribution. Power. Diesel to run generators in blackouts.

They aren’t getting rich! Their margins are nothing.

They make 15 pairs a day, 48 weeks a year, with an average gross sale of $100-$125 in country? Hell, the whole company probably grosses $350,000 a year on 3500 pairs of shoes and boots.

It will never scale. You cannot use these materials, even in the poorest African nation and compete against the chicoms that make 99% of the boots in the market, including the ones “assembled in America”. (From imported sub components)

You really enjoy your $200 Chinese boots sold in the USA with a $10 manufacturing cost and slave labor? You think a Rocky or Altama is it’s equal? Hell, you can’t make French rubber wellies for less than $300 MSRP and they literally have one material...latex.

 

[sambarhunter]

Ok I hear what you say and will add a 'but'
B I have done a million miles it seems on all sorts of boots in conditions from snow to desert and that sort of money here @ $700 bucks is in my opinion a heap too much to pay.

 

[sestoppelman]

As a guy that used to be in the exotic leather business, and that has visited the Courtney factory, and had considered dealing of distributing their product, I can tell you that your math is broken.

Start with leather. It’s $6 a square wholesale in Zim. Let’s assume the leather is free to obtain, even though it absolutely is not remotely free! A whole Cape buffalo will yield maybe 6-8 usable square feet of garment grade leather and 35 sq feet of worthless trash. $250-$300 to obtain 8 sq feet. A pair of selous boots is 4 sq feet of buffalo. So there went $150 in material.

We haven’t added the impala, or kudu, or tyre rubber, adhesives, thread, insoles, dubbing, laces, padding, eyelets, grommets, or other hardware.

We didn’t add in labor. Or marketing. Or bank fees. Taxes. Export and excise. Property, plant, and equipment. Shipping and distribution. Power. Diesel to run generators in blackouts.

They aren’t getting rich! Their margins are nothing.

They make 15 pairs a day, 48 weeks a year, with an average gross sale of $100-$125 in country? Hell, the whole company probably grosses $350,000 a year on 3500 pairs of shoes and boots.

It will never scale. You cannot use these materials, even in the poorest African nation and compete against the chicoms that make 99% of the boots in the market, including the ones “assembled in America”. (From imported sub components)

You really enjoy your $200 Chinese boots sold in the USA with a $10 manufacturing cost and slave labor? You think a Rocky or Altama is it’s equal? Hell, you can’t make French rubber wellies for less than $300 MSRP and they literally have one material...latex.

All fine and dandy, but yes I get by just fine on less expensive footwear. A lot of what one is buying is fancy names and marketing hype. You can have my share of it even if I am "math broken".

 

[sestoppelman]

And when the price of new shoes is anywhere near the equal of a new rifle, well, lets just say I would rather have a new rifle for the same money.

 

[fourfive8]

Anyone use the "cleat" sole pattern? I find that the tyre-track picks up an awful lot of gravel, clay and dirt.

https://www.courteneyboot.com/courteney-product-care/the-sole-of-a-courteney/

I have both tyre tread and cleat. For me the tyre tread is a little more comfortable than the cleat and contrary to logic, that aggressive pattern is very quiet and does very well in fine sand. The cleat definitely picks up less of that pesky gravel- only an occasional small pebble in one of the holes or between the lugs.

 

[CBH Australia]

@sambarhunter there is an Aussie distributor Malcom Nott “The Courtney Australian Boot Company” his sell price is less than $700, if you’ve seen the Rigby boots by Courteney with a little blue Rigby tag that’s getting up there in price, $ per square on that tag are like gold.

My experience. I bought Selous from Malcom ex stock. They were tight and I really wanted the Patrol for length and ankle support. I’ve heard more than once of getting Selous made that height

So my Selous were tight. I bought a $5 stretcher on eBay and ordered the Patrol in Dark Brown. They were checked by Malcom who sent pics and I was disappointed in the lighter than expected tone. We exchanged emails copying in Gale Rice the company owner. I still purchased them as I wanted them and don’t want to be fighting with an 80 year old.
I ordered Gaiters for my wife and later a Buffalo hide belt for myself for Christmas.
No stretching required a more roomy fit. They seem to be a softer leather and maybe not as much support as the Selous . The custom high Selous may be better had I have known then.
I can only wear one pair to Africa as we are travelling light. I may still wear the Selous yet. A bit more walking to be done. The Selous are settling in well.
Why did I buy a second pair? Because I can’t see anything like them built with heavy leather close to me. I hope I got it right
My honest opinion they are well built. Maybe they are a bit behind in being the best support for your feet so I found a inner sole with arch support.
I’ve heard good and bad but you need the right fit. Being hand made I have 2 different styles in the same size different fit.Aahhhh,

For Town I found some Echo hiking boots styled like the Courteney settler. They are a lightweight leather hiking boots on par with the Courteney price but the best walking shoe I’ve had. I would not use them in the bush they are built for it.
I be heard good reports on rebuilds, I also think you may see inflated prices in The US for Courteney. Go figure.
They are reputed to be the quietest stalking boot.
The tractor sole does pick up gravel and shits me.
I would consider a cleat sole they are not a mountain boot.

A Selous in Patrol height with cleat sole and moulded inner sole to suit your feet may be ideal.

I also would not recommend these for wet climates but I’m in Western NSW and I expect Southern Cape of South Africa will be dry when I get there. From what I see in media the country may be something like mine but with exotic animals.

 

[CBH Australia]

The Selous on the right with a shorter cut. They seem to be stiffer and of better quality. They are the flagship model but I think that is around styling.

If I want a smart casual I would look into the Courteney Settler but this is about hunting boots. Both are dusty.
Undecided which I will wear to South Africa.

 

[CBH Australia]

I might have “ a thing “ for leather and Buffalo,

 

[edward]

you need to put them to use again Edward!

the price for the standard selous is 289.00 in 2006.389.00 to day.the selous in crock nile is 1000.oo.in elephant,i have no idea,but would imagine 1000.00 if you could get them in this country.they also come in hippo,ostrich,etc,the hides setting the price.african sporting creations in this country sells them here.i do charlie,the nile crocks with Levis,elephant hide with Levis,etc.as you can see,im quite the clothes horse,ha,ha.at 81 im quite dashing in my new gladiator jeep pickup truck when i take my lovely wife out for dinner and a nite on the town.with all the bullshit about the 4457s and the local african air lines refusing to transport handguns inland,my african days are over.

 

[grand veneur]

I bought my Courteney boots "Selous" in 1998 in Harare , worn every year by hunting in Africa and this year they broke. I will not buy any new ones because there are enough shoes that are well suited and partly better for the african terrain. The Courteneys shoes are absolutely unsuitable for wet climates.

The African terrain is very easy to walk in comparison to others , and that's why no special shoes are necessary. Light trekking boots are perfect for almost every corner of africa , except may be the high mountains covered with snow , where nobody hunts. In equatorial area where it rains every day , rubber boots can be helpful , if it is not too hot.

 

[CAustin]

the price for the standard selous is 289.00 in 2006.389.00 to day.the selous in crock nile is 1000.oo.in elephant,i have no idea,but would imagine 1000.00 if you could get them in this country.they also come in hippo,ostrich,etc,the hides setting the price.african sporting creations in this country sells them here.i do charlie,the nile crocks with Levis,elephant hide with Levis,etc.as you can see,im quite the clothes horse,ha,ha.at 81 im quite dashing in my new gladiator jeep pickup truck when i take my lovely wife out for dinner and a nite on the town.with all the bullshit about the 4457s and the local african air lines refusing to transport handguns inland,my african days are over.

but you have the nice double that could be out to good use!i e seen those new Jeep pickups at a distance but not up close. I need to drop by a dealership and check one out!

 

[African Sporting Creations]

Gentlemen,

This is Jim from African Sporting Creations and we are the US Distributor for Courteney Boots. Gale Rice is the owner of that fabulous company and she is happy to refurbish/resole your shoes/boots for essentially the cost of the components. Best way is to carry them over there and drop them off at the start of a two week safari and pick them up on the way back as shipping to Zim is expensive. Even if it comes back in one of my quarterly shipments (happy to do that) to the USA, my cost to include it is $60 per pair as in addition to air shipping I also have to pay clearance, duty and local delivery. To get them to you from Ohio to TX for example is another $20-25 via UPS ground. Another option is to order soles from me and get someone to sew them on locally who is used to working on boots as they need HD equipment.

In terms of whether or not they are worth it, I might be biased, but I still have the original tyre tread sole on the Selous that I purchased back in 2003 before I was their distributor. Based on my pedometer, I have put close to 10,000 miles on them. In all fairness, some of it is my daily 5 mile walk on pavement. Amazingly, they still have a little less than half of the tread left. The run-flats on my wife's Sienna mini-van only got 12,000 so we are on track to surpass that number.

I like the suggestion of treating them like sharks teeth and always having another set (or two, three or four) in reserve. Moisture is the #2 killer of leather (#1 being drying them out too close to a heat source) and if you rotate two pairs every other day they will last much longer than twice as long as one pair worn every day. If you wear the same pair every day the leather never gets a chance to dry out. I have the Safari in Hippo 8 years old and they look good as new and have just over 4,000 miles on them and they have the less aggressive cleat sole.

We are bringing two crates filled with more than 200 pairs to the DSC Show and we have four booths (listed as 3334 on main street and we are usually across the aisle from the NRA booth.

Jim

 

[K-man]

No offense to Jim but i couldn't get the elephant leather from them so i just bought them in Bulawyo. Cost about
$380. Wore them home through customs and use them at least once a week here. Absolutely correct about keeping a good polish on the stiching, will last my lifetime.

 

[edward]

but you have the nice double that could be out to good use!i e seen those new Jeep pickups at a distance but not up close. I need to drop by a dealership and check one out!

take a look at mine,then go get yours,youll love it.

the seat covers are sheep skins from rams head in calif,worth every penny.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I have bought 2 pair from Jim at African Sporting Creations and a third “try” pair I had to return. When they have some D width buffalo with the ripple sole, I’ll order another pair. Jim is very easy to work with.
JMO, but the tire tread is very noisy except in the sand (such as the Kalahari) and picks up pretty large pebbles. I currently am using the cleat sole which has been pretty quiet in the sand and rocky areas, but it will pick up very tiny pebbles and wet dirt in the holes.
Im looking for a D with ripple sole Safari size 10.5 (same as last two) buffalo hide...OK Jim?

 

[Pheroze]

Got mine in 2015 I believe, and dont need any repairs despite being abused.

I use them all year but not if the snow is deep or slushy. But, really they are spring to fall type boot. I use Montana Pitch Blend oil and dressing. They are leather, so not water proof. But I have been waist deep in a lake, walked through snow, and mud, and they are doing fine. You dont want to turkey hunt in them because they will get cold when wet. They will absorb the moisture from tall, wet grass. But, they tackle all terrain and dry quickly. I love how I can climb the granite that makes up so much of our landscape up north. Love the tire tread for mud too.