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We're hosting another John Lofgren Made-To-Order Trunk Show at S&S NYC and S&S Oakland, where you can design the John Lofgren boot of your dreams. Choose from an array of leathers, outsoles, eyelets, stitching colors and more. We can also make custom size boots not normally offered (narrow or extra wide widths).
John Lofgren and Tomomi Kubota will be at our NYC store event to help you design your dream pair of boots. You can also discuss vintage Vespa scooters, living in Japan, and the mysteries of raisin farming with John Lofgren.
We've created this guide to help your decision-making process in building your pair of John Lofgren MTO boots.
If you're not sure about what the best option to choose is - please reach out to us and we'll be happy to assist.
Please note - all colors are approximate, and these leathers can change in appearance, color and tone when made into boots. Leather is also a non-uniform material and there will be variances.
If you have any specific questions about how a particular leather will look, please contact us.
Not sure what to choose?
Too many damn options?
Want us to shutup and do the work for you?
Then you're in luck. Choose the Omakase option, and without using a random number generator of any kind, we'll design a great pair of MTO boots for you.
We'll use our combined experience of over 250 years of wearing shoes. We may even argue with each other about what to do (this will certainly happen).
Omakase is a get what you get option - we will not entertain any complaints, whinging or huffy-puffy-ness.
You roll the dice, and we manipulate them to create our own boot reality, just for you.
This is a classy, slightly understated way to do a two-tone engineer boot.
With a Timber CXL leather shaft and Black CXL vamp, straps, heel counter and backstay - this boot will patina beautifully over time.
Full Build Specs
We made these boots for a client that has over a dozen pairs of engineer boots.
He chose a Natural CXL Roughout shaft, which keeps your pant hem from riding up the boot.
Full Build Specs
This is one of our favorite MTOs because of how subtle it is.
Natural CXL Roughout makes for a great leather in an engineer boot - it darkens significantly with a lot of wear (scroll through the photos to see what this leather looks like after six years of wear), and the roughout shaft will keep your pants from sliding up.
The contrast of the smooth out Natural CXL backstay and straps really ties it all together - it's one of those subtle details that matters.
This build would also look great with off white upper stitching.
Full Build Specs
You can't go wrong with the range of Horween's leathers offered.
Horween leathers are available on all models of boots. You can choose two leathers for a two-tone boot, but if we think the boots will be ugly, we won't make them.
A brighter, slightly green blue leather.
Will age to lighter blue color in high wear areas.
Classic burgundy color. Shines easily, and ages to brighter red colors in high wear areas.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
A dark chocolate tea-core brown leather with lots of pullup.
Darker brown and less orangey than Timber CXL.
A dark olive leather with warmer tones and lots of pullup. Neil hates photographing olive leathers because it's a pain in the ass.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
Medium brown leather that darkens with age and patina. Pairs well with Oka Black CXL in a two-tone leather boot.
This roughout is darker, warmer, and more saturated in color than Natural CXL. It will darken with age and patina.
One of our favorite leathers. It has lots of pullup and darkens beautifully to a rich brown color.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
A classic. Starts out light tan color and transforms into a warm, fuzzy brown with wear.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
Darker than Blue CXL. It looks nearly black at first - but looks slightly electric blue in direct sunlight.
The classic tea-core Black CXL that John Lofgren boots are known for. Ages to a dark brown in high wear areas over time.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
For when you want your black boots to stay black. This is the same as Oka Black CXL - but the black dye penetrates through to the core of the leather.
Will age to a light gray color in high wear areas over time - but a coat of quality black boot polish will keep them looking like new.
A not-quite-black-but-dark-dark-dark-charcoal color roughout. Similar in color and tone to our Black Cat M-43 Boots.
A classic warm, slightly reddish brown leather with lots of pullup. Pairs well with Oka Black CXL.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
A medium-dark brown horsehide leather with a shiny finish and a fair amount of grain variation and texture. There may be areas with varying degrees of grain tension that appear wrinkly.
The leather is not a horsebutt - it's a single horse front leather - thinner and much more soft and compliant.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
Think of this leather as a lighter, younger, more sprightly version of Timber CXL. It's an orangeish, slightly reddish brown that will darken beautifully with time, age and perhaps anger.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
If you know - you know. The diamond-crusted filet mignon of leathers. Only the finest membranes are extracted from the finest horsebutts at Shinki Hikaku tannery in Himeji, Japan.
The Shinki Shell Cordovan used is of the oiled finish variant - it's glossy and rich in color.
Shinki Shell Cordovan is available only on the following models
Natural shell cordovan ages to a dark brown over time, similar to an undyed vegetable tanned leather.
Think of this is a lighter colored burgundy - similar to a Color 4 Shell Cordovan "sourced from Chicago" but different.
If you're drinking a glass of booze that's the same color as this leather, it's probably pretty damn tasty...and been sitting in a barrel too long.
The #4 Cognac shell is a beautiful reddish brown that is darker than the #3 Red-Brown Shell.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
This is a yellowish olive color shell - very similar in color to the Limited Edition M-43 Boots in Olive Shinki Horsebutt, but shinier and with less horsebutt grain.
This leather is VERY BLUE. Rumor has it that Shinki attempted to copyright this color in the style of Yves Klein, but bureaucracy and bitterness towards the French prevented this from occuring.
You want shiny black boots? This is for you.
This shell is not tea-core; the leather has been dyed all the way to the core. But that's how we like it - shiny black shell boots that stay shiny black.
This leather is tanned by French people in France, and then finished and dyed in Japan. The result is akin to a sober version of Museum Calf - slight variations in color and tone that make the leather stand out from the very-uniform box calf type of leathers.
This leather is shiny, takes a polish well, and has a very smooth and soft temper. Jeremy is quite enamored with the idea of an M-43 or USN Shoe made from this calf leather.
Japanese Calf leathers are available on all models of boots.
We do NOT recommend mixing Japanese Calf leathers with Horween leathers. A rivalry between American and French tanneries lasting hundreds of years will rear its ugly head and your boots will perish during production.
It's a light brown, right in the middle. If you're the type of person that likes to hedge risks and put half and half in your coffee - this leather caters to your sensibilities. And it probably looks like your coffee.
Chrome-tanned with pigment / aniline finish.
It's got 88 less brown units than the 2165 Light Brown. It's nearly a tan color - reminds us of a whiskey color or the OG Alden Indy 405 color, but better.
Chrome-tanned with aniline / casein finish.
It's a medium brown that borders on medium-dark brown. Has a slightly reddish tone to it.
Chrome-tanned with pigment / aniline finish.
Yep, it's a dark brown, with a little bit of red tone to it. Look closely and you'll see what we're talking about with the slight color variation and tone.
Chrome-tanned with aniline / casein finish.
Slightly lighter in color than the 2293 Dark Brown - and much more consistent in tone/variation. It's a more sober brown, one you can trust your children with while you're at the pub.
Chrome-tanned with pigment / aniline finish.
This is a damn good burgundy. It's the same leather found on the Burgundy Steadfast Chukka.
Chrome-tanned with aniline / casein finish.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
YA shiny, slightly variegated navy that shines brighter blue in direct sunlight.
Chrome-tanned with aniline / casein finish.
A gorgeous blue-green, almost teal color with a lot of shine and slightly color variegation.
Chrome-tanned with aniline / casein finish.
Technically black is not a color but the absence of color. However that technology does not exist in leather chemistry, so we offer you the next best thing: a great, shiny black calfskin leather.
Chrome-tanned with pigment / aniline finish.
It's the same leather used on the Black Steadfast Chukka.
Photos of boots made with this leather:
Soft, supple Japanese calf suede that is tanned and dyed in Japan. These leathers are used on the Desert Boots and are a great alternative to a thicker roughout leather.
A darker, saturated navy suede that ages to bright blue in high wear areas.
A terrific light tan color - sand, if you prefer - that darkens beautifully with age.
A reddish, lighter colored tobacco suede. It looks a bit pale when new - but after a few months of wear, it darkens up to the color it should be. Think of this leather as similar to an undyed vegetable tanned one - you wear it for what it's going to look like - now what it looks like when new.
See this leather on the Desert Boots.
Three options in cowhide from Italian tannery Badalassi.
Badalassi leather is not available on the M-43 Boots.
A beautiful vegetable tanned, light tan leather. Will darken significantly with wear and age.
Used on the Engineer Boots
A lighter olive leather with more tonal variation than the Horween Olive. Expect this leather to darken and stain over time, changing noticeably with wear.
Used on the Engineer Boots
A deep brown with reddish undertones that will age beautifully as it scuffs and wears down.
You can choose between four colors of eyelets or three colors of speedhooks.
If you have an aversion to speed hooks - your pair can be made with all eyelets on lace-up models.
We have two options for buckles on engineer boots - brass and a polished shiny nickel.
There are four options for the storm welt and edge stain (midsole and heel stack) - Natural, Champagne, Brown and Black.
For this MTO, we only offer the stock sole supplied with each boot, with one exception - on the Engineer Boot, you can choose a Vibram #700 full sole and heel in Black or Brown colors, or the Vibram #705 half sole and heel in Black only.
Upper stitching options are
Outsole stitching options are
We don't have sample photos of black outsole stitching. You'll have to use your imaginations.
We're offering a larger variety of leathers than are found on stock John Lofgren boots. You can choose multiple different leathers for one pair of boots.
Available on Combat Boots, Chukka Boots, Glover Brogues, USN Low Quarter Shoes
Available on all models except M-43 Boots
Available on all models