Freestyle Recce Combat Boots

Very high-quality adventuring boots for those looking for more traditional leather boots without GTX features. Even the sole construction is stitched and repairable, gosh darn it. Made in Cape Town by a veteran manufacturer that nowadays goes by the name of Freestyle. Don't be fooled by the name; they make awesome boots!

In this case, Recce means the South African special forces, and these boots are styled after the footwear they used. The South African combat boot philosophy revolves around an unlined full leather boot with a durable, hard-wearing rubber sole and a wide last to accommodate foot swelling - no fashionable pointy and crammy noses on these! If you want to go by the book, you'll wear these with double socks "summer and winter". However, naturally, one pair of socks will also work. Of course, your experience may vary depending on the summers and winters of your country. In Finland, these will work during spring, summer, and fall, but they are inadequate for field use in the freezing temperatures of proper Arctic winters. However, as light three-season general adventuring boots, they're great!

Features

• Outsole material rubber, with a thin and slightly shock-absorbing midsole
• Upper double-stitched on a leather midsole, on which the outsole is glued; the whole construction is repairable!
• Upper made of 2.0–2.2 mm thick, flexible but strong unlined leather, which is very welcoming for grease (read more about it in the care instructions)
• All parts properly stitched together
• A cushioned footbed, on which you can also drop in your own insole
• Total height about 23 cm
• Tongue bellowed from the lower part
• Standard lacing with strap & buckle closure on the top
• Notches in the middle of the lacing for more flexibility
• Not at all stiff, these are extremely flexible overall!

Care

The boots can be treated with colorless grease or shoe polish (brown for brown and black for black). The manufacturer recommends a thorough treatment with grease before the first use to prevent water from forming ugly dark stains on the leather. The treatment naturally darkens the boot a bit, but such is life. These will darken with use and care anyway. Use plastic boots if you're looking for that "sterile" look.

Clean these with a brush and/or a moist rag. Don't dry them near a heat source!

Size info

Sizes in the UK system followed by the French / EU size. The sizes run true and are quite accurate. Foot swelling is accommodated in the sizing. The last is quite wide, also in the toe.

Conversion from the standard UK sizes to US sizes is simply +1, e.g., UK 8.0 is the same as US 9.0.

Made by Freestyle

These are made for us by a South African company called Freestyle. They've been in the business for quite a while, and in the old days, they made boots for the South African military. Although the name is quite, uh, civilian, their boots are handmade with a purpose in mind, not just to look nice on the sidewalk.

FAQ

"Are these the same as Waxi boots?" -No. These are an entirely different animal from a different company. Without mocking Waxi, these are better quality. The quality is more comparable to Courteney (!).

"These seem rather expensive compared to the prices on the Freestyle website. What's the deal with that?" -Indeed they are. Ordering directly from Freestyle is very expensive, time-consuming, and difficult (of course, nothing stops you from trying). For reference, even our purchase price for these is more expensive than the prices on the Freestyle website. They're still worth it all!

"Is the sole slippery in freezing temperatures?" -Yes. These are not winter boots. We carry better options for that stuff. But as summer boots, these are top-notch!