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Attractions BILTBUCK Lot 444 – Horsebutt Black/ Gold Buckle
The Gold Plated buckle on the coveted Biltbuck lot 444 engineer boots are an East West Apparel exclusive! Fancy!
We have been asking the good guys at Attractions about a brass buckle on the lot 444’s for a while and they finally came back with their own take, the gold plated steel buckle. The feedback from them was that on the original engineer boots the buckles were gold plated, not made of brass, and in keeping with their reproduction values, that is what they would offer as an exclusive on the lot 444’s. Great, yes please! The Gold plating will chip, patina and tarnish overtime leaving that time worn vintage look to match the wear and development of the leather. So what starts shiny will end up aged, muted and tarnished but beautiful.
The BILTBUCK lot 444’s by Attractions are a very solid interpretation of a slightly dressier engineer boot that really harks back to an era gone by. Higher heel, sleek flat welt, rounded toe and a shapely waist combined with solid components, heavy stitching and a leather that feels bomb proof. They are a stylishly edgy pair of boots that can be dressed up or down and will look better the more you wear them and shape to your foot. We like these a lot.
The leather, the leather: Italian Horsebutt. It’s lovely. It’s thick, pliable, very robust and it’s that type of leather you see on a 40 year old pair of boots or horse jacket and go wow. Quite stiff to begin with and feels very solid but will shape and soften in no time if abuse correctly. Not a pair you would want or need to baby. The grain is there, full of character and imperfect which really adds to the overall authenticity of these boots.
The lasts (shape the boot is made on) are very shapely, have a nice slim waist with a sleek rounded toe, are comfortable immediately in terms of support and width and have a dress like footprint whilst still looking and feeling substantial. The heel slip will feel very little as they cup your heel, you might get a bit initially as with all engineers bit when the sole breaks in and they are sized correctly they will be fine.
Comfort: They are comfortable immediately. Full leather insole with branded heel cup, well sized ankle straps (thick) for keeping heel slip to a minimum, great heel height, the width of the shaft is well balanced so you can still get your more tapered denims on and considering the materials and amount of heavy leather used, the weight is light making them very comfortable for all day wear.
Construction & finish: The best materials and construction methods have been used in these boots, just see the DETAILS tab. The stitching is very neat and uniform, the heel well balanced and elegantly shaped and the sole trim is even and nicely done.
- Vegetable Tanned Horsebutt from Italy
- 12.5″ total height (heel included)
- Japanese steel roller buckles/ Gold plated
- Goodyear flat welted
- Oak Bark tanned heavy midsole
- Oak Bark tanned stacked heel
- Japanese steel footbed shanks
- Neat double stitching throughout
- BILTRITE half sole and heel
- Rolled top and curved calf shaft
- US sized but please see the sizing tab
The Attractions lot 444 engineers fit very similar to UK sizes. They don’t look it but they are fairly voluminous throughout the whole foot, the width feels like a standard D, maybe slightly wider and there is enough volume over the top of the foot to know that if you have wider feet that the leather with collapse allowing more width. They do taper at the toe but again, there’s give.
An 8.5 US (ignore the US/ UK conversions, go by the below) has more volume but is very similar in length & width to:
-John Lofgren Engineers: 8 US
-John Lofgren Donkey Punchers: 7.5 US
-Red Wing Pecos, Iron Rangers: 8.5 US (7.5 UK)
-Viberg: 7.5 (2030 and 2045 last)
-White’s Boots: 7.5-8 D or E width respectively
-Rolling Dub Trio Coupen: 7.5 US
-Truman Boots: 8.5
-Trickers (and majority of British brands): 7.5-8 G/F
Please get in touch with any sizing questions you may have. We will do our best to assist you in as much depth as we can to get your sizing right. We have experience with a number of UK, European, Japanese and USA made branded shoes/ boots to help with comparisons and can take any measurements you may need. Please also check our size guide for a good general overview of the brands we carry and more.
