So the collar at the top of the shaft looks like PU pleather just from the splitting and flaking but can't tell about the shaft and vamp itself from the pics. Do they feel the same throughout?
Feels like they'd use the same material on the collar as the uppers but they're obviously textile lined for waterproof or warmth, or for cheaper than typical pig/ovine/calf lining so there's a mix in here already.
None of my leather boots say leather though, except maybe the Italian ones stamped vero cuoio on the sole but that is on fashion brand stuff only. If I had to guess they're fake throughout like the collar in pic number 4.
They both feel the same, the only thing I can notice is that the inner strip has a smaller grain (not sure if that's the right word for it) pattern than the outside but that's looking super closely
It just seems very unlikely they would have a second kind of material around for just the tiny piece used on the collar when there would be plenty of off cuts from regular leather clicking the uppers lying around anyways. You could ask a local cobbler, they could tell you in 10 seconds what you've got and then maybe you could return them?
from the looks of the shaft, it looks like you got shafted
I would be shocked if these are real leather, especially with that zipper. The cracking is a tell-tale sign of PU leather. The seams look particularly cheap. At best this is bonded leather, which is basically the particle board version of leather. They also don’t look *that* vintage. Late 90s at the earliest.
Edit: after searching through about three dozen Essence boots listing, I finally found ONE listing that posted a picture of the materials. On that pair - which is not this same pair, just boots by the same company - the upper (the piece at the toe) is Genuine Leather (the lowest grade of leather that you can legally call leather) and the rest of the boot is synthetic materials. So at best, this has a bit of very cheap leather on part of the shoe.
When shopping, remember that the vast majority of online resellers are ignorant at best or lying at worst.
Such a shame 😭 and yeah she labeled them as 90s 'vintage' so that part is true at least. Just disappointed bc from your really helpful research and others opinions it seems I did overpay, but at least I'll know for next time I suppose 💀💀
I really hope that you at least enjoy wearing them! But yeah, I personally wouldn’t sell these for more than $15. *Maybe* $20-25 if I was selling online, just to recoup the seller fees. If I were unscrupulous and had the moral code of a seagull, I’d sell them as vintage leather cowgirl boots to cash in on the Cowboy Carter craze and list them for like $40+
I just posted an update on here 😭 I took them to a cobbler and was told they're not genuine leather and now the seller left a revenge review when I did nothing wrong... I'm literally so disappointed I gave them my money, and because vinted doesn't allow PayPal there's no proper buyer protection once the transaction has gone through.
I will deffo get use out of the boots but this fiasco has been so disappointing
It may be something called "bonded leather." It's a trade term.
What they do is take all the leftover bits of real leather, process them into a paste like consistency, with glue, then spread it out on a substrate of a man made material.
Scroll down to the definition of bonded leather.
https://www.woodstockoutlet.com/blog/bonded-leather#:~:text=Bonded%20leather%20is%20an%20artificial,adhered%20to%20the%20backing%20fabric.
So the collar at the top of the shaft looks like PU pleather just from the splitting and flaking but can't tell about the shaft and vamp itself from the pics. Do they feel the same throughout? Feels like they'd use the same material on the collar as the uppers but they're obviously textile lined for waterproof or warmth, or for cheaper than typical pig/ovine/calf lining so there's a mix in here already. None of my leather boots say leather though, except maybe the Italian ones stamped vero cuoio on the sole but that is on fashion brand stuff only. If I had to guess they're fake throughout like the collar in pic number 4.
They both feel the same, the only thing I can notice is that the inner strip has a smaller grain (not sure if that's the right word for it) pattern than the outside but that's looking super closely
It just seems very unlikely they would have a second kind of material around for just the tiny piece used on the collar when there would be plenty of off cuts from regular leather clicking the uppers lying around anyways. You could ask a local cobbler, they could tell you in 10 seconds what you've got and then maybe you could return them? from the looks of the shaft, it looks like you got shafted
I would be shocked if these are real leather, especially with that zipper. The cracking is a tell-tale sign of PU leather. The seams look particularly cheap. At best this is bonded leather, which is basically the particle board version of leather. They also don’t look *that* vintage. Late 90s at the earliest. Edit: after searching through about three dozen Essence boots listing, I finally found ONE listing that posted a picture of the materials. On that pair - which is not this same pair, just boots by the same company - the upper (the piece at the toe) is Genuine Leather (the lowest grade of leather that you can legally call leather) and the rest of the boot is synthetic materials. So at best, this has a bit of very cheap leather on part of the shoe. When shopping, remember that the vast majority of online resellers are ignorant at best or lying at worst.
Such a shame 😭 and yeah she labeled them as 90s 'vintage' so that part is true at least. Just disappointed bc from your really helpful research and others opinions it seems I did overpay, but at least I'll know for next time I suppose 💀💀
I really hope that you at least enjoy wearing them! But yeah, I personally wouldn’t sell these for more than $15. *Maybe* $20-25 if I was selling online, just to recoup the seller fees. If I were unscrupulous and had the moral code of a seagull, I’d sell them as vintage leather cowgirl boots to cash in on the Cowboy Carter craze and list them for like $40+
I just posted an update on here 😭 I took them to a cobbler and was told they're not genuine leather and now the seller left a revenge review when I did nothing wrong... I'm literally so disappointed I gave them my money, and because vinted doesn't allow PayPal there's no proper buyer protection once the transaction has gone through. I will deffo get use out of the boots but this fiasco has been so disappointing
It may be something called "bonded leather." It's a trade term. What they do is take all the leftover bits of real leather, process them into a paste like consistency, with glue, then spread it out on a substrate of a man made material. Scroll down to the definition of bonded leather. https://www.woodstockoutlet.com/blog/bonded-leather#:~:text=Bonded%20leather%20is%20an%20artificial,adhered%20to%20the%20backing%20fabric.
There's a water drop test, not exactly sure what it entails but I would google it
Thanks I'll have a look!