White's Boots
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Hathorn boots are made by guys training to work on Whites, basically apprentices. They are also made from slightly cheaper leathers, I believe some of the leathers are bought in from overseas. However, I have owned a couple of pairs of Hathorn boots, and the quality difference in terms of build is not noticeable at all.
I'm going to email White's and see if they have a generic answer to this.
This is just my opinion.
You can get custom boots from the Hathorn line that use the exact same leathers as the heavy duty White's line. Maybe they use lighter weight versions? I'm not exactly sure.
Also, I think the Hathorn line are Machine welted whereas the Whites line are hand welted. The finished details are nicer on the Whites line as well. Usually, the Hathorn like has the close trim single welt stitching and the Whites line usually have a double welt stitch line on the standard trim.Overall, I'd say the Hathorn line is close to but still better quality than Red Wing, Wolverine, Danner, Chippewa, etc.
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Urb, I have a pair of Hathorns, they do have softer leather than the smoke jumpers. Machine welted, single stitch.
I have the steel toe model, very nice boots. My Danner super rainforests are built a lot sturdier and are way
stiffer, I wear my Hathorns a lot more because I like the higher heel. -
I know that the Voyager leather used on many of the Hathorn boots is imported, still a really nice leather though. Somewhere on Sufu there is a picture tour of the Whites production facility, and it shows the trainees making the Hathorn boots.
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I emailed Whites and asked the difference between the Whites line and the Hathorn line.
"The main difference between the White’s and Hathorn boots is the quality and construction. The White’s Boots are all hand-made and hand stitched, we use higher quality materials and they will have higher arch. The Hathorn boots are made with lower quality materials and they will have lower arch."
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Sounds reasonable enough
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Thanks urb. At least they are honest ;D.
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Yeah, machine construction can still be extremely well made, as long as the Quality Control is on top of things, and "lower quality" isn't low quality, especially when we're talking about White's.
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I can totally see that. I think Red Wings are crazy overpriced for what you get though- feel like my Thorogoods are as good as RWs I've tried on but were 1/2 the price, below $140.
Guess my cost/value perception could be off here, if I can't get something that great for over 300 I'm thinking to just wait and get the White's next year. Better leather and hand-stitching seems worth the +200…
Recent watch purchase killed the expendable spending for some time so was trying to have my cake and eat it too but guess not!
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Tiger, check Wesco's factory seconds page, great boots on the cheap! They might have a blemish or were a
cancelled order or a returned pair. I got three pairs this way and all were new.
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Hathorn Traveler
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That'd be the original subject of interest yes
Bakers has them for $298($310 + $12off code "twitter")
Red Wings are $290-330 for a similar style. Why would you buy Red Wings?
The Hathorn line is to Whites as Triple Works is to Iron Heart, IMHO.
Also, if you're part of the Boot Comp you can get a pair of Whites Bounter Hunters for as low as $378 after the promo code.
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Bakers has them for $298($310 + $12off code "twitter")
Red Wings are $290-330 for a similar style. Why would you buy Red Wings?
This is all you need to think about.
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Tiger, Wesco adds new boots to the factory seconds page every day. Depends on the boot though, might only
be one pair or a whole set from a cancelled order…Keep an eye on it daily and good luck! -
The Hathorn line is to Whites as Triple Works is to Iron Heart, IMHO.
The difference is that Triple Works and Iron Heart are designed by the same people, made in the same factories, made by the same people using the same construction methods. That is not true of Hathorn and Whites.
