I recently received this email from my adorable, but lazy friend:

“Dear Gala,

I have a fashion research question: I will prefix it with the note that I am too lazy to do the hard web-yards myself, and also I figured I would prefer to be told authoritively by you, THE style doyenne.

Where can I buy the best men’s engineers boots (sometimes known as biker boots, but I want round toe, non-harness straps: single strap only, flat-ish vibram soles). I would ideally like to know who is the old school company who make these… I want great design and manufacturers integrity, with mail-order-ability from the colonies.

Black of course. & yep, below the knee.

Yours, Mr. Custard.”

Thankfully, Mr. Custard is dear to my heart, so I didn’t mind doing this. Though I must say that my internet sleuthing prowess is certainly not my strongest attribute. I have had another lovely person ask me recently where to buy a particular item from, but really, I wouldn’t even know where to BEGIN looking.

So, back to the boots!

From what I can see, The Frye Company claims to be the oldest continuously-operated shoe company in the United States. They sell a variety of engineer’s boots which can be seen here. They’re also sold on Zappos & the user comments below the picture are quite inspiring, though they don’t ship outside the United States.

Frye engineer’s boots.

If you want a slightly different look, you could try the Chippewa engineer’s boot. They come up much higher & are less expensive than the Frye.

Chippewa engineer’s boots.

I like the length of the Chippewa, but if you want old-school, I say go for the Frye. I wasn’t able to find anywhere online that expressly delivered to New Zealand but it is a tough thing to search for. Try getting an American friend to order them & then send them on for you, search for stockists in NZ or buy them on Ebay — there are a lot of pairs for sale there.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I miss you!
P.P.S. Reader Raindog71 suggested checking out Dayton Boots — they look fantastic!