Monday 16 January 2012

Lotus Veldtschoen, guaranteed waterproof!




I've been noticing boots like these - which I'd once call officers' boots - for years, but it is only fairly recently that I've managed to find out exactly what they are, and snaffle a pair for myself.
The short definition is that these are a Lotus Veldtschoen Derby boot; Lotus are the makers, at one time one of the UK's leading shoe manufacturers, and Veldtschoen was one of their key construction. Levi's used to boast "a new pair free if they rip".  Lotus, in much the same non-nonsense vein, were always "guaranteed waterproof."

Popular initially for use in golfing, hiking and hunting, Lotus Veldtschoen were first marketed as officers' boots around 1915, and remained in production until, approximately, the 1980s. They still promote coos and sighs of recognition from old-school shoe salesmen, who often cite the pair in the windows of Cordings (the wonderful tweedy huntingear shop, now apparently owned by Eric Clapton). This particular pair sat in a bucket of water, for many years, with the "guaranteed waterproof" banner above them.

With the aid of Rebecca Shawcross, Shoe Resources Officer at Northampton Museum, I've found out more of the history of these boots. Veldtschoen was a construction always linked with Lotus,  who claimed to have their own distinct variation, shown below, but in fact it's an ancient configuration, dating back to the 15th and 16th century. It was also known as American Stitch Down, and first appears on the documentation trail as Veldtschoen in the mid 19th century, according to Rebecca: "There were British patents taken out for that type of construction in 1843, 1856 and 1860. We believe the term Veldtschoen comes out of the Boer war; Africaans were wearing shoes with hide turned out, and one chap who worked here thinks it's possible that type of construction was taken to South Africa by the Dutch."

Vledtschoen boots didn't arrive as mainstream footwear until World War 1. It appears that one manufacturer, Manfield, had Veldtschoen items in their catalogue by around 1890 but without a doubt the best-known brand for Veldtschoen was Lotus, produced by the company Bostock and Son . The Bostocks were one of the oldest-established footwear families in the Midlands; there are records of the indentures of William Bostock who was apprenticed to Matthew Morell, in 1759; Thomas, his son, was in turn apprenticed to William, and eventually moved to the town of Stafford in 1814, where he worked with his own son and established the business, Bostock and Son. This was the site of the family's factory, shown circa 1930. The company was renamed Lotus Ltd in 1919.



Lotus produced a wide range of footwear - their Delta brand was a popular make of women's shoes - but Lotus Veldtschoen would become their flagship line. They were probably launched around 1912, but they were being heavily advertised by 1915, and were aimed at officers' families - the idea being that their son would withstand the rigours of the trenches better in a pair of waterproof boots. The initial model seems to have been a Derby Boot (shown bottom right in the illustration below) with an apron front and stitching down the toe, a shape most of us know from the Alden Indie boot. Before (and after) marketing them as officers' boots, Lotus also advertised them as suitable for golf, and hunting.

The distinctive aspect of Veldtschoen is, of course, the construction. It is indeed reckoned to be more waterproof than a standard Goodyear Welt, and Lotus's own schematic, below, gives a good idea of how the boots were put together. The definition of a Veldtschoen is that the upper turns outwards, rather than inwards, as it's stitched on to the sole. On the Lotus construction, there is a welt underneath the turned-out upper. You can generally recognise a Veldtschoen pretty easily, by the absence of the visible welt, and the fact the leather, where the welt would generally be, is the same as that of the uppers. The boot on the bottom right seems to have been the first Lotus Veldtschoen design; it was joined by the more familiar Derby boot fairly soon afterwards, perhaps by the 1920s.






Over time, the popular Veldtschoen boot style seemed to become the Durham, shown here, from the 1962 price list; a Derby, with a 'fake" toe cap (two lines of stitching), and that distinctive horizontal stitching at the side. The shoe version is much the same configuration but has moustache-shaped stitching. As you can see, there is no seam that reaches the sole on the side of the boot, presumably to minimise water ingress; the boot features a bellows tongue, designed not to let water in, shown below.



Other manufacturers seem to follow much the same model for their own Veldtschoen, although some have a true toe cap, and differently-shaped stitching down the side. Nearly all Veldt boots seem to feature Zug grain - an especially waterpoof leather, with an applied pebble grain, produced by the Martins tannery, and then later Bridge Of Weir, I believe.


 Bellows tongue:





































Lotus golf shoes, in the export catalogue, 1952. Again, you can see the Indy-style construction of the other variant, which is a similar shape to the very first boot.



Here is my example of the Stirling Shoes. These were purportedly 1940s, although I reckon they're slightly later. Still totally waterproof, as are the boots at the top. I've had these resoled recently.











Toe caps, and the distinctive veldt look, on the Durham:




 THese two zug styles, the Stirling and the Durham, were produced  essentially unchanged, from the 1920s right through to the 1980s. A friend of mine knows a serviceman from the 1950s with a pair of the Stirling Shoes, still perfectly buffed, which continued to be de rigueur for officers in the 1960s and beyond. There are a variety of other makers who produced similar styles, including Joseph Cheaney and Crocket and Jones.





This is a nice pair of Veldtschoen Officer Boots I saw today in the RRL showroom on Mount Street, priced at £550. There's no maker's name, but these look similar to Crockett and Jones designs of the 1950s. Coincidentally, RRL have collaborated with C&J for Veldtschoen boots in the recent past, and even these newer boots seem to have acquired significant collectors' value, too.

Prices for Veldt footwear seem to have shot up recently; I aim to do a piece on available models later, but some of the best, affordable boots in this coniguration were the Alfred Sargent Selkirk and Kelso. These have gone out of production following the recent AS changes, although I know retailers are trying to organise a new run. As for Lotus themselves, the company continued to grow in the post World War II period; Lotus employed over 2,000 people in 1950, while the factory also supported many other local industries. There are factory shots here and here.

The company seemed to start losing its way after the last of its founding family, James Bostock, retired in 1970. Ownership changed hands several times - as cheaply-made, disposable footwear started to become  the norm. Most Lotus production was switched to Bridgend in Wales in 1996, and the factory was finally bulldozed in 1998. Deadstock pairs of Stirling Shoes do pop up, as before mentioned they were still in production in the 1980s, although in its final days Louts apparently survived by producing footwear for Marks and Spencer ( in the days when they proudly boasted of the British origins of most of their footwear and clothing). Nowadays, the Lotus name survives as a kind of zombie brand, applied to shoes made in India and elsewhere. Recentlly, I've seen supposedly deadstock brogues appearing on eBay and I suspect these, despite their British look, originated overseas.

Despite the demise of Lotus, there's still a reasonable supply of well-made, new British Veldtschoen and similar boots. You can still go hiking or camping and keep your feet dry. I'll cover these soonish, and will also update on good places to get your own Veldtschoen shoes and boots resoled.

Thanks to Ben L, and Rebecca Shawcross of  Northampton Museums and Art Gallery.

19 comments:

  1. Hi Paul, great blog. Just wondering, do you have any experience with the Hoggs Rannoch boots? From what I read, they also use veldtschoen construction, and they look strikingly similar to the Selkirk. Do you think the quality is on par with the boots from other makers considering their lower prices?

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  2. I believe the earlier Rannoch were made by Alfred Sargent; the design changed slightly perhaps three years ago when they switched to a new supplier, which I am pretty sure is Joseph Cheaney. They look to be terrific boots for the money; from friends who have both, I think they're heavier than the Selkirk, have a full bellows tongue, and a slightly chunkier toe.

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  3. Good stuff, Paul.

    Do you have any further information on the different shoe models? My pair of shoes are model 774 which (I'd imagine) would put them closer to the Deal than the Stirling; I notice that the Stirling has the top part of the upper stitched on top of the lower upper rather than under, making it appear closer to more recent models of shoes from present-day veldtschoen makers.

    Interesting to see how many widths they were produced in - I've handled a pair of the FX 'Broadform' shoes and they were vast!

    For Arya - quality-wise, the Sargent- and Cheaney-branded models are superior to the Rannoch in terms of quality, although the Rannoch are a good, sturdy boot in their own right.

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  4. what a cracking post. this is a style i have known only by site, not name, so all this info is great to here. i sometimes come across people wearing this style here and there, mostly older people. i'm pretty sure vic reeves has something to this nature. look forward to the lead up post

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  5. As a child, growing up in England, in the '30s and '40s the story was that a boss in the Lotus factory, in the early 1900s, offered a prize of one pound to the foreman who could design a water proof boot. Three accepted the challenge and my grandfather, Albert Ingham, won.
    I suppose one pound is better than nothing and we did get the Veldtschoen shoe.

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  6. That's a great story, anonymous! If you could send me a photo of your grandfather, and any other reminiscences of life at Lotus, I'd love to do a post on him! Cheers, Paul

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    1. Thanks for your kind comment. I'm sorry to say tht I have nothing more of my grandfather's to pass on.

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  7. hi paul i have recently aquired a pair of lotus veldtschoen officers boots leather soles and uppers, the numbers in the tounge are 85063 278 2E730002 68/01. where would be the best place to sell them please.
    regards ian

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  8. Hi ian, they sound really interesting. Feel free to send me photos! I would suggest you try the RRL shop on Mount Street (it's always possible they will only buy from middlemen), then the VIntage Showroom, off Seven Dials. And then try eBay. I haven't seen the rarer boots go for huge amounts, but good massmarket examples by Lotus and others regularly fetch over £130 or so.

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  9. hello paul, I've just been given a pair of lotus veldschoen shoes by my father and was wondering what you treated yours with? excellent post by the way, many thanks jonnie

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Hi jonnie, I just used saddle soap to clean them, nourished them with a balsam conditioner from the local supermarket, spat on them, and polished them.

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  10. In the 1960s I wore Lotus and Charles Oral and had a pair of handmades from Amos Atkinson of Newcastle. When the fashion moved from elasticated sides toward DMs I went to officer boots!
    I have a pair of George Webbs Veldtschoen that were bought in the 1970s.
    Grained brown leather uppers, leather laces, full leather soles and Phillips super concave, rubber capped, leather heels and bellows style tongue. They were worn once then fitted with Phillips Stick a sole army no1 rubber plates. I wore them on two afternoons later before they were stored.
    I cannot remember if they are UK 7 1/2 or 8 and there are no makings anywhere to identify size or width. Is there anyway to verify by measurement?
    I have been unable to wear this kind of footwear since my accident and need to clear out all my sentimental clutter!

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    1. You can verify the size pretty closely if you measure the internal length.

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  11. Is it possible to post pictures in the comments section?
    I think mine are Zug but I have never compared them to Country Grain and would value an opinion!

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    1. Hi Dave, if you email me pics, I will post them in an update. You can email me via the opening page at www.trynka.com

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    2. I have entered an album link in my comment on your later veldtschoen blog!

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  12. What a fascinating article. My Great Uncle was James Bostock and my Grandfather was his younger brother Godfrey. I have done a blog on the houses and factories built by our family in Stafford. Best wishes, Oliver

    Here is the blog; http://archmusicman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/shawms-and-upmeads-two-midland-arts-and.html

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  13. FYI I bought a pair of the double-thickness Lotus Veldtschoen in 1976, now being resoled for the 4th or 6th time (at $75, possibly more than the shoes first cost, but worth the price for experienced craftsmanship.) All my shoes are comfortable but these remain the best, even new in London during the heatwave of 1976.

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