The 2 Monkeys RANDONNÈE Brown【TM12952】

The new RANDONNÉE boots from The 2 Monkeys are inspired by the "outing boots" or "scout boots" that first appeared in America in the early 20th century.
This upper design, where the sides are each made from a single piece of leather, sewn together at the toe and heel, and a leather part running from the shoelace eyelets to the cap is attached in the center, was used for baseball and football spikes around 1880.

This was likely due to the lack of stitching on the sides and the ability to lace up close to the toes, allowing for a snug fit.

Around 1910, sporty leather shoes (boots) with an outdoor image were developed by combining this design with a leather or thin rubber sole, and an oblique last, like the Munson last, which closely mimicked the shape of the toes.

For about 20 years thereafter, many American shoe manufacturers produced these boots.
The 2 Monkeys' RANDONNÉE boots are based on that original design, using a custom last that modifies the toe of the Munson last, and are made from approximately 3mm thick leather.

Despite the extremely thick leather, since the shoes are made from a single unlined piece of leather, they conform well to the foot.

This "Tatsuno hand-waxed leather" is made by dip-dyeing oil-added tannin-tanned leather, then impregnating its grain with melted wax using a large hand iron.

This leather is produced with an extraordinary amount of effort, taking 20-30 minutes of manual work to penetrate the wax into a single piece of leather.

It has a moist texture and the transparency unique to full-aniline (dye-only dyed) leather, with deepening color shading as it's worn and a "tea core" effect where the brown core emerges as the color fades.
It develops a rich aged appearance over time.

As we use tightly-packed double shoulder leather (from both shoulders of the cow), tiger stripes may appear, but we hope you will enjoy these as a natural characteristic of the leather.

We offer two colors that were commonly used for boots in early 20th-century America: a deep "brown" and a dark gray "gunmetal" (※see separate page) that is almost black.

TM12952-26SS