Red Wing 8128 Brogue Ranger brown Velva Retan leather

Last week I had the chance to finally see the Red Wing 8128 in the Jeanslife store in Winterthur. Roger got this model on stock since 3 weeks, quite about the same time when Red Wing Amsterdam released the info on their blog. I never liked the dark brown of the former and discontinued model and wished to have a more cognac leather. Like my Red Wing 9013 would have been perfect. The actual color of the Red Wing 8128 is hard to describe, it´s a more a  “grey brown”. Definitely a bit darker as on the Red Wing Amsterdam images.

When you search for Velva Retan Leather you find out that this leather was also used for the industrial Red Wing Syle 952 which tells you that it´s going to be a tough one.

Another info I found what exactly Velva Retan leather is, was this:
“Pioneer: A brand of oil retan leather. Also known as Velva Retan. After the initial tanning, the leather is subjected to hot steam in a tanning drum and then shot with hot oil and waxes. The open pores absorb these chemicals until they are saturated. This leather is primarily for work boots.”

(C) and source of this info here

So what do we have now? The classic appearance of a brogue boot, made out of a though workboot leather and paired with the lightweight and hardwearing Nitril Cork sole. Sounds promising to me.