Stylmartin Vertigo boots in brown

The Stylmartin Vertigo is similarly positioned to the Klim Outlander. Indeed, in some ways the Outlander trumps the Vertigo. But the Vertigo is a good £100 cheaper, even though it's in no way one hundred pounds less of a boot.

 

With the Klim you are paying a hefty premium for a Gore-Tex membrane. You are paying another one for the BOA lacing system. Now many people are happy to pay for the added value these elements bring to the Outlander, but as a boot for living with and walking around in, the Vertigo is more than a match for the Outlander.

 

The Vertigo, for example, is made from a full-grain leather. In theory, that makes for a boot that is going to better mould to the shape of your foot than the Klim boot, which is made solely from synthetic materials. This means that the Vertigo can be treated to keep the leather supple and strong.

 

The boot comes with a waterproof membrane. Now, as we've suggested, it's not a Gore-Tex one, but we kind of take the view that a Gore-Tex membrane in an ankle boot is a little unnecessary because with short boots like these the greatest likelihood is that rain will get into the boot over the top of the shaft. And in that case an expensive membrane will add little.

 

For protection to the ankles, you get D3O gel pucks, which is reassuring. You obviously also get hardened counters in the toe box and in the heel. And a stitched-in gear protector.

 

You get traditional laces with the Vertigo, but the top two eyelets are configured as something akin to speed hooks. In fact, they're technically not speed hooks, but they do a similar job, allowing you to get in and out of the boots more easily.

 

As you would expect, the boot has a heavily-grooved sole to help shed the mud, the dirt, the crap and of course the wet stuff.

 

On the heel you get a handy loop to help with getting the boot on and off

 

I'm a shoe dog. I like shoes. Indeed I probably like shoes too much. And for me sometimes a shoe just looks right. All the elements are in balance. Sometimes a boot has everything you need, and nothing you don't. For me, the Rokker Urban Racer is just such a boot, although that clearly embodies a very different aesthetic to this one.

 

And so even before we get to the point of weighing up the boots' construction and the various functional components that form part of its make up, we have to say that we just like the way the Vertigo looks.

 

Not that this, on its own, is enough. But we have some experience with Stylmartin. We know that these guys know what they're doing. They know how to make boots that work.