Thank you for sharing that brand, I hadn’t seen them before.
They remind me of Lems. When it comes to leather I think the traditional craft methods are still best. With leather, not just the pattern, but where you cut out that pattern from the hide matters. You cant just cut leather up and glue it together and expect the same performance as something that was carefully crafted.
Leather, as a natural fabric, is more like WPB membranes than any other natural fabric. in fact, it is the properties of leather that motivated the original research into WPB materials. Even within the major categories of leather (vegetable, chrome/mineral, etc) the qualities of the hide and the nature of the beam house processes performed before tanning and finishing processes performed after tanning all have significant effects on a how hydrophobic/hydrophilic a leather is, how much it breathes, wicks, and absorbs moisture. Some leathers are waterproof like vinyl (some ‘genuine leather’ actually have a vinyl-like top coat finish) other leathers are like sponge (chamois can absorb 800% of its weight in water).
I resoled fashion leather chukkas with vibram soles for use hiking. They utilize a very thin split, top grain Horween branded leather. I have no way of knowing what actual leather the shoes use. A common problem with leather; even if you know the source you cant figure out how it was tanned or from what hide. The shoes are lined with another unknown leather. Weigh about 20oz per half pair (16oz per half pair before the vibram 132s, a mistake). Hiking in the summer heat in the southwest these leather shoes have handled the sweat and my feet have always come out from my socks dry (and dust free). I use polypropylene liner socks and these feel dry on my feet after a hike and damp in my hand when I remove them. My wool+nylon ‘outer’ socks feel wet on my feet after a hike and dry in my hand when I remove them. Wrapped in polypropylene, wool+nylon, and lined leather, my feet feel pretty ‘stuffy’ if I stop and think about them, but remain dry and blister free.
I have hiked in similar conditions with no socks in cotton canvas Toms slip on shoes. My feet sweat so much I destroyed the Toms as the insole dissolved in my foot juice. So my double sock in lined leather chukka setup does handle my foot sweat better than more breezy options. In goretex keens my feet come out of the boots soaked in sweat and pruned up. So I believe leather can out perform goretex still; must have to do with the wicking, hence my belief in the importance of a good sock setup.
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Whether or not the gaucho ninjas will work for you in desert conditions I think will come down to what leather you choose and what sock setup you use. If they do a suede I would get that; the US military uses suede vamps in their desert boots.
Their oxford has a toe cap, so if you really want durability I would get the oxford. Obviously two layers of leather will transport moisture differently than a single layer. But leather wicks as well as breathes so some thicker full grain leathers actually transport moisture better than some split grains, some don’t.
In his 1906 “The Soldier’s Foot and Military Shoe” Dr. Munson advocates lightweight leather boots; Munson claims high quality, lightly oiled vegetable tannages transport moisture well while being decently water repellent and able to dry out after getting soaked in an hour:
A very excellent method of adapting the shoes to the feet, after careful fitting of the latter, consists in having the man stand in his shoes in about three inches of water for about five minutes, or until the leather becomes thoroughly wet and pliable and in condition to stretch easily. The soldier then walks on a level surface for about an hour, or until the shoes have dried on his feet, to the shape of which the pressure of body weight and muscular action have forced the leather in drying to conform. If desired, a little neatsfoot oil may be rubbed on the shoes to keep them supple after taking them off, but this procedure is not necessary. Shoes treated in this way are made as comfortable in an hour and without any possible danger of injury to the feet as could be done with a week’s wear under the ordinary method of ”breaking in”. Page 89-90
The material of which the shoe is made, and the special treatment of the former, must be such as will facilitate evaporation of moisture from within, yet not to a degree by which the absorption of moisture from without is unduly favored. It must have pores through which a certain amount of air can pass ; also qualities of capillarity by which moisture is transferred from a damp sock to the outside of the leather where evaporation is rapid. This is very important, since otherwise the retained perspiration will keep the feet damp all the time, while interference with evaporation will make them uncomfortably hot in warm weather. Under the combination of dampness and heat, the superficial layer of the skin becomes moisture-soaked, soft, tender, and apt to break down in the formation of blisters and abrasions. Yet on the other hand, the shoe material should be sufficiently water-repellant to keep the feet reasonably dry under ordinary conditions of rain and dew. Such material can be secured; it is true that it is not perfect for any extreme condition, but best meets the needs of the every day and average conditions upon which the requirements of the soldier’s shoe must be based. If it is desired for climatic or seasonal changes to have the soldier’s shoe more waterproof, this condition can be produced as required quite as well by the soldier himself without the necessity of having it done in advance. For these reasons, in developing the recent military shoe, it was thought preferable to use leather of vegetable tan rather than chrome tan, since in the latter the pores of the leather are largely filled up with an impermeable deposit. For similar reasons, leather “stuffed” or saturated with oil was not used. Shoes can be made quite water repellant with a little oil but without saturation by it; on the same principle that the almost imperceptible greasiness of a duck’s feather causes water falling on its back to break into minute droplets which roll off without wetting. And shoes thus lightly oiled will still permit of passage of moisture laden air as vapor through the leather, while holding out water in bulk unless under considerable pressure sufficient to force it in through the pores of the material. Page 46-47
I think modern chrome tannages are considered more hydrophobic and breathable today than vegetable tannages (see Tanning Chemistry 2nd ed for an interesting discussion of tannage chemistry on water resistance), but Munson’s experienced and research perspective is interesting. Many leather tanning techniques are largely unchanged since Munson’s time. I think a suede could have similar if only slight more water absorbancy while being more breathable than a comparable full or top grain leather.
