About the M1917

The boot that fought World War I has been all but forgotten. Standard issue to soldiers in 1917, the M1917 was one of the most beautiful boots ever put on a human foot.

A dress boot made for war with a clean proportions and a sweeping wraparound counter that requires technical precision and challenging construction for even experienced boot makers. The problem? It was a massive failure.

Built before rubber, before modern construction, before anyone understood what industrial & trench warfare actually looked like, the M1917 sent men into hell wearing what was essentially a hobnailed dress shoe. It killed almost as many soldiers by trench foot as enemy fire did.

We partnered with Caswell to bring the M1917 back as it was always meant to be. Not for war, but as the most beautiful dress-casual boot designed at the peak of boot-making history.

We kept everything that made the original a 100-year-old design icon: the seamless wraparound heel counter that locks in structure and adds arch support, the clean paneling, the brass-nailed flat outsole with grip nubs that channel water instead of hydroplaning. We upgraded it with a 270° stitchdown construction and made it from Herman Oak bridle leather, a 145-year-old American tannery's first true step into footwear. Stuffed with tallows, oils, and waxes, drum-dyed in a deep British Tan, it's the leather your great-grandfather's boots wished they were made of.

105-year-old pattern. 145-year-old tannery. 250 years of collective history in a single boot.

Media

The History of the Boot

About the M1917

Media

Collab Info

Specs

Rose Anvil x Caswell