Winter Style: The French Military Boot
Back in 2014 I went travelling through Europe, a classic jaunt many of us Kiwis make as part of our OE. One of my stops was experiencing the sensational Spanish city of Barcelona to see the likes of the incredible La Sagrada Familia, a modernist impression of a church which began construction way back in 1882… and is still going!
Now being a tourist, I travelled with a classic Kiwi trope, a 50L Kathmandu backpack, stuffed with all my personal belongings and strapped over the shoulders and clipped in secure around my waist. TOURIST HELLO! Lugging this around on the daily definitely helped me get match fit as an aspiring tourist, but having that heavy weight on the feet was getting tiring and sore, and this was merely days into my month long trip!
Needing no excuses to afford a new purchase while on holiday, I stopped in to a local footwear store on the way back to my AirBnB and quickly came across a line up of awesome looking canvas built boots. After reviewing the selection, a classic black boot was delivered by the shop assistant. While trying on the boot for size he revealed Palladium boots have a great story behind them, rooted in French history, as they were created for the elite French Foreign Legion.
With these Palladium boots road tested by the brave soldiers of World War II there’s no doubt these boots were going to be street worthy. Oh no problem sir.
Palladium are a fairly new name on the New Zealand scene, so when I got wind that Platypus Shoes were stocking them, it was an unmissable chance for me to check out the updated range and introduce my feet to a new, but familiar, pair for the Winter months.
Platypus on 162 Queen Street is my local. It’s a hustling storefront on one of the busiest shopping precincts in Auckland that you can’t help but stop and cruise into due to the vast array of colourful sneakers & footwear on display - not to mention the banging beats and bubbly crew all there to welcome you in too.
While chewing the fat with Rach, the Queen Street manager about the Palladium line up on offer, my eyes were immediately attracted to these white & orange detailed boots. Made up of waterproof nylon material and constructed with their famous Palladium quality and lightweight feel I knew these would do an excellent job of looking good on me. Plus being waterproof too gave me a level of comfort that having white boots in Winter wouldn’t be complete madness.
Palladium
Pampa Lite Waterproof Boots
Now for another crazy fact about this brand.
Palladium actually began cutting their teeth by making airplane tyres.
No shit, the rubber on your Palladium boots is the same stuff that stops planes when landing at over 300km/ph on the tarmac. These days Palladium throw back to the old times by using recycled rubber from used aircraft tyres to construct your boot’s soles. Brilliant.
I got my new pair of Palladium Pampa Lite boots a week ago and I’ve worn them nearly every day since, even to a casual day in the office. Style doesn’t listen to rules!
There’s a stack of options on select, including different colour ways and best bet is to get instore to see the full range. The white Palladium ones above took out my top spot, but were closely followed by an all orange pair of the same style. Orange being another impact colour for the second Winter season in a row.
Definitely swing by your local Platypus or check it online and join the streetwear army wearing these bad ass Palladium boots.
Soldier on.
jb
Thanks to Platypus for gifting the Palladium boots and Rach from Queen Street for helping me out with the right size.
Shout out to Dalong for his constant photography talent, always finding fresh spaces to shoot and show off the looks I pull together.