The 20 Best Looking Boots of 2023-Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome Winners 

You're an absolute legend Carl-one who's built for this! Huge thanks for the incredible amount of thought and care you put into the judging...and making 15 absolutely fabulous picks!

Hi, Carl. Good job, sir. See you on your channel, love it.

anytime 🤣

Congrats, Lucus. Well deserved.

Congratulations Lucas, however for me, the birth of my children, getting married, buying my fist house, … rank significantly higher to me than wearing a pair of boots. But to each their own I guess.

@@Kingfisher1215 “one of the most”. Like you, and most other human beings, I have many. 😉

Every single day I say to myself "how have I been doing this silly thing for five years". And every day I get at least one message about how incredibly happy someone is with the boots or shoes we helped guide them towards in even a tiny way. And man those people are happy. So silly we shall remain! (Also this year's version of this video coming out in a couple weeks will look MUCH better!).

Thank you! And yes I can't wait to see what you roll out next year-I think you know your collection has some of my all time favorites!

That Rough Rider should have won first. Work is work. I liked that #7 boot in the open.

And we love you for that

Of course!!

Untrue!

It might happen at some point! Which is a big part of why we tested it out this year. While we were pretty happy with how it went in many ways, it definitely needs some rethinking before it could be responsible for the entire results. Thank you for the feedback!

While we love hearing about what people liked and didn't, and conspiracy theories will always abound on a contest like this (which means I suppose you have zero reason to believe me) I can assure you that Nicks had zero hand in the judging and was completely separated from basically the entire contest other than putting up some fantastic prizes for worthy winners. (Also they didn't even sponsor the half of the contest that boot won). Very honest question if you found that winner unremarkable: which pairs were your favorite? Would legit love to know!

Also we get deep into the whole Nicks sponsorship/No 1 choice in the Shoecast (podcast) episode with all the judges-I highly recommend giving it a listen if you've got some time, it's pretty interesting and revealing stuff!

I've got a ton of respect for that! Wear and care baby.

I have boots that I wore plenty and they just look like crap, so don't know where I was supposed to enter them.

I pretty much never wear one pair of shoes every day anymore. Most guys shouldn't, especially for work, and the boots companies even SAY this. Um...

Hi Practical Menswear Journey! I don’t mind you not being happy that my pair won or not liking the premise of the contest, but please try to be accurate. First, the boots have been available now for several weeks and even sold out before a Re-release after the winners were announced. We have a few boots in the lineup that were designed or inspired by employees. It’s one of the really cool things about working for Nicks. People saw my boots in the contest every month an wanted them, so we listened. Second, I’ve done almost every job in the shop. Hundred of boots were either sanded, shanked, or finished by me while wearing these boots during the competition. The boot shop is not my full time gig but it was at one point. Small leather goods were made, phones were answered, emails sent, photos taken, templates designed, products prototyped, packages shipped, and feet fitted while wearing these boots. They were on my feet 12-16 hours a day, everyday, for 6 months straight. A thousand diapers were changed in these boots. Dozens of baths given. 😂 I’m not sure why being “out in the field” matters to you so much, but I don’t know how these boots could been any more out in the field than they were for the last 6 months. I’m happy to answer any reasonable questions you may have about my boots, Nicks, or the contest. This was my second go at the Thunderdome and I love it. The community that’s grown from it is amazing. It’s supposed to be a fun competition to learn what these really cool boots and leathers can be put through.

​@@lukelarsson your boots look amazing bro and you definitely deserve the win. Doesn't matter where you work or who you are brother. Congratulations

@@lukelarsson Diddo Ian Mccoy.