Sagara Review: How Do Indonesian Boots Hold Up?

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A lot of people don’t think of “boots” when they hear “Indonesia,” but those people aren’t clued in on the thriving boot industry that has taken foot in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Once colonized by the Dutch, who brought with them a love of fine leather footwear, the skill and craftsmen remained after they left in the 1940s and today Indonesia is dotted with many well known bootmakers like Santalum, Junkard, Winson, and perhaps the best known, Sagara.

Here’s what I thought of their Legacy IX boot.

READ MY INTERVIEW WITH SAGARA’S FOUNDER: https://stridewise.com/sagara-interview/

FIRST GLANCE

Made with a chrome tanned pull up leather, this is a really nice, classic derby boot with a plain toe and very little decoration, with the goal — as Sagara states — being “to achieve clean looks.” They also call it “stylishly sturdy” and I’d agree with all of this: it’s a well constructed, relatively heavy boot that’s easier to dress up than your regular service boot and not too hard to dress down.

If it’s reminding you of the HIGGINS MILL boot from Allen Edmonds you’re not alone, it has a lot of similarities. Check out my review of that shoe here:    • Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill Review — S...  

LEATHER

These shoes are totally customizable and you can pick from fifteen leathers, including Japanese horsehide, Italian calfskin, and even some Horween leathers. The cigar pull up is their cheapest leather and it’s made from Indonesian cowhide.

This is chrome tanned leather, which is one reason why it’s a bit cheaper than the other leathers, and it’s finished with various oils and waxes. It did crease relatively quickly and it marks pretty easily too.

LEATHER CARE

Sagara only likes natural products on their shoes and since Venetian Shoe Cream contains petroleum, they strongly recommend that company’s biggest competitor Saphir. You could go with their Greasy Leather Cream or their Renovateur if you wanted to go with something a bit shinier.

Sagara is planning to release their own shoecare line but they haven’t yet.

SOLE

You can order a leather or Commando sole but I went with “Sagara rubber,” a relatively hard but perfectly acceptable 100 percent rubber outsole.

After that there’s a leather midsole and there’s also some EVA foam in there for shock absorption and to relieve muscle strain. That’s pretty unusual; Thursday Boots has EVA in their shoes and so do some of Thorogood’s boots, but for such an “Old World” company I was surprised they had such a modern touch.

Finally, they’re handwelted boots, an extremely time consuming method of attaching the upper to the sole that you seldom see nowadays. It’s very rare and very old fashioned, and it’s something a lot of boot aficionados will be very happy with.

** Check out the EVA-laden Thursday Captain boot here:    • Thursday Captain Boot Review | Why I ...   **

FIT & SIZING

They run on European sizes, so while it’s usually hard for me to decide if I should go with an 11 or an 11.5 (my true size), I’m just a 45 at Sagara. I couldn’t see any options for feet wider than E, but since they’re so willing to customize everything, I think it’s worth asking them if they have options.

Comfort wise, I’m happy. The grip is good, the shock absorption is good, the leather was stiff at first but nothing too crazy. My only real complaint is that the heel is enormous, over 1.5 inches high. I have no doubt you could ask for a smaller heel and if I’d known they’d come like this, I probably would have asked them that myself.

PRICE

$235, and with shipping you’re looking at about $300. The price varies based on how you customize them: you can get an engraving, change the edge trim, whatever you want to do. If you get vegetable tanned leather it’s an extra $20, and so on. I have the pricing list on my website if you want to Google “Stridewise Sagara Review” it should come up there.

That’s obscenely inexpensive for handmade boots, though there is a downside: the ordering process took a really long time. Between me saying “I want to order your Legacy IX boots” and me receiving them in the mail, six months passed.

The thing with Sagara is they’re not super responsive, I often waited days and days between replies — that process could have been tightened up. A lot of that time was spent just asking about sizing and the pros and cons of various materials, if ask for their pricing sheet and know exactly what you want, you might be able to keep that process to 3 months. That’s still a while.

SAGARA PROS & CONS

PROS
Super cheap
Completely customizable
They look great
Handwelted, solid construction

CONS
Long order process
High heel
Sole started peeling at the front