We have some good and bad news at the same time for you, depending on how you look at it. The Oro-Iginal leather as we're familiar with it right now, will be taken out of production on the 875 and 877 styles by Red Wing Shoes and be replaced with an updated type leather. The 'old' Oro-Iginal leather was introduced in 1996 as a counter to the former 'reddish' color of the Oro leather used in the early 1990s as you can read from the timeline of the Oro-Russet DNA as published in the Nouvelle de Nîmes issue Nº2. The new Oro-Iginal leather contains some stunning characteristics of which we will reveal more later on. 

This is your last chance to acquire a pair of the 'old' darker Oro-Iginal 875 or 877 Moc Toe's, since the stock we have right now is all that is left, and will not be re-stocked again. We'll keep you posted on the release of the 'new' updated Classic Moc styles!

With thanks to Fortalitia54 for the close-up photos of the old Oro-Iginal leather. 

Since the cold and snow is hitting Amsterdam again today, we wanted to share this great video with you. It's a hommage to craftspeople who spend their winters inside to work around in their workshops. During the cold times these fanatics lock themselves in to fully focus on their motorcycles, so they'll be able to ride them again when the weather is turning. The guy tinkering with his beloved Honda motorcycle in the video is wearing a pair of beautiful worn in Red Wing Shoes 875 Moc Toe's. Make yourself a good cup of coffee and enjoy this warm video. 

Thanks to Cast and Salvage and Andrew David Watson.
 

Over the past few months we are witnessing a growing group of people embracing the heart and soul of the Red Wing Shoe brand. Where members of the fashion business have yet adapted the Red Wing brand since several seasons after Japan kicked of the Red Wing life-style business, influential shows like Pitti & Bread & Butter were filled with Red Wing aficionado's over the past couple of years. The Red Wing brand gained a lot of popularity in the US thanks to numerous artists and Hollywood stars showing their appreciation for our brand as well. We made a selection of images of celebrities who are wearing Red Wing Shoes. David Beckham & Ryan Gosling are both fans of the 875 6'' Moc Toe Oro-iginal. Recently we had Brandon Boyd (singer of Incubus) in Amsterdam Red Wing Shoe store who fell in love with the 8113 Iron Rangers Hawthorne Muleskinner. Orlando Bloom likes to wear his 8130 6'' Moc Toe Black Chrome while driving his motorcycle. Actor Jeremy Renner was recently featured in Esquire wearing a pair of Beckman shoes. More soon!

Over the last couple of months I welcomed a lot of ladies at our Red Wing Shoes store in Amsterdam. For some reason the ladies always wear their Red Wing Shoes like we would personally prefer to. Popular styles amongst my female clients are the Engineer Boots (2970 Briar Oil Slick, 2971 Copper Rough & Tough & 2975 Concrete Rough & Tough), Moc Toe (877 Oro-iginal, 875 Oro-iginal, 8131 Oro-Russet Portage) and also the Work Chukka (3140 Oro-iginal, 3141 Briar Oil Slick, 3144 Sage Mohave) works well for women. I would love to get inspired by your personal Red Wing style. Therefore I would like ask you to send me your picture of you and your Red Wing Shoes to: mitch[at]redwingamsterdam.com. Hope to hear from you!

One of the most iconic shoes from the Red Wing Shoe Company is the 875 Irish Setter. These boots became known as the Irish Setter because of the leather they used:  An orange-colored leather called oro-iginal. The color somehow reminded the designers of the Irish Setter's fur. The Irish Setter is a classic boot known for its traditional 'moc-toe' design. Moc is derived from the word "moccasin", the Algonquian Indian word for shoe. The combination of the u-shaped mock toe leather upper and the white crepe sole would become the iconic boot style for the Red Wing brand.

This particular pair of Irish Setter boots as featured on the Red Wing Amsterdam weblog was bought by David Lindsey around 1986 in Munich. While traveling and shooting photos, David made sure he had his pair of Red Wing 875 with him all the time. They gave him the arch support and comfort he needed while crossing the globe for his work as a professional photographer. Even after twenty-five years of almost everyday wear the boots are in excellent condition. David took good care of his boots, conditioned his Irish Setters every eight weeks and had them resoled whenever he needed. David entered the store with a question for the Red Wing Amsterdam team. He wanted to know if we could re-sole his boots. We politely refused to do that since these old soles are not available anymore. We could not put new soles underneath these unique shoes. It would have been sacrilege. We offered him instead to swop his old pair for a fresh one, so he could go on loving and wearing his Red Wing boots, yet differently. We promised him to give an honorable stage to his old boots and that's what we did. Special thanks to David, we are proud to keep an eye on your treasures.

A few weeks back we received this lovely image of a clients' collection of Red Wing Shoes 875, 8133 and 8804’s. This classic Moc was originally designed to withstand hard labor and harsh conditions when worn by farmers and hunters, and was made with the different soles for the different kinds of labor. We have them only as the 875 6" Classic Moc made with the beautiful oil tanned Oro-iginal leather and with the outsole in Cushion Crepe Wedge with Traction Tred.
Thank you Marinho for the beautiful image!