I’ve had these boots for a few months but I didn’t really know how to incorporate the boots into my personal style. Palladium have been around since the mid 20th century but the brand recently relaunched with an infusion of new colourways and materials. They’ve been quietly tucked away in the corner of my bedroom for a while but in the past month I’ve started to become fond of them. I’m fairly positive they’ll become real popular this A/W season, full review after the cut.
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Brief Brand History
I’ll be honest again, I hadn’t heard of Palladium boots till VICE invited us to the brand’s launch party in London. Of course I had to do my research before showing up to an event organised by the company. Palladium have been around since the early 1920s but didn’t start of as boots makers. They found their place in the war stricken world during the 1920s as a producer of high quality tires for aircrafts. The company grew during World War II but then demand died soon after the end of the war, this led to the company deciding to diversify their expertise into a different industry.
They started to invest their experience in creating footwear that are as solid, sturdy and tough as their aircraft tires. In 1947, they unveiled their first Pampa boot and they were so hard-wearing that the French Legion adopted them for their North African expeditions.
My Boots
Pampa Baggy Leather Boot – buy here for $110
Yang’s Boots
Pampa Baggy Canvas Boot – buy here for $70
The new collection features Pampa Oxford Lo, Pampa Hi and Pampa Baggy available in leather, canvas and suede variations, and all featuring one piece molded vulcanized rubber soles and toes. The shoes are pretty simple and quite rugged in terms of style, the baggys versions we have feature a fold-over tops that we have chosen to turn out to reveal the Palladium logo.
Yang’s thoughts on the shoot
It was quite alarming the further we walked the more we realised that Beckon District Lake is actually a beautiful place…in the summer. It features a variety of mini locations that were perfect for this type of shoot. As Palladium Boots were originally designed for Army purposes, we took full advantage of the forest parts of the district, climbing trees like Tarzan and then sprinting from the wildlife we encountered. The lake was a perfect match for Yin’s attire, his Chino and brown Palladium boots combo bore similar colours as the rock and gravel by the waterfront.
My view
I’ve been wearing boots for almost a year now. It feels like natural progression to go from hi-top sneaker freak to boots. Like I said earlier, I couldn’t find a way to incorporate the look as they are dark shade of green. I usually match the colours of my sneakers with another garment that I have on but I have hated the colour green for years! so I actually have no green clothes in my wardrobe. I managed to use chinos and dark grey tones to fit the ‘military‘ style of the boots. Like Yang said, we definitely made use of the Palladiums solidity and grip by walking on all sorts of weird and odd terrains throughout the woodlands in Beckton. Pick up a pair of Palladiums ya’ll, they’ll be in next season. Stay ahead of the game.
More Photos
Make sure ya’ll click the photos to see them in a better resolution.
Oh I think I should explain a bit more about the ‘forest‘. We got SHOOK, I’m not going to lie. We walked a fair bit into the woods to get some shots (which we’ve scrapped for better ones) but everytime we heard a sound, it felt like there was something moving nearby. Woodlands are scary yo! I expected a tiger to jump out and Yang to climb up a tree like Mowgli.
About Yin