This is the new Wolverine 1000 Mile x Rawlings Grand Slam Boot, it’s a collaborative design between the legendary 141 year old American bookmaking company Wolverine and the 137 year old American baseball equipment company Rawlings.
The Wolverine 1000 mile boot made its original debut back in 1910, it was one of the toughest leather work boots being manufactured in the USA at the time with each pair made by hand from long-lasting shell horsehide leather.
These boots are the first collaboration between Wolverine and Rawlings, and the limited edition production run has been selling quickly.
Wolverine Boots
The company that would become Wolverine was founded by Fredrick Hirth and G. A. Krause in 1883, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Originally called the Hirth-Krause Company, the firm started out as a small tannery, though they quickly grew due to the rapidly increasing demand for leather across the nation, and for leather boots in particular.
In 1901 they expanded to a new factory in Rockford Michigan a little north of Grand Rapids, and they bought the Rogue River Electric Light and Power Company to power their facility – also supplying power to the town of Rockford.
In 1921 the company changed its name to the Wolverine Shoe and Tanning Company, and today it’s best known simply as Wolverine. During WWII the company continued to grow, supplying many leather goods to the US armed forces. By 1965 the company had grown so much they became a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Rawlings
The Rawlings Sporting Goods company was founded in 1887 in Saint Louis, Missouri. The company is best known for its baseball equipment, including baseball gloves, bats, balls, protective gear, helmets, and uniforms.
The boots use a classic 110+ year old Wolverine 1000 Mile design, with the benefit of a more comfortable, and more modern, sole from Vibram.
When Rawlings first started out they were a simple sporting goods store with a mail-order catalog. They advertised themselves as selling “Fishing Tackle, Guns, Baseball, Football, Golf, Polo, Tennis, Athletic and General Sporting Goods”. Interestingly, they’re credited with introducing football shoulder pads in 1902 to help reduce injuries among players, they later developed the first all-weather football.
Rawlings have used the Horween Leather Company as their leather supplier since 1929, and they still supply approximately half of the baseball gloves used by professional players in the United States.
The Wolverine 1000 Mile x Rawlings Grand Slam Boot
The Wolverine 1000 Mile x Rawlings Grand Slam Boot was developed as a unique, limited edition series of boots developed by Wolverine and Rawlings. Each pair is handmade in the United States from “Heart of the Hide” baseball glove leather from the Horween Leather Company in Chicago, Illinois.
There is also a Rawlings baseball bat wood layer in the heel stack of the boot and a white Vibram rubber outsole from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Each pair of boots comes with a Rawlings woven patch tongue label, a Heart of the Hide leather deboss on outsole, and they’re individually numbered on inside collar.
Here you see the boot fitted with the black rawhide laces, it comes with both white athletic cotton laces and black rawhide laces, allowing the owner to choose their preference.
These boots are made using Goodyear welt construction, which allows them to be resoled for years of wear, significantly increasing the lifespan of the boot. The boots come with both black rawhide laces and white athletic cotton laces, and sizing ranges from 8 through to 14 US.
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