Custom William Lennon 78TC Work Boots

This is another post which is likely only to be of interest to people who stumble across it while trying to find information about a topic.

In this case, the topic is traditionally-made, hand-crafted, made in England leather boots, from William Lennon, a very small 125-year-old producer of footwear still making boots in a little stone factory in Derbyshire.

I have a fondness for traditionally made products that are built to last. I stumbled across William Lennon in summer 2021 and after a bit of research decided I had to order a pair. They are incredibly good value for such a unique handmade product. I decided I wanted the 78TC Traditional Work Boot, but in a slightly less utilitarian looking leather.

It turns out this wasn’t an problem. I emailed William Lennon and had a few back-and-forth emails with the very helpful Libs, which included her sending me some pictures and information about all the leathers they could use (she offered to send samples too), and me sending a scan of the outline of my feet drawn onto a piece of paper, so they could make sure I got the right size.

I chose the Badalassi Cognac leather, and I was also given a choice of all the other details – what colour thread, what type of eyelets, and so on, though I stuck with Libs’ recommendations for these.

William Lennon are a very small producer with a very small factory, and they had a backlog of orders due to Covid, so I knew it would take a while for them to arrive. I placed my order in mid September 2021 and they finally reached me towards the end of February 2022. It was well worth the wait though.

The pictures above show the boots in August 2022, after some wear and a bit of a polish with Granger’s G-Wax. Below is what they looked like when they arrived. The colour of the leather has become much warmer and more lovely with just a few months of age, and I expect them to continue to get better over time!

When I received them they took a while to break in – I spent a week or two wearing them around the house for an hour or two at first. Now 6 months later they’re very comfortable, but are still not quite fully moulded to my feet (I’ve not worn them every day), so I expect them to continue to get better.

If you want to support a niche industry here in the UK, and get some rare, well made, built to last customised footwear for a very reasonable price – and are prepared to wait several months for them – I can highly recommend William Lennon.