https://preview.redd.it/c054srvc00yd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2035ca675c3687d61ad18d57549eca832829b5d

https://imgur.com/a/qUgNKEB

Photos were taken with a iPhone 13. The outdoor photos were taken on a late afternoon during North American Autumn. Indoor photos were under ~3000K ceiling lights. Think what you will about the tailor's tape. I know it's not exact or definitive and I don't mean for it to be. But I'm just reminded of my frustration sometimes when guesstimating dimensions based on background objects.

https://imgchest.com/p/wl7lrvqpo7x

Barefoot pics (serious: as a reference for why I might describe the fit my way vs. another wearer). Sorry imgur kept saying this album didn't exist when I started uploading the pics other than the Brannock photo, so this other album is what I could get that would cooperate.

I should disclose that these are the first boots I've owned. So everything I say here can be taken with several grains of salt. r/goodyearwelt was helpful though when trying to decide on nice boots, that I wanted to leave another data point of, at least, sizing with this Kujang last, which has pretty varying descriptions of how it fits. This post went way longer than I aimed for, but the material is already here, so I'm just leaving it.

Specs

• $650 at time of purchase, before shipping
• Size EU 44
• Last: Kujang
• Upper: Brown Latigo Horween
• Lining: Tan Lined
• Midsole: Single Midsole
• Outsole: Dr Sole Red Brown Cork Half Sole
• Welt Color: Antique Brown
• Edge Color: Antique Brown
• Welt Stitch: White
• Construction: Flatwelt 270
• Toebox: Unstructured
• Heels: Regular Heels

From what I gather, all of Briselblack's shoes are hand-welted. From wearing this pair, I'll add that these seem to have come with the structured/hard heel counter. The heel height (from ground to insole) is about 3.5 cm. I'm too lazy to break out my scale, so I'll use the package weight - which was printed as 2.5 kg - which puts a single boot in the neighborhood of 1 kg AKA ~2.2 lbs.

Shopping

Briselblack is an Indonesian MTO. They were formerly named Benzein. The inherent customer service perils of ordering from small Indonesian bootmakers have been discussed on the internet before, which dissuaded me from Briselblack MTO.

I was looking for a generalist, deep brown Chelsea and my first choice was Grant Stone's Chelsea in brown calf. However, that option is currently not offered on their website, and the rep I emailed in September 2024 responded that that option had been discontinued, I'm not sure since when. I could not find secondhand ones in my size.

However, Briselblack currently has a Ready To Wear section of their website, and this pair was not yet sold. Briselblack's web presence used to only include Instagram, I'm unsure when their dedicated website appeared. Even though the brown Latigo on their webpage looked lighter than I was targeting and sizing questions remained, I took the gamble after a few weeks of intrusive thoughts about The Seventh and many hours of research. I accepted that if I actually received the boots, and the fit was unlikable, that I'd need to organize a resale rather than pursue a refund.

After checkout with Paypal, the boots were shipped the first business day after, and in two more business days, were at my door in the US. I had no communications, emails, or messages with Briselblack prior to checkout, and none after checkout other than the automated order messages from their website and DHL tracking emails.

Quality

The boots came in a sturdy cardboard-like branded box, packed snugly in the cardboard shipping box. There was no damage to the inner box, and hardly any on the outer box. For the boots themselves, I did not notice any visible, actual quality control flaws. They looked pretty much like their website photos on my laptop screen, slight color differences aside. The leather looked and felt smooth with no meaningful creasing. If there are any blemishes that can be spotted in the out-of-box photos, they were not really perceptible to me in-person.

The leather color is a little darker and more matte under 3000K lighting compared to the webpage's, which I'm happy with. I don't think it quite has that coffee creamer lightness I was hesitant about, it's just a clean, medium brown, and goes proportionately darker or lighter depending on lighting. I'd be comfortable wearing this casually as well as with a business suit, the shade blends with both outfits well, which is exactly what I was going for. Honestly, idk how Latigo patinas, but I guess I'm not worried about it.

I can confirm that Latigo - at least the one used here - is stiff when starting out. It remains fairly stiff and structured - but more pliable and molded in the wear areas - with over 50 hrs of wear so far. I don't believe it's as stiff as that glossy dress leather (not talking about shell). I've heard both that Latigo tends to crease finely, or that it rolls more than crease. By this writing, there's fine creasing across the upper vamp starting from the flex point down until the toe tips. I don't really see rolling. The creases are fine enough that it's difficult to distinguish at more than a 3-4 ft away in moderate light.

The joint where the top of the heel counter meets the shaft has slightly heavier, but fine, creasing. My outer ankle joint has barely imprinted a bulge in this section. The vamp creases feel slightly dry and rough compared to the rest of the leather, so I'm contemplating a dab of Bick 4 in the coming weeks. There's hardly any scuffing to speak of, though I don't deliberately bang my uppers against doors or on each other.

I picked the pair with tan lining specifically because a commenter said Briselblack's red lining bled onto their socks. So far, no staining from mine.

By the time of the outdoor pics, I've worn the boots for about 50-60 hrs total over the last month, 2-3 days a week at my 9-5 desk job, grocery shopping, and walking across parking lots. I don't remember if I've worn them during rain yet. I started using Woodlore Ultra Large trees 2 weeks after I received the boots. I brushed occasionally with a Red Wing horsehair, no conditioning as of those photos.

Fit

The fit is difficult for me to capture in a sentence. I'm a Brannock 11C (11 HTT, 11 arch length/HTB), when I measured myself in athletic socks, and later by an Allen Edmonds rep in-store fwiw. I have Greek foot, my second toe is longer than my big toe by like a quarter of a cm. I'm not flatfooted.

I've been wearing these boots with cotton, athletic tube socks. I'll get around to better socks eventually. I haven't had pain anywhere or visible blistering while wearing these boots, mostly just irritating rubbing and mild digging where my outer ankle rests against the shaft above the heel counter edge - which eased noticeably by hour 40 or so as the leather there started breaking in and I was also putting trees in. My foot doesn't feel any weird veins, bits, or lumps on the insole or interior - feels fairly seamless.

Heel, toes, volume, lifting

The notable shortcomings for me are some instep and heel room, and thus a little heel slip/lift. I estimate half or three-quarters of a cm extra space between the side of my heel and the inner side wall of the heel cup, if I slide and press my heel up against the base of the other wall. When like that, I can fit the skinnier span of my fingers next to my heel, but to do so, my fingers mildly swell the shaft side and spill over the insole edge by a half cm.

There's also around three-quarters of a cm between the back of my heel and the actual heel cup or counter, when the rest of my foot is in a natural, comfortable spot in the boot - with the sides of my big and third toes gently butting the inside of the toebox and the ball of my foot just cupped at the widest point of the vamp. The ball of my foot doesn't really push out the sides of the vamp, and the ball doesn't slide laterally any more than 1-2 mm even when I scoot my foot back to give the ball as much room as available.

In the natural position, if I were to measure from the very tip of the inside of the toebox to the tip of my longest toe, I estimate there's one quarter of a cm. If I push my foot forward so that my second toe physically brushes the inside tip, then all my toes, except the second, get crushed from every direction.

I second that the Kujang has a higher instep, but idk where my bare foot ranks on the volume spectrum. My toes hug the ceiling of the toebox until about the toe joints with the foot, where maybe half a cm of extra vertical space is formed. That half cm continues, more or less, for the remainder of the "tongue". Once the front shaft starts, there's maybe a half to three-quarters of a cm between the front of my ankle and the front shaft wall.

It's weird because the shaft feels like it fits well, and it's sorta hard to slip on the boot, even with that forward room. The elastic up to now has been quite stiff and crisp. If my ankles ever roll, they supinate. So when just standing, at neutral, my ankles naturally press against the outer side of the shaft. I don't ever really press against the inner shaft or quarters.

Interestingly, my heel doesn't really slide around unless I've deliberately dug the heel block into the ground and started scooting my foot in some direction. On heel strikes, my heel doesn't jerk back into the heel cup, the back of my heel continues to stay a half to three-quarters cm from the counter. Likewise, my toes don't slide or crash in the toebox. Together, the cradling toebox, the sloped-in heel cup, and the pressed shaft secure my foot remarkably.

When there is heel lift, it's no more than a half to one cm off of the insole. And that one cm only ever happens when my foot is majorly bending its flex point, forefoot pushing into the ground. If my foot is mostly flat or resting - I practically cannot make my heel lift even a quarter of a cm - if it even leaves the footbed at all - even with the existing instep space and even if I've lifted my foot into midair and shook it. Any of the lifts haven't interfered with my gait or taking stairs.

While this might not be the fit envisioned for Chelseas, I've actually appreciated the vertical breathing room in Kujang. I previously realized that my Vans Eras annoyed me at my desk job with how low they restrict my toes, especially since I replaced the factory insoles with Superfeet Blues. That snugness combined with a dense outsole creates a firm sandwich that keeps me from satisfactorily wriggling my forefoot in order to relieve muscle tightness.

The Seventh has enough internal flexing room for me to freely stretch and scrunch while in the shoe - particularly the joints at the ball of my foot - keeping me comfortable when I haven't walked for the last hour. I wouldn't say I'm swimming in this boot though. It's counterintuitive to the shortcomings I've noted, but my foot feels in-control and the boot still works as an extension of my foot. I end up not noticing the fit as I go about my day.

Soles

What I did need to get used to was the height of the heel blocks. Coming from flat-soled sneakers, my habit is heel striking. I can't extend or push out my heel when stepping forward as much as I normally do - my heel hits the ground earlier and does some heel drag if I'm not focused enough while walking. In addition, the circularity and hardness of the rear heel makes heel strike contact feel less steady. Basically, a little point of the circle has gripped the ground while I rock the rest of my foot flat onto the ground. The circle edge doesn't collapse or is grippy like a sneaker outsole, which means my foot rolling or swiveling from the weight of the boot is easier if my footing isn't sure and my ankles aren't firm. I've adjusted by mentally aiming for the middle of the heel on my strikes in these boots, rather than the very rear.

The mass of the midsole and outsole provides little ground feel, numbing my sense of how even the ground is or whether I'm stepping on a pebble. I haven't noticed any slipperiness with the Dr Sole outsole, including for concrete or tile. This is probably obvious, but the boots also have that leather sole hoofbeat sound. Dr Sole dulls the clacking, but my footsteps are always audible on hard surfaces if I'm not taking baby steps or on tiptoes.

Suggested sizings

The Meermin size chart, currently on their website, lists EU 44 as being the direct equal to a Brannock 11. My impression was that others who fitted well with the Kujang, and listed their Brannock and the EU size they bought, seemed to align with the Meermin chart in terms of which Brannock was equal to a Briselblack size. In the absence of a RTW Seventh in 43.5 or a 44 narrow in trim that I wanted (or any 43.5 being available), on Briselblack nor any secondhand site, I opted for a 44 rather than go down to a 43.

Even though by going TTS I got breathing room, I'd be reluctant to size down at all on Kujang. With the regular 44 forefoot width being just within the bounds of comfortable, if I were to size down even a half-size, I'm worried that the sides of the ball of my feet and my toes would feel nuisance levels of firmness - enough to keep being reminded of it. Also with the amount of heel and instep room I perceive in 44, I'm unsure how much difference a 43.5 would have in making those areas snug.

I'd even hesitate on a 44 narrow, since a comment said that the Kujang's narrow shaves off half a cm not just on the instep, but on the ball as well. Briselblack sometimes suggests a full size down from Brannock for Kujang, but there seems to be more than one comment where the normal-width Kujang is too narrow in the toes when that suggestion is followed, and I'd imagine it'd be even worse if I was a Brannock D+ width.

I read a comment somewhere that the Indonesian lasts can trend towards being not anatomical. I tend to agree with that for this last. The Kujang shape fits many settings well, but I'm skeptical its proportions would fit many men's feet well ymmv.

Extra reference point: I tried an Allen Edmonds Liverpool in 11D before The Seventh, because the instep looked like it might be similar to the Kujang. The Liverpool fit snug - including the heel - but it was a bit tight at the front of the ball of foot, and laterally across the toes. My toes did not reach the tip of that boot, there was maybe three-quarters of a cm of space. There was maybe a half cm or so of space in the instep - which felt alright to me. The next width they had in-stock was an E, which they wouldn't even bother to bring out.

Conclusion

I can't speak to Briselblack's MTO experience. But as far as The Seventh I got my hands on, I think this gamble turned out good enough. I see how the Kujang could go wrong for many and contribute to a poor value. But I don't consider these boots to be unsustainable or a bad fit for my feet - mine feel fine in them. Probably ignorance is bliss, but I'm genuinely pleased. I do wonder though whether I would get the same results if I received 3 more pairs of the same size and model from them over the course of like a year.