A collaborative effort between Palladium Boots and London-based fashion label Maharishi has led to the creation of the Maharishi Tactical boot. The Maharishi Tactical features an upper constructed from rubberized full grain leather and 2520 denier ballistic nylon. The side, collar and heel panels are made of Schoeller Dynatec, a specialty textile that consists of reflective threads and tiny reflective glass beads. This material reflects light and is visible up to 100 meters away. The boot also features a Dri-Lex moisture wicking lining for breathability and sweat control, a thick PU material sockliner, and a padded collar with red Maharishi branding on the inside. A nice boot all around, but does anyone else see a double-edged sword in that reflective material?
You can purchase yours here.
Nod to Tactical Fanboy.
Tags: Maharishi, Palladium Boots
It’s a good thing the Air Force is going away from black boots.
Actually, they remind me of the old IDF boots from the late 80’s – early 90’s.
The boot looks cool and has some nice features, but I’m not so sure about the reflective material. Good if you’re working traffic at night, not good if you’re searching a building or set up on a perimeter.
A tactical boot made in collaboration with a fashion label?! With reflective material? That’s… interesting. What’s most interesting is the high price. $185? Palladium boots aren’t that great qualitywise, I’d never pay that much for a pair.
A couple of months ago I brought a black pair of converse boots that looked exactly like those for $40
The only downside to them is that the eyelets are a dull silver while the rest of the boot is black, but it isnt nothing that some black paint cant fix
Hmmm, do I see the hands of Hubertus Bigend or Gabriel Hounds on these? 😉
Would be very nice if they’d left off the reflective material and kept the price reasonable – then they’d be like a modernised, high leg version of the black canvas “Commando” boots that Palladium have sold for years (I still had a pair in my closet up until recently).
As for these, I’d have to say “tacticool”, not “tactical”.
Wait til yall see my new Gucci snakeskin tactical boots with gold accents.
Seriously, this crap is going too far.
Calling this “tactical” is a bit over the top. More so, I’d say that this really just shows how much our industry is influencing fashion. I saw several M65-style jacket knockoffs at the mall the other day. All at several hundred bucks a pop. Just hop down to the surplus store and buy a real one if that’s the look you want.
That’s a good point. “Military fashion” is something I’m starting to see quite a bit. With that said, I think the only real advantage for a tactical boot company to work with a fashion company is making something that looks good. We all know style points don’t count in the operational world. I don’t see any advantage in having reflective material on boots. We use reflective running shoes for early morning PT, but a “tactical” boot? It’s capability is limited at best.
Something else to mention is the fact that operators are starting to move away from traditional style boots, in favor of hiking/sneaker/athletic style boots. I’m not sure why companies continue to “develop” these “hard” boots. I want boots that allow me to be mote agile that have some comfort built in.
Some shop I saw in ebay is selling a hybrid between classic Palladium and jungle boots (looks silmilar to these pair). It’s of course by Palladium but not look promissing to me either fashionable or tactical. I wonder how their design will be if really go for the tactical business. I modified my Palladim Baggy “OTAN” pair from half hi-leg, half ankle boots to the full hi-leg already.
These boots would be good those troops working on airfields and carrier decks, esp. at night, but for anybody who goes outside the wire these boots would be worse than useless.
@Lawrence:
nice observation.
“zero history” was a good read
“We all know style points don’t count in the operational world. ”
Was this sarcasm, or should I be ROFLMAO?
You guys are missing the point. Maharishi founder Hardy Blechman is about as anti-military as an individual can be. In fact his forays into camo are an explicit attempt to re-appropriate DPM style patterns from the armed forces into civilian fashion. There is a definite political element to his art, and I don’t think readers of this blog are it’s intended audience.
Thanks for the info!