Well the 6 inch elevator has landed. https://www.guidomaggi.com/us/5-inch-boots That’s a whole 15cm.
And I have spent the past few days wearing them like crazy to see how they look, perform, walk and feel generally. For some like myself who have spent some years adding height, I felt for a long time that 6 inch boots truly would be a godsend. But I always knew that you cannot just make them happen out of nowhere – everything has to be right, from the sole to the ability to walk and act normally, the whole look. After all there IS a limit…it’s just a matter of where that limit is.
First things first. I have the Hong Kong. https://www.guidomaggi.com/us/5-inch-boots/hong-kong.html They look like normal boots and as I unpacked them and put them on for the first time, it felt like just slipping on a normal fashion boot that goes so well with jeans and casual pants.
As I put them on and walked around in them wearing my favourite jeans, the first fear I had was immediately dispelled – they are both incredibly comfortable AND you can walk very easily in them: quite a few guys have got in touch with me over the years about the business of pushing the boundaries another inch, and a few contacts I had talked about 6” boots to had said: “but will you be able to walk in them?”. Fair point but they are just great.
The point, too, is that they are designed to BE walkable. It is just not at all like stuffing 6” worth of lifts in normal boots. What people often forget about elevators, specially today’s better versions, is that they are made specifically to allow for the extra height. At the highest levels, it is an art (as well as a science of course).
So on to the look of them. I have always had a kind of guiding rule that I do not want boots to have TOO thick an outsole. A certain amount of thickness is to be expected with 5” (and now 6” boots), but I do not want something too thick and out of proportion. And these are just great. There is of course a limit to adding more height without simply adding vast amounts to the outsole like goth boots, unwalkable and huge-looking. The guys at GuidoMaggi have managed to finesse the extra inch without any sacrifice of style and subtly at all. I wouldn’t wear them, frankly, if they had made those sacrifices because to me I want my height addition to be as unnoticeable as possible. And I reckon that is the case with 99% of the guys who are in the market for height addition. What we want is something that looks like a normal boot. And these look and feel like a regular boot. I have worn them for several days in many different contexts and they are just right.
Of course you could not make dress shoes with a 6” elevator (in fact you can’t even make shoes with a 5” height addition). It has to be a boot. But boots today cover a multitude of possibilities, including the ability to wear certain types at work. The Hong Kong I have is one of those you could wear in all sorts of situations, dependent upon what you do. OK very formal situations demand something very different but in most circumstances these do the job really well.
If you have worn 4” or 5” elevators, these are just ideal and imho you should think of them as a logical upward next step.. They take you that extra inch and trust me it totally feels it. Just superb.
I’m going to wear these around and get a greater feel for them over the next week or two. And in my next piece will let you know more of my experiences.
