# Russell Zephyrs



## bhamtiger (Nov 7, 2009)

I would like to get a pair, but I want them to be bullhide leather on the bottoms.  Has anyone dealt with Russell on getting different leathers on the custom boots...service...quality....advice...???


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## Nitro (Nov 7, 2009)

On the sole or on the bottom of the boot? If the latter, just get the Zephyr IIs with the double vamp. They are plenty tough , yet still comfortable.

Russell is the tops for service and quality- CUSTOM Made boots.

I have two pairs of Zephyr IIs. Excellent footwear.


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## bhamtiger (Nov 7, 2009)

On the bottom part of the boot.  Will they make them however I choose?  I love my pull-on boots, but the top of my foot makes a new pair hard to break in.  I'm also working with a bum ankle?  Maybe I should just stick to the lace ups.


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## Gaswamp (Dec 6, 2009)

make plans to attend the National wild turkey convention in Nashville this coming February.  

Russell will be there and you can get your foot measured up.  Im sure they will work with you on your particular customizing

I bought a pair year before last on Nitros recommendation.  They get more and more comfortable with each wearing.


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## scoggins (Dec 6, 2009)

I have a pair of Cavaliers that I have had for 11 years and  are on their 3rd sole

DURABLE DURABLE DURABLE!!
COMFORTABLE TOO!


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## southGAlefty (Dec 7, 2009)

I've got the Zephyr 2's and they are really good boots, going on 3 years old and still look and feel good. I wear them almost everyday


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## Gaswamp (Dec 10, 2009)

great article on Russell Moccassin Co.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/10/russell-moccasin-marketing-cmo-network-moccasin.html

Russell Moccasin Keeps Quality High, Audience Small
Helen Coster, 06.10.09, 11:45 AM EDT 
Boot maker thrives by marketing to hunters and hikers.



As luxury marketers struggle to sell their goods in the economic downturn, a family-run boot manufacturer in Berlin, Wis., has a three-month-long waiting list for footwear that costs as much as $870. Last year, W.C. Russell Moccasin Co., which has been making handcrafted hunting boots for 111 years, brought in $3 million in sales by embracing tradition, not change.

Russell Moccasin sticks closely to its niche, targeting a small but hard-core group of hunting and outdoor enthusiasts. To market its boots, Russell runs print ads in high-end hunting magazines, including Safari and Sporting Classics. It also relies on business that comes from word-of-mouth recommendations of its devoted customers. This summer it plans to speak to them directly when it starts sending a monthly newsletter to an e-mail list of 8,000 people who already own at least one pair of its boots. "We have some families who go back two or three generations," says Russell Moccasin President Ralph (Lefty) Fabricius, 79. "Someone will call and want the same boots that their grandfather wore." 

Russell Moccasin is capitalizing on a trend toward classic styles and quality design. Boots start at $300; those made with exotic materials, including ostrich or alligator, cost almost three times as much. The boots come in 100 styles and can be made from just as many different types of leather. They have a distinctly male appeal; 90% of the company's clients, who include Harrison Ford and George Bush Sr., are men. Preppy retailer J. Crew is selling Russell Moccasin's Chukka boot. J. Peterman sells its slip-on Oneida Moccasins, which date back to World War I when workers on dirigibles wore them so that they wouldn't puncture the balloons. 

The boot maker has been around since 1898, when founder Will Russell began selling hand-sewn leather logging boots. The Bass Co. bought the company in 1927 and owned it until the following year, when its first traveling salesman, Bill Gustin, bought the company. Gustin's son-in-law, Ralph Fabricius, joined in 1957 and became president in 1970. Today the company employees 35 people and last year produced 13,000 pairs of shoes and boots. It creates, on average, 50 pairs a day. "If everyone chips in," says Fabricius, they can churn out a pair in one to three days. 

Fans love the ability to customize their boots, which are sold online and from a small catalog. They must fill out a measurement form that requires leg measurements for boot orders. The company also asks customers to note what kind of socks they'll be wearing and whether they'd like boots with a tight or loose fit. The form also instructs customers to ask someone else to trace their foot over socks that they'll wear with the boots. Hunters can further customize their boots by providing their own animal hides--perhaps that of an elephant or hippo from an African safari. The company uses thousands of index cards to keep track of customers' foot measurements. 

Today the Wisconsin-made product is big in Japan, where orders are up 15%. Twenty-eight years ago Russell started selling boots through a wholesaler there; now 15 wholesalers sell in the market. Over the last four years, Japanese fashion magazines like Popeye have started featuring the boots. In Japan people wear the boots for fashion, not function, and tweak the basic styles. Many Japanese remove their shoes after entering a home, and the company's lace-free, pull-on "Knock-A-Bout" boots are a best-seller there


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## Nitro (Dec 10, 2009)

Great article. 

They are my boot company of choice. Sitting here right now wearing a pair of Zephyrs..


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## scoggins (Dec 11, 2009)

Wow thst is neet information about my favorite upland boots


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## CollegiateHunter (Dec 13, 2009)

I'm pretty much sold on a pair of zephyr IIs. Anyone know a place around my area that carries them. Only place I guess might have them is Kevins in Thomasville but I'm not sure.


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## Gaswamp (Dec 13, 2009)

CollegiateHunter said:


> I'm pretty much sold on a pair of zephyr IIs. Anyone know a place around my area that carries them. Only place I guess might have them is Kevins in Thomasville but I'm not sure.



For them to be truly custom, you order them here
http://russellmoccasin.com/instructions1.html

or attend one of these conventions to have a Russell person size you and take your order on spot
Southeastern Wildlife Exposition
Charleston, SC
February 12-14, 2010 

National Wild Turkey Federation
Nashville, TN
February 19-21, 2010


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## maker4life (Dec 13, 2009)

CollegiateHunter said:


> I'm pretty much sold on a pair of zephyr IIs. Anyone know a place around my area that carries them. Only place I guess might have them is Kevins in Thomasville but I'm not sure.



Stafford's in Thomasville .


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## Gaswamp (Dec 18, 2009)

Nitro said:


> On the sole or on the bottom of the boot? If the latter, just get the Zephyr IIs with the double vamp. They are plenty tough , yet still comfortable.
> 
> Russell is the tops for service and quality- CUSTOM Made boots.
> 
> I have two pairs of Zephyr IIs. Excellent footwear.




Everyone that has the zephyrs love um.  Im ready for my second pair.  Cant decide on the turkey hunters or the bowhunter boots.  A.G. how many pair Russell's you own?


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## Nitro (Dec 18, 2009)

Gaswamp said:


> Everyone that has the zephyrs love um.  Im ready for my second pair.  Cant decide on the turkey hunters or the bowhunter boots.  A.G. how many pair Russell's you own?



Four.

I will be pulling the trigger on a pair of Ostrich skin Zephyrs in 2010...... 

I will go to Berlin to be fitted for those. Probably next month or February at the latest. 

Wore my Zephyrs today in the driving rain- one pair of Smartwool socks and my feet were warm and dry all day.

My Turtleskin Turkey Hunter Lites are awesome.

 I probably sold another ten pair for Russell this year in SD. My feet were the only dry pair in camp. EVERYONE in camp wearing Danners hit the Peet dryer and complained about wet feet at the end of the day. I took my South Forty's off and never said a word. Dry and pain free..........

Great boots. CUSTOM Made to YOUR feet. Worth every penny.


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## CollegiateHunter (Dec 19, 2009)

Had a chance to look over those ostrich skin boots in Kevins last week. They were definitely unique. I'm still stoked about my new zephyr II's I picked up a few days ago. Have no need to break them in so had them on since I got them.


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## Gaswamp (Dec 19, 2009)

I love to help sell a quality product.  Got to take some more of your advise and get me some smart wool socks.




Nitro said:


> Four.
> 
> I will be pulling the trigger on a pair of Ostrich skin Zephyrs in 2010......
> 
> ...


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## Pittard (Dec 22, 2009)

I'm in the 6th year of my first pair of Cavalier boots.  They are just beginning to need new soles and I wear the practicaly every day.  For sure wearing them in my avatar picture.


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