About the Author: Adam Terry is a thirtysomething business analyst in the construction industry. He enjoys whiskey, watches, boots/shoes, and working on his dad bod father figure.
Desert chukka boots have long held a prominent place in menswear thanks to their unique blend of rugged utility, practical comfort, and military-inspired minimalistic style. While these boots might have been originally designed for military treks across the desert, we choose to wear these boots today for their understated elegance and practical versatility across a wide variety of outfits and fashion styles. Dress them up with an unstructured sport coat, knit polo shirt, and tailored chinos or dress them down with a cool graphic tee and your favorite pair of well-loved indigo jeans with the cuffs turned up. Desert chukka boots like this pair from Huckberry and Astorflex offer a timeless appeal that can enhance just about any look.
Made in Italy. Classic, two-eyelet, desert boot design.
The studio shots on Huckberry seem to indicate these lean brown/tan.
They’re not. They’re a true stone gray in person.
My pair of chukkas was ordered through Huckberry on a Tuesday afternoon. The package shipped out on Wednesday via UPS SurePost and was delivered on Saturday morning.
FYI: Huckberry has a fantastic returns policy and offers free returns on most items within 30 days, and assuming shoes are unworn, in the shoe original box, and in resellable condition.
Score: 5/5 Stars – Easy ordering, simple and quick shipping, and effortless returns.
For the sake of color comparison, here’s the Astorflex in stone
between a tan-leaning suede and a snuff brown leaning suede.
This pair arrived in the standard brown Astorflex box with minimal external fanfare. Inside, each boot was stuffed with some recycled paper and the pair was wrapped in an origami-looking layer of paper to help protect them in shipping. This pair came with an alternate set of laces; you can swap the standard flat cotton laces for these thin, round laces if that’s your jam. At this price point, it’s hard to ask for other accessories but a set of shoe storage bags would have been nice, as dust and dirt are some of the main contributors to premature leather drying.
Score: 4/5 Stars – Simple and unadorned. You get what you pay for and nothing else.
“the good shoe”
Fresh out of the box, the first thing that you’ll notice is that the “stone suede” color does not match the Huckberry website photos. Online, these look to be a more traditional tan or sand suede color. In person and under normal daylight sun, this color is a much warmer shade of grey with some green or green-adjacent undertones instead of the usual tan. Think about the overall color scheme of an outcropping of rocks in a desert instead of a pair of khaki chinos. This difference is not inherently a bad thing; I think this color looks great and should be incredibly versatile if you’re a fan of wearing clothing with similar earthy tones like I do.
Comes with both flat cotton laces as well as thin round laces.
Notice the warmer, brown shade of the laces and how that contrasts with the stone gray suede.
This is a classic desert chukka boot design with a simple two-eyelet design, a relatively smooth suede upper, a buttery smooth leather lining, and a natural (non-dyed) crepe rubber outsole. There’s very minimal branding with just a subtle Astorflex embossing on the tongue. The upper and leather lining layers are flared out and stitched down through a leather-looking midsole to secure this as one unit. The molded crepe rubber outsole looks to be glued to the bottom of that unit. Overall, the QA/QC on this pair is pretty good as I noticed no major issues.
Buttery smooth leather lining
Inside, there’s an easily removable leather sockliner insert that’s backed with a layer of closed cell foam that’s about as thick as a Kennedy half-dollar coin. While these layers aren’t anything to really write home about in terms of build quality or mind-blowing comfort, they each do a little something to add to the wearability. Overall, I do find these Brownflex chukka boots to be more comfortable than the cheaper alternatives from Clarks, Banana Republic, etc.
Removable leather sockliner insert backed with a layer of closed cell foam
Finally, the crepe rubber outsole on this pair is a molded assembly made from 100% natural crepe rubber. They do feel amazing underneath the foot, although from my experience with previous pairs of boots with crepe soles, this level of comfort tends to taper off as the crepe rubber starts to wear down and shear off with regular wear and tear. However, you should easily get a few years of regular wear out of these. The only major downsides to crepe rubber are its lack of grip in slick conditions and the fact that it gets dirty really quick. Like an eraser removing graphite pencil marks from paper, this crepe rubber will pick up a ton of nastiness.
Score: 5/5 Stars – Overall, really solid boots. Made well, comfortable enough, and fun. Strange that the online studio shots aren’t similar to how they look in person.
100% natural crepe rubber soles
In terms of fit and sizing, I recommend trying the closest whole size to your true-to-size Brannock measurement. Huckberry and Astorflex produce these Brownflex chukkas in whole sizes only, so if you’re in between sizes, you should opt for the smaller of the two sizes unless you prefer a looser fit to be worn with chunkier wool socks or you need room for inserts. I tried this pair in a size 11 (that matches my Brannock heel to toe measurement) and found that these run a bit large. I have about two thumb’s widths of extra space in front of my toes and could easily size them down to a 10. Your mileage may vary, so test drive them for yourself.
Sold in whole sizes only. Most will want to size down if in-between.
For size reference, I consider myself a 10.5 D on a Brannock device (10.5 heel to ball, 11 heel to toe with high arches). For roomier lasts like Alden’s Barrie or Grant Stone’s Leo, I take a half-size down to 10 D. For “true to size” lasts, like Allen Edmond’s 65 last, I tend to go TTS with a 10.5 D. For sneakers, I prefer a 10.5 with Converse and an 11 with Nike, Adidas, etc.
Up close with the nice suede and natural rubber soles.
Crepe rubber will naturally wear down over time.
Comfort is always subjective, but I find these desert boot chukkas to be decently comfortable on this initial trial run. While I haven’t put them through a thousand miles of wear or anything close to that, I can tell that the leather linings, foam insole layers, and the crepe rubber outsoles are putting in a lot of work. Over time, I’m not convinced that the comfort will last as the crepe rubber wears down and the insoles flatten out, but you should easily get a year or two of regular wear from this pair. I’m not sure that I’d wear these boots for a whole day at a theme park, but personally, I find them comfortable enough for an average day to and from the office.
Score: 4/5 Stars – Runs large, so size down. Comfort is fine for now but may not last.
A minimalist, military-inspired desert boot is an extremely versatile and evergreen option in menswear. This pair from Astorflex is an ideal example for casual wear as the simplified suede uppers and natural crepe rubber soles can help you walk the walk in elevating an otherwise basic outfit into something just that little bit nicer. The Brownflex chukkas perfectly straddle that line between a “relaxed casual” t-shirt and jeans on the weekend vibe and a notably nicer “smart casual” button-down collar sport shirt and tailored chinos outfit for a date night. I find these chukkas to be initially comfortable, relatively affordable, and effortlessly easy to wear. Every man needs a pair of desert boots in his arsenal and these are pretty dang good. Cheers!
Avg. Score: 4.5/5 – Recommended! Comfortable, casual, and effortlessly easy to wear.
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