Liam Hardman, the founder and lead designer of Hardman, has over a decade of experience making furniture — and that means a lot of time in the shop testing the best gear to use and wear when woodworking.
After Liam Hardman founded the furniture studio Hardman in 2012, he spent six years building every subsequent order with his own two hands. These days, you can mainly find him leading the design aspect of the business from the company’s headquarters in New York, but that doesn’t mean he’s left the workshop behind for good. With more than 60 skilled craftspeople at the company’s partner workshop in Ukraine putting together hardwood furniture designed to last, Hardman makes sure the end results continue to meet his company’s high standards.
Hardman’s role and responsibilities have naturally transformed over the years with the company’s growing success, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: his love for the Timberland x Our Legacy Workshop 6-Inch Boot.
As Hardman has put in hour after hour on the workshop floor, whether to build a piece himself or to monitor production, these Timberland boots have remained his favorites for working in.
“I've always liked them, and they definitely go well with the rough work that goes on in a production facility,” Hardman says.
Although Hardman finds the boots better suited to colder seasons, he’s ready to lace them up whenever he needs to get into the workshop.
“They get put away around May for the summer, and I just get them out for the winter season,” he says. “But if I do go to production, I tend to take them with me.”
How to choose a safe — and comfortable — workboot
Workboots like Hardman’s Timberlands “give you a good amount of safety if you drop machinery, saws, or anything like that,” he says. “They're not a light boot, so even though they don't have a steel toe cap, they give a certain amount of security to your feet.”
Although accidents can happen, the extra, harder layers a workboot provides makes them way safer than sneakers if you’re around sharp objects and blades all day.
“I think at one point I did cut into the boot,” Hardman admits. “It was probably in my earlier days when I was teaching myself carpentry and cutting some tabletops in a way that wasn't super safe. I was cutting down on the floor, and the blade went through the end of the boot and opened up some of the leather. I'm glad the boot was there instead of my foot.”
Function is paramount, but so is staying comfortable, especially after hours on hard workshop floors.
“The Timberlands are comfortable for longer days, whereas standard work boots are generally incredibly uncomfortable,” he says. “I've tried standard steel-toe-cap work boots, and they quickly got passed on.”
While he loves his Timberlands, Hardman recognizes that they aren’t perfect.
“I've got quite wide feet, so after a couple of years, they feel like they're not quite wide enough for me personally, even though they are already very big boots,” he says. “They can also be a bit heavy, which is hard to get around because they're solid, thick leather.”
Plus, if there’s bad weather to deal with on the way into the workshop, the Timberlands are great for that too: “They're perfect for the weather, for the snow and the rain,” he explains. “They're not completely waterproof, but they do a really good job of keeping your feet dry.”
Especially when factoring in their double-duty in rough weather, the boots have yet to be topped in Hardman’s opinion.
“I always had Timberland boots for production, and I've stuck with that,” Hardman says. “When I go to production, I take those with me.”
