Hands-On: Danner’s Logger Moc 917 GTX Boots Follow Brand’s Guiding Principles From 1932

Based in Portland, Oregon, Danner is widely recognized today as one of America’s most revered heritage boot brands. While a lot has changed over the last 90 years since its inception, Danner continues to follow the same guiding principles originally laid out by Charles Danner — an unwavering dedication to quality, performance, and craftsmanship. These defining characteristics are on full-display on Danner’s Logger Moc 917 Boots. In a bid to discover how the brand has balanced modern boot-making with old-world heirloom-grade quality, we’ve gotten our hands on a pair of these heritage-grade boots, allowing us to take a deep dive into the brand, what makes it special, and how these qualities tie back to Charles Danner’s original vision. 

Charles’ Vision

The story of Danner boots first kicks off in 1932, when Charles Danner founded the Danner Shoe Mfg. Company in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin — which at the time was a booming logging town. As the timber and logging industry began rapidly expanding out in the Pacific Northwest, Danner was eventually prompted to pack up shop and relocate to Portland, Oregon in 1936 — just a few short years before Charles would also bring his sons John and Bill Danner on board. 

Within the first decade of being in operation, Danner quickly garnered a reputation for its signature spike sole-equipped caulked logging boots. Unlike regular workwear boots that need to be incredibly tough and well-built to withstand hard daily use, Danner’s logger boots also needed to stand up to the rigors and abuses that come with working in the snowy and rainy mountains of the Pacific Northwest. These requirements ultimately gave way to a meticulously-designed pair of boots that were brought to life using rugged materials and constructed in a manner that allows for years and years of hard daily use. 

Modernizing Danner’s Original

Sporting a heritage design, the Danner Logger Moc 917 GTX is heavily inspired by the brand’s original caulked logging boots. Despite boasting an unmistakably vintage-inspired design and silhouette, the Logger Moc 917 GTX conceals a host of modern features beneath its top-grain Nubuck leather uppers including a Vibram SPE rubberized EVA midsole, removable OrthoLite footbeds, and ultra-grippy Danner-exclusive Vibram 917 outsoles that benefit from the use of an XS Trek rubber compound construction. Pieced together using a modernized stitchdown construction, these boots also pack a fully breathable and completely waterproof GORE-TEX membrane.

Coming Full Circle

Though made in a modern factory, the Danner Logger Moc 917 GTX is still very much guided by Charles Danner’s original principles. They’re crafted from a carefully selected array of premium materials that are meticulously pieced together to ensure the highest possible levels of build quality and craftsmanship. These boots also benefit from extensive field testing that’s carried out to ensure they meet the brand’s stringent standards for longevity. And, while they’re primarily now used as hiking and outdoor boots, the Logger Moc 917 GTX maintains the workwear-grade durability of Charles Danner’s original Caulked logger boots — bringing this tradition of quality and craftsmanship full circle.  

Guaranteed Heirloom Status

The impeccable craftsmanship and premium materials of Danner’s boots make for incredibly rugged pieces of footwear, though these same qualities also make these boots ideal as modern-day family heirlooms. This area is furthered by the fact that the Logger Moc 917 GTX qualifies for Danner’s factory Recrafting program. Once worn out or eventually damaged after years of hard use, these boots can simply be shipped back to Danner’s factory where its artisan workers can return them to their former glory by conditioning the leather, replacing the soles and repairing worn stitching — practically guaranteeing a lifetime of use. 

In Closing

Just one of a myriad of available models from the heritage brand’s Logger 917 family, the Danner Logger Moc 917 GTX is available now in stores and online, with pricing set at $240.