TOMS is known for doing some great things, especially their “One for One” deal: for every pair of TOMS shoes that are purchased, the company donates one pair of shoes to a child in need. When it comes to kids, we all need to do our best to assist the future. We’ve been walking and working in the TOMS desert boots for some a minute and while they may not be the most styled of footwear, the casual comfort of the lightweight finish has made then pleasant to wear. The outsole is very bare, keeping you low to the ground with an almost barefoot appeal. As for the price point, they will not break the bank. Worth a look if you are hunting for the bare essentials in a shoe.

Photography: Jeff Carvalho/Selectism.com

More looks after the click.

A slight delay on this one. Mr Clark passed back in June.

Sad news in the world of men’s footwear. Nathan Clark, creator of the iconic Clarks Desert Boot has died at the age of 94. We pull from the Telegraph UK obit: “Clark, a great-grandson of James Clark, who co-founded the Quaker footwear company in 1825, was serving in Burma during the Second World War when he noticed some servicemen wearing rough suede boots with crepe soles, of a type made by local tradesmen in Cairo’s Old Bazaar for British officers of the Eighth Army…After the war Clark returned to the family firm and, after further work on the design, took some pairs of Desert Boots to the 1949 Chicago Shoe Fair, where they were an instant hit.” (bltn)

We always enjoy looking at Mihara Yasuhiro’s shoes, even if it’s just to tilt our heads and say WTF. And these shoes are a definite head tilter. Half a regular suede desert boot and half a longwing chukka it’s a great looking specimen, even though we don’t think it works as a shoe. Still worth gawking at though. (Farfetch)

The White Mountaineering team are breaking out with very interesting pieces for the summer. A Native American theme seems to be the focus for this season with their “geometric pattern embroidery cross the toe box and the collar.” The shoe also has a crepe sole and comes in two colors; grey and beige. A true desert boot with Native American flare. UNION has it.

More looks after the click.

The wedged sole Wolverine Beck chukka from their 1883 collection delivers a solid desert boot style with an oil resistant upper and clean finish. Avaialble in two colorways, the Beck should last for seasons… just give it some slight care.

More looks after the click.

We’d planned on saying something about desert boots being an essential but then we gave ourselves a movie-esque slap and said ‘there are no essentials in fashion’. But there are stuff we like and stuff we don’t, this goes under the ’stuff we like’. If you like it, cool, if you don’t, go that way. (LN-CC)

Another handsome shoe of the month from London’s Lodger Footwear.

The Leather Sole Desert Boot gives formal character to one of the world’s most casual shoes. It is, perhaps, the Desert Boot for grown ups. Made of two unlined pieces of suede, the shoe will “bridge the gap between a casual pair of chinos on the weekend and a work meeting on Monday in a corduroy blazer.” Sounds good to us.

A full compliment of detailed images after the jump.

We’re not sure why this is, but a good pair of black chukkas are always a little difficult to find (those awful Red Wing postman boots don’t count). These would look great with some beaten up denim – think this picture – and the sole’s suitable for the rain. Always a bonus. (Alfred Sargeant)

Song remains the same, more images after the leap.

Hitting market this week, Oliberte Footwear’s Adibo, a crepe soled desert boot, looks pretty good, but has a far more handsome backstory.

Though based in Canada, Oliberte focuses its manufacturing and sourcing in Ethiopia, Kenya and Liberia. The intent of the company is to help support an African middle class, providing thousands of jobs and encouraging wider economic stimulus on the Continent. The Abido, for example, are handmade in Ethiopia.

There are, as you’ll be aware, a good number of ethical and socially conscious footwear brands. Whether the goal is to provide shoes for those in need, give proceeds back to environmentally damaged communities, or provide jobs where they hadn’t previously existed, we support good ideas.

More images of the Oliberte Adibo after the jump. Learn more about the company at Oliberte.

I used to think that the sneaker colorway game was going to end as soon as it came. If youre a cranky connoisseur of the sport, you probably see the last good years somewhere around the middle of the last decade. Many would make the same argument with the traditional shoe game as well. Everything is being thrown agains the chukka, the oxfords. But occasionally something comes forward which reminds us that there is still room. This desert boot from Kitsune and Pierre Hardy may be one of those. I happen to like it.

More looks at the Kitsune and Pierre Hardy Desert Boots for Autumn 2010 at Highsnob.