Trendware Solid Brass AA Eyelets in Five Finishes

Market
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Eyelet Packs

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Each pack contains 30+ grams, or approximately 100 pieces, of Trendware solid-brass, long, unscored AA eyelets in lacquered brass, nickel plated, antique brass / old English bronze, gunmetal, and black. That’s 150+ grams, or approximately 500 eyelets, in total.

Repairing boots? Make your shop ready for hardware work on PNW and other heritage boots.

Building boots? Enjoy the full palette of finish options for your next client or personal project.

Heritage boot enthusiast? Stock some backups to take to the shoe shop when your pairs need replacement or repair.

I have six total packs to sell. Please understand that I am not offering individual finishes or different quantities, just these multi-finish packs as I’ve described them.

Dimensions

These eyelets are size AA, an old United Shoe Machinery Corporation size commonly found on American-made boots and shoes. They’re the same as, or indistinguishable from, eyelets I’ve compared on some US-made White’s, Nicks, and Danner boots.

Flange Outside Diameter9.8 mm
Barrel Inside Diameter5.28 mm
Barrel Outside Diameter5.8 mm
Total Height6.5 mm
Length Under Flange5.5 mm

Note that individual eyelets may measure slightly differently. They’re designed to tolerances within range for compatible setter tooling. Note on that below.

I have personally had success setting the #205 Trendware lace hooks used by PNW companies, also sold as C-1567 hooks by Ohio Travel Bag and now Weaver, through these eyelets. The fit is tight. It helps to not to crank too hard when setting the eyelets in the first place.

Price

$50 plus shipping

Shipping

USPS

If you’re not in the US, please e-mail me at kyle@kemitchell.com.

Payment

PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, or Zelle

Hints on Setting

I’ve had good results setting with Italian tooling for Moro size 051 eyelets, of similar dimensions. Sometimes the tools are marked 130 instead of 051.

I’m told that the old shoe-repair presses with interchangeable topsets and anvils on rotating turrets handle AA eyelets well.

Why grams rather than pieces?

It would take me hours to count out thousands of eyelets one by one. I take it this is why shoe repair suppliers, like my local outfit, also break down and resell their packs of hardware by weight.

My method here was to count out 100 of each finish of eyelet, weigh them, and then compare. I expected bigger differences between the finishes, but in the end, they were all roughly 30 grams per 100 pieces. So I made up the bags for each pack by pouring eyelets into a scoop on a scale until it read over 30 grams.

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Two packs are now on their way via USPS. One to Western Canada. USPS to Canada costs more than to the US of A, but less than I somehow expected.

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I finally got some scrap together for test settings of these AA eyelets with various tools.

Moro 051 Press Tooling

I got very good results setting the Trendware AAs with Italian twist-press tooling designed for Moro 051 eyelets.

Harfington #45/5mm

Dave of New River Boot recommended this cheap Amazon tool set, specifically in the 5mm size:

Unfortunately, the 5mm size seems to have gone out of stock. It may reappear under some other contrived brand name.

My results with these tools were consistent with what I’d expect from a cheap hand setter. Not spectacular, but definitely doable and improvable with some practice.

The fit between the the topset and the guide post of the bottom anvil leaves enough slop for the topset to deflect several degrees. It’s better than trying to keep the topset perpendicular entirely freehand, but as much help as it could be. It’s possible results will vary here. The tolerances on tools this cheap usually vary a bit.

Side Note and Other Tools

Side Note: The Harfington tool set was listed as “#45” and “5mm”, but the topset is actually stamped “300”.

That reminds me of the numbering for THK’s “Hasi Hato” eyelets, sold by Rocky Moutain here. It may be that series numbered in the hundreds—200, 300, 500—might be de facto trade sizes for East Asian eyelets, the way that USMC sizes were in the US and Moro sizes are Italy.

If anyone has any information on this, please let me know.

I haven’t tried setting an eyelet yet, but sure enough, the Trendware AAs fit securely in the bottom anvil of my OKA Factory setter for 300 series eyelets. Rocky Mountain also distributes those, and you can get them direct from OKA. These are much, much better tools. Granted, for twice the price. But that’s still just $12.

If you have Instagram, OKA has posted a very concise video tutorial, showing their tools:

I have made a note to try some eyelets with the OKA tools. Hopefully I can get to it and report back tomorrow.

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OKA Factory 300 Series Hand Tools

I was able to set the eyelets with this toolset, but the results were’t superb. It would do, but it’s not perfect.

The bottom anvil holds the eyelet just fine. The topset, however, has a shape I haven’t otherwise seen where the flange is meant to fold over. It produced very narrow folds over the back.

It may be these tools are meant specifically for 300 series eyelets set with backing washers. I’m just guessing.