Hard wearing boots/shoes

CJRyder

Hi there,

I'm looking for a pair of men's hardwearing boots/shoes for casual everyday use. I budget roughly £5/month and would expect a £60 pair of boots to last for 12+ months. Most recent pair (£37) have given up after less than three months - pursuing for a refund. I have designated work boots so would ideally like something without a steel toe. Does anybody have some recommendations please?

Cheers!

Emmia

I'd suggest a pair of Dr Martens, which full price are above your budget (although you should get significantly more than 12 months out of them) - however they do have a good reduced section on their website, and the classic 1460 type styles may be reduced at other retailers, so it's worth shopping around. 

The last pair I bought were 60% off which brought them down to about £55.

https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/sale/mens-footwear-and-accessories-sale/c/08380000

CJRyder

Emmia said:

I'd suggest a pair of Dr Martens, which full price are above your budget (although you should get significantly more than 12 months out of them) - however they do have a good reduced section on their website, and the classic 1460 type styles may be reduced at other retailers, so it's worth shopping around. 

The last pair I bought were 60% off which brought them down to about £55.

https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/sale/mens-footwear-and-accessories-sale/c/08380000

Thanks for that. I don't mind paying more for durability but wouldn't want to pay £180 for just over a year. I called the Dr Martens customer service but couldn't get a straight answer, but I would be willing to get a pair or two on sale.

Pollycat

Good call by Emmia for DMs.

From the DM website (History):

Initially worn by postmen and factory workers, Dr. Martens’ first few years of existence was very much that of a £2 work-wear boot, selling solid quantities to Britain’s working classes.

If postmen wore them, don't you think they'd be long lasting?

Traditional 1460 boot is £140 (not £180).

In the link provided by Emmia, there's a Pascal 1460 boot for £95 - I would be incredibly surprised if they didn't last more than 2 years, although that does depend on what you do during your 'casual, everyday use'.

You can sign up for their newsletter, I've bought direct from them in the past.

Maybe call into a DM shop to see if you like the feel and confirm sizing.

What part of the boots you've bought in the past have failed?

Upper?

Sole?

Emmia

The only downside to a pair of Dr Martens, is the period when they are new, stiff and need breaking in - that means thick socks. I'd also definitely try them for size somewhere before purchase - I've got a few pairs of Dr Martens in various styles, and it's a mix between a 5 and a 6. 

strawb_shortcake

A few years back I bought my Husband a pair of Doctor Martens for life, my Husband hasn't had to send them back yet but he hasn't worn them that much. I paid £180 for these no idea if they still do them, but even the normal ones are very durable.
Another option would be to check an Army surplus store and pick up a pair of Army boots, either new or second hand but they'll last. 

Pollycat

annabanana82 said:

A few years back I bought my Husband a pair of Doctor Martens for life, my Husband hasn't had to send them back yet but he hasn't worn them that much. I paid £180 for these no idea if they still do them, but even the normal ones are very durable.
Another option would be to check an Army surplus store and pick up a pair of Army boots, either new or second hand but they'll last. 

They've stopped this now;

we've decided to discontinue the For Life collection. The last day to purchase a For Life product with a lifetime guarantee was April 1st 2018. The last day to register, or activate, your For Life product was May 31st 2018.

but you should be OK if you registered:

Are you a current For Life owner? Don't worry: we'll still honour all our existing For Life guarantees for products purchased before April 1st 2018, and registered by May 31st 2018. We will replace your footwear with a model up to the value of £169 or €209 (excluding Made in England & Collaborations).

https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/for-life-info

strawb_shortcake

Pollycat said:

annabanana82 said:

A few years back I bought my Husband a pair of Doctor Martens for life, my Husband hasn't had to send them back yet but he hasn't worn them that much. I paid £180 for these no idea if they still do them, but even the normal ones are very durable.
Another option would be to check an Army surplus store and pick up a pair of Army boots, either new or second hand but they'll last. 

They've stopped this now;

we've decided to discontinue the For Life collection. The last day to purchase a For Life product with a lifetime guarantee was April 1st 2018. The last day to register, or activate, your For Life product was May 31st 2018.

but you should be OK if you registered:

Are you a current For Life owner? Don't worry: we'll still honour all our existing For Life guarantees for products purchased before April 1st 2018, and registered by May 31st 2018. We will replace your footwear with a model up to the value of £169 or €209 (excluding Made in England & Collaborations).

https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/for-life-info

Thank you I did check afterwards (perhaps the wrong way round) 
Luckily I was able to find our registration so they can be exchanged as needed. 

Manxman_in_exile

CJRyder said:

Hi there,

I'm looking for a pair of men's hardwearing boots/shoes for casual everyday use. I budget roughly £5/month and would expect a £60 pair of boots to last for 12+ months. Most recent pair (£37) have given up after less than three months - pursuing for a refund. I have designated work boots so would ideally like something without a steel toe. Does anybody have some recommendations please?

Cheers!

!!!

What on earth are you doing with them?  I'd expect a "hardwearing" pair of boots or shoes that I'm using for "casual everyday use" to last a lot longer than twelve months!  (I know you say 12+ months but you'll obviously accept 12 months as a minimum).

You've posted in the Sports and Fitness section - is that what you want them for?  I don't quite see the relevance of your work boots having steel toes and you "ideally" wanting something without steel toes.

I've got about four pairs of shoes that I alternate and they are all over ten years old.  They've each been resoled a couple of times.  (Leather soles do not last well).  Most people would probably describe them as "formal lace-up shoes" - they're bombproof.

I once wore a pair of ASICS off-road Goretex trainers everyday for two years at work and at home.  They lasted fine.  Or you could get a pair of rugged trail walking shoes or boots.  Again it depends what your "casual everyday use" is.

A lot of people do swear by DMs but I don't like them as their standard last does not seem to fit my foot very well.

Emmia

CJRyder said:

Hi there,

I'm looking for a pair of men's hardwearing boots/shoes for casual everyday use. I budget roughly £5/month and would expect a £60 pair of boots to last for 12+ months. Most recent pair (£37) have given up after less than three months - pursuing for a refund. I have designated work boots so would ideally like something without a steel toe. Does anybody have some recommendations please?

Cheers!

I was going to say that £37 is very cheap for boots that you presumably wear a lot, so I'm not entirely surprised they've not lasted well - was that a reduced price, or full price? What brand were they, and what material(s) were they made from? 

Also, outside of actual safety/work boots - a steel toe is relatively unusual in footwear - DM have a specific section of work boots, which I notice looks to offer better value than the ones in the main part of the site.
https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/work/steel-toe-boots-and-shoes/c/05430000?product_range=mens
or https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/p/12231001 - which looks very similar to the classic DM, but is £89 (only available in some sizes though) 

CJRyder

Manxman_in_exile said:

CJRyder said:

Hi there,

I'm looking for a pair of men's hardwearing boots/shoes for casual everyday use. I budget roughly £5/month and would expect a £60 pair of boots to last for 12+ months. Most recent pair (£37) have given up after less than three months - pursuing for a refund. I have designated work boots so would ideally like something without a steel toe. Does anybody have some recommendations please?

Cheers!

!!!

What on earth are you doing with them?  I'd expect a "hardwearing" pair of boots or shoes that I'm using for "casual everyday use" to last a lot longer than twelve months!  (I know you say 12+ months but you'll obviously accept 12 months as a minimum).

You've posted in the Sports and Fitness section - is that what you want them for?  I don't quite see the relevance of your work boots having steel toes and you "ideally" wanting something without steel toes.

I've got about four pairs of shoes that I alternate and they are all over ten years old.  They've each been resoled a couple of times.  (Leather soles do not last well).  Most people would probably describe them as "formal lace-up shoes" - they're bombproof.

I once wore a pair of ASICS off-road Goretex trainers everyday for two years at work and at home.  They lasted fine.  Or you could get a pair of rugged trail walking shoes or boots.  Again it depends what your "casual everyday use" is.

A lot of people do swear by DMs but I don't like them as their standard last does not seem to fit my foot very well.

I'm walking in them. Exercise, to the shop, to the pub, etc. Over weekends and lockdown I average 2-3 miles a day. The only reasonably priced boots with durability I have had are steel toed work boots so was trying to avoid suggestions for them as I have heard that constantly being in toe-caps can damage your feet. All the lists online when searching for durability seem to only recommend safety boots.

The brand was Northwest Territories, off Amazon. I can't remember if reduced or not but possibly full price. Normally I would go to a shoe store but with Covid and furlough, finances were stretched and shops shut. It's not a brand that will ever grace my feet again.

After visiting a few places today I ended up trying the Mountain Warehouse red label Extreme range, apparently built for durability. £75, reduced from £150, plus their spray. I also bought a £14 pair of slip-ons for emergencies. I also spoke to a lady about Skechers but she said that they were built for comfort, not durability. I will be investing in another pair of shoes/boots so I have already been looking at combat boots. I'm just not sure if our army surplus is still open or not.

I did consider DMs but have heard tales of decreasing quality after production moved out of the UK. The £180 figure was for the Made in England range. Maybe for my second pair of boots but not just yet.