Sam Vimes "Boots" theory - also, I just want boot recs
Sam Vimes "Boots" theory - also, I just want boot recs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
That's a quote from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books.
Anyway--I'm gonna need some work boots probably in the near future. And I'd rather buy boots as decent as I can on a frugal budget.
Do any of you have recs? Particularly for someone with very small (for an adult) feet that get cold easily? I'm looking for winter boots that will actually keep my feet warm for 8-10 hours outside in the winter. But I also need to be able to afford them...which is why I'm posting here and not in a buy it for life sub.
Anything with full grain leather and is resoleable. I have some Iron Rangers by Red Wings I'm happy with. I selected them because they were local to me.
So, it's worth noting that a decent cobbler can resole even cemented shoes most of the time.
But nicer shoes:
a) are actually worth resoling, because good leather ages better over time
b) are easier to resole again and again because of other construction features I'm not going to delve intoIt's also worth noting that the oversimplified "tiers of leather" advice you've probably heard about "genuine leather" vs "full grain" vs whatever the other tiers were is more or less made up, and that understanding what makes leather good is... complicated, so it helps to either know the tannery (brands that name the tanneries they get their leather from are usually at least pretty good) or get recommendations from people who know better.
But RW IRs are really solid boots, enjoy.
What kind of climate are you in? Is your outside winter snowy, or rainy, or something else?
In my experience leather will shape and take on your feet's shape more, and synthetics will stay truer to their starting fit. Resoleable is good and frugal, if there is a cobbler around that can resole them, if you'll have to mail them out it can start to make a bit less sense. I've liked the redwings, danners, and asolos that I've had, but try them on! My feet are not your feet!
Whatever you get, try them on with the socks you intend to wear with them, big wool ones if it gets real cold in your neck of the woods. Treat them! If you are dealing with snow and grit and salt you need to treat them,and probably more fequently than you might expect. I've used Nor-v-gen, and nikwax, and a few others before and haven't had one that felt it stood up particularly better.