#nocontext
At this point in my life, comfort trumps durability. And while I value durability, I value my feet more. It comes down to this: If I can feel the shoes on my feet, I can’t get my work done. Because my mind will be on my feet. That means the break-in period has to be pretty close to nonexistent.
So I returned the Docs. I’m considering going up a size and trying again, but I won’t be able to find such a great deal (those Docs were $55 on clearance). I’ll try some no-name brand Docs knock-offs which look to be super soft in the toe box. They probably will feel too cheap. I don’t know. We’ll see.
I don’t know how it is that my white stitching remained white. When I get the boots repaired and polished the guy always warns me that the white stitching will be covered up with black shoe polish, but I guess it wears off?
I was thinking about getting the Thorogoods upthread, but I have a Red Wing shoe store ridiculously close to where I work. Anyone have any thoughts on whether I should visit Red Wing instead of just buying a pair of Thorogoods online?
Boots, I need to try on first. I’ve bought some footwear sight unseen, but boots are a special case, and I didn’t want to hassle with the ship->return two-step until I found a pair that fit right. YMMV, especially if your feet are well-behaved (mine aren’t).
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Red Wing, but from what I’ve seen they are a bit more expensive.
I used to think this, but no longer… Buy shit off amazon, returns are trivial. Put back in box, print label, tape on box. Drop at UPS place.
Honestly, I’m kind of amazed at this point how easy it is to return stuff to Amazon.
That and Zappos (owned by Amazon). Free shipping both ways. Call them and ask for upgraded overnight shipping, try your boots on tomorrow.
There’s not much I won’t buy online. I actually just bought a custom suit from a European website which will be here sometime in the next couple weeks. Having never owned a (well-fitting) suit before, it will be very interesting to see how it turns out.
But I probably wouldn’t buy a used car or a house online. Probably.
Eh, one or two returns wouldn’t be a problem, but the last time I went boot-shopping, I tried on six different pairs in two different shops before finding something I was 100% happy with. It was easier and quicker to do it in person.
I was damn close to using Beepi to get my used car, but my credit union balked at giving me a loan for an online purchase. Ended up using a local dealer, but Beepi seems pretty legit to me.
I guess the main thing with me is that wherever I buy from has to have a really good return policy. If they have that then I would much rather shop online where I can go at my own pace and do lots of research.
Oh and coincidentally I just picked up my Thorogoods from the shoe shop today and everything looks great so far. The stock soles lasted about a year and a half so we’ll see how these Vibram ones do (assuming they stay attached).
So I returned those Docs that were made by the devil who hates comfort, and spent like 5x the amount to get these:
I figured my most comfortable boots so far, and the longest lasting, were Fluevogs, so why not go Fluevog again? Plus Fluevog was highly influenced by Doc Marten’s designs back in the day, so the sensibility is similar.
They just arrived today and I went home at lunch to pick them up. Squee!
Those look really nice!
Yep, I’m jealous. That’s a fine looking pair of boots.
I like boots
I recently found myself in need of a pair of good work boots with fantastic arch support and cushioning. After spending a bit of time researching I realized that I kept coming across a brand I was not familiar with that was highly thought of by most everyone: Redback.
Seeing that this was an Australian brand, I thought to myself, you know whose opinion on this I’d really like to hear? @krayzkrok. Did a quick forum search and, lo and behold, there it was.
Luckily for me, I found a store in Seattle that carries them, went by this morning and now I own a pair of these:
These are by far the most comfortable boots I’ve ever worn. They may be the most comfortable pair of any kind of footwear I’ve ever had. I work as a cook and have for most of my life. I’ve worn pretty much every kind of appropriate footwear for someone who’s on his feet all day. Birkenstock clogs, Keen Oxfords, Docs of every description. Hell, I even wore a pair of genuine Chicom jungle boots I got from HK, pre '97. None of these come close to the comfort level I’m feeling as I wear the Redbacks. In fact, I just worked a 13-hour day and my feet are only a slight bit achy, probably due to not having broken these in quite yet.
I’m extremely happy and Redback have made a customer for life.
Hahaha! I know the feeling. I had an old, OLD pair of Converse Chuck Taylors that I’d worn on a trip to Disney World with a former girlfriend. These things were torn up and worn out in the worst kind of way. But they had traversed the Magic Kingdom with a person who is still a very good friend to this day and I couldn’t bear to throw them out. So my mother did it for me once, when she was visiting and decided to clean up around the place while I was out.
When learning about Redback I also came across Blundstone and was close to buying a pair of those. But I also read that they had started moving their manufacturing overseas, resulting in a loss of quality. I don’t have any firsthand experience with this but it was still enough to scare me away. There are very few things that I have absolute belief in these days but having quality footwear is one of those things.
GAH! What makes people throw away things that don’t belong to them? My dad used to do this constantly. Clothes, kitchen appliances, food. Everything was fair game except books.
“What happened to the cable box? The one on the TV.”
“I disposed of it.”
“Well, you’ve been paying two dollars a month rent for it, and now the cable company is going to want you to pony up for a replacement.”
“Nonsense.”
My mom threw away a Commodore 64 belonging to my brother.
She sold my car when I was a teenager.
Because it was just lying around.
(Granted, the car was totaled.)