Leaderboard

I had mentioned the idea of starting a work boots thread in the past, and here it is. Not high heels of course, but I think there are enough boot guys here that this subject will be a conversation starter. As many of you already know, I am an electrician by profession, and my jobsite conditions vary wildly. Right now, I'm working on concrete, but just a couple of months ago, I was in the mud doing underground utilities. Sometimes I walk miles and miles every day, and sometimes I am working out of an elevated work platform, and walk hardly at all. Over the years I have tried many different kinds of work boots. The one thing that remains fairly constant is that I have almost always owned two pairs simultaneously, and switched off every other day. I feel like this is better for both comfort and foot health. There may be nothing to it, but it's just what I've done for nearly 30 years, and I am now too old to change. I started off as a Red Wing guy, and I remained a loyal Red Wing guy for the better part of two decades. Red Wing boots are made (or used to be made) in Red Wing, Minnesota, not all that far from me. The reason why Red Wings were so cool is because they made almost every boot style in every size, not only by length, but by width. Therefore, I could get my 7 1/2 Bs which fit perfectly instead of having to put up with 7 1/2 D, which is "medium" width for men's shoes. Then, in what I can assume was a cost cutting measure, they quit making my size in most styles, which irritated me very much. In addition, during roughly this period of time, they also moved a lot of their production to China. Therefore, it was time to try something new. It was then that I went through my Doc Marten phase. By this time, I was wearing high heels in my non-work life, and I found some Dr. Marten boots with rather giant heels, and I had to give them a go. I rather liked getting away with wearing 2 1/4 inch heels to work, and the boots eventually broke in to where they were reasonably comfortable. It was at this point when I went from men's 7 1/2 to women's size 9B, which is still the size I wear fairly reliably. I gave up the Doc Martens for two reasons: 1) They were almost too squidgy. I don't like a lot of padding to begin with, and these boots were sort of like walking on pillows. Who the hell wants to walk on pillows? I think it takes a lot more effort to walk on pillows. I'd personally much rather just walk on the ground. Because they were squidgy, bending conduit with a hand bender took some getting used to. When using a hand bender, a lot of foot pressure is required to get it to come out right. In fact, in certain regions of the U.S., they call the exact same tool a "foot bender." 2) Later that following winter, I discovered that those squidgy soles do not like the extreme cold at all. Both pairs I had split clean across the balls of my feet when the temperature got down below about -15º C. I am deducing that it was the cold because both pairs failed within a week of each other, just from walking. I then went to Ariat boots, in a women's size 9, which is where I'm at today. I've tried several different models, and of course they have stopped making my favorite model. Pictured here are Ariat's "Scout" model, which are a step down from my preferred "Heritage Breeze" model. The differences are subtle, but noticeable. Both are marketed as a "paddock" boot, suitable for riding horses. There is even a spur rest built into the back of the boot. The reason I like them for work is that they are very light and flexible, and the tread pattern is minimal, meaning less mud collection. Despite having little in the way of tread pattern, they are quite grippy on low friction surfaces. For being very affordable (less than 150 USD, depending), they have proven to be durable and just plain different enough that I like them. I seriously doubt whether many of my colleagues in construction would like them. I feel as though they are too light and the soles are too thin for your average construction worker. The soles on my older pair (not pictured here) are now so worn as to be almost literally paper thin. If I am standing on gravel, I can count the number of stones beneath my feet by feel. I don't think most people would like that. Those are now relegated to lawn mowing and other soft surface work. I am considering the purchase of another similar pair in the near future. My newest pair of boots is the Thorogood Model 814-4200 (made in USA). This moccasin toe, wedge sole style of boot is extremely popular in my area at the moment. Every other worker, or at least every other electrician is sporting this style of boot in one brand or another. My company gave me a voucher for 250 USD to purchase a new pair of work boots at a particular retailer. I didn't really love any of the available selection, but 250 bucks is way too much to leave on the table, so I settled on these Thorogoods, which cost somewhere north of $250, so that I wound up paying about 40 bucks out of my pocket after sales tax. They were the only boots I tried on in 7 1/2 that I didn't feel was way too wide. In fact, even though they are labeled 7 1/2 D, they sure feel a lot more like a B width, and I'm really halfway between B and C width. I guess they're ok, but I'm not crazy about them. Certainly at first, and to some extent even now, they feel a bit like wearing hollowed out logs on my feet. They do not cause pain, but I just don't feel very graceful wearing them. Also, despite having fairly soft soles which show wear quickly, they're not all that grippy. I discovered this initially while riding my motorbike to work, and putting my foot down on some sand at a stoplight. Appearances can be deceiving. I kind of like the way they look, but there's no way I would have paid nearly 300 USD for them. I hope others will share stories and perhaps pictures of their favorite (or perhaps least favorite) work boots. Just in case there is any confusion (I'm sure there won't be), the black ones are the Ariats, my favorites, and the tan ones are the Thorogoods. And I obviously didn't clean either of them up for the photos. This is how they might actually appear on the job.