4 ms·

a decent pair of redwing boots will run $200-300 and last 18-24 months in a job walking daily before needing a resole ~150 that can be done 2-3 times. mine that

a decent pair of redwing boots will run $200-300 and last 18-24 months in a job walking daily before needing a resole ~150 that can be done 2-3 times. mine that I wear a couple times a week I got 18 years ago and have had to do a $50 re-heel of them is it. giving them 48 hrs to dry after wearing really extends the life of the leather

thehappypm 5y ago
Thanks for sharing! If you just bought cheap Walmart boots, you'd probably be spending $50 per pair, but need 2 pairs a year (maybe even more, but you're not putting a huge amount of wear and tear), call it $100/year. Over 18 years that's $1800!
handrous 5y ago
Also have some a few pair of Redwings Heritage boots. First real-leather shoes I bought were some Iron Rangers. I wore them as my main shoes for the first year I had them, nearly every day. Wore the absolute hell out of them. They still come out many times a year, and I treat them as work boots, so they get things dropped on them, I sit on the floor and crush them side-down for long stretches, et c. I also wore them up a couple mountain trails in the Appalachians maybe three years back, one a pretty damn long and high-elevation-change trail (do not do this, they are heavy as fuck compared to any modern hiking boot or, especially, shoe, it was a very bad idea) which beat them up plenty. "Camp mocs", chukkas, and loafers have replaced them for everyday wear, for me, but that first pair of IRs still see some of my hardest-wearing days, probably 20-30 days a year. Given the rate of wear for the ~2 years when I wore them very heavily, I'd say I could have gotten 5-8 years without babying them a bit (with a re-soling around year 4, probably). With my current usage pattern I expect they'll last about 20, with a re-soling at some point. If a person used shitty work boots for the really rough days to avoid abusing the expensive boots, and maybe kept some purpose-specific shoes for things like snow, heavy rainy weather (duck boots in both cases, perhaps), or hiking (god, just get a modern hiking shoe or boot, leather shoes are so heavy), 10 years of ~50%-of-days wear is very possible out of that boot style, I'd say. That may even be on the low side.

thehappypm 5y ago

Thanks for sharing! If you just bought cheap Walmart boots, you'd probably be spending $50 per pair, but need 2 pairs a year (maybe even more, but you're not putting a huge amount of wear and tear), call it $100/year. Over 18 years that's $1800!

handrous 5y ago

Also have some a few pair of Redwings Heritage boots. First real-leather shoes I bought were some Iron Rangers. I wore them as my main shoes for the first year I had them, nearly every day. Wore the absolute hell out of them. They still come out many times a year, and I treat them as work boots, so they get things dropped on them, I sit on the floor and crush them side-down for long stretches, et c. I also wore them up a couple mountain trails in the Appalachians maybe three years back, one a pretty damn long and high-elevation-change trail (do not do this, they are heavy as fuck compared to any modern hiking boot or, especially, shoe, it was a very bad idea) which beat them up plenty. "Camp mocs", chukkas, and loafers have replaced them for everyday wear, for me, but that first pair of IRs still see some of my hardest-wearing days, probably 20-30 days a year. Given the rate of wear for the ~2 years when I wore them very heavily, I'd say I could have gotten 5-8 years without babying them a bit (with a re-soling around year 4, probably). With my current usage pattern I expect they'll last about 20, with a re-soling at some point. If a person used shitty work boots for the really rough days to avoid abusing the expensive boots, and maybe kept some purpose-specific shoes for things like snow, heavy rainy weather (duck boots in both cases, perhaps), or hiking (god, just get a modern hiking shoe or boot, leather shoes are so heavy), 10 years of ~50%-of-days wear is very possible out of that boot style, I'd say. That may even be on the low side.