need a boot upgrade, ideas?

[Erbswurst]

But the worst stuff you surely can order from Steinkogler.

I guess if you tell him, that you want a pair of boots for the rest of your life, he will sell it to you.
You pay once round about 600 € for ultra heavy boots in your personal measures, and you never have to enter a shoemakers shop any more.

My father had shoes like that. He bought them as a student. When he died, unfortunately I couldn't find the left one. The right one was as good as new.

Off course! He had used it only for 50 years!

;0)

 

[Erbswurst]

1600g the pair, elegant, expensive, very high quality. Town, flat country, light hills.

http://www.jagd-schuhe.de/wanderstiefel/andechs/

 

[Erbswurst]

Important is, that all this boots are made with very few seams.

They are made from one piece of leather if they are expensive.

That is very different to all this cheap dog walking stuff other factories offer us.

But if you look through the Meindl offers, you can find that cheap dog walking stuff too. And it costs nearly the same money like the good stuff.
They serve the informed client, but they take the money from the idiots too, no problem!
Vôlkl sells cheap glued hunting boots too.

Only Trabert, Geiger and Steinkogler concentrate mainly in double stiched quality.

Yes, and Hanwag?
No Idea what they do in Croatia.
May be OK, may be not. Costs the same as good stuff. Why did they go to Croatia after decades of quality production in Germany?
To make more money I guess.

I recommend boots that are double stiched in Austria or Germany: Steinkogler, Geiger, Trabert, Völkl and Meindl.

 

[Erbswurst]

So, I called the Austrian surplus shop and I spoke with the boss.

That boot is double stiched:

http://army-warehouse.com/10-servicecard-artikel/197-bh-feldschuhe-i-leicht-feldstiefel-neu.html

That boot is heavy high quality stuff, made in Austria by several traditional shoemakers.

You can get here a NEW double stiched high quality mountain boot for 160,-€
That is an incredible good offer!

He told me, that very similar older models of this boot he sells from time to time, when he gets them from the Austrian Army used. HE SELLS BOOTS THAT HAD BEEN MADE IN THE YEARS AROUND 1960, and they most times are still in usable conditions.

I don't know where else I could buy this quality for this incredible low price!

He told me, that he simply buys and sells a lot of them, nothing wrong with them.

I guess, I will buy them next autumn.

This different boot below isn't double stiched. It is made in a bit lower quality way to make it, because that is lighter and more flexible. It is single stiched. That's flexible but not absolutely bomb proof.
But it's lighter, more flexible and so the more comfortable option for long marches in flat country.

http://army-warehouse.com/10-servicecard-artikel/118-bh-feldschuhe-i-leicht-feldstiefel-neu.html

I guess, that's a very good offer too.
140,-€ for NEW boots, light model.

Austrian Soldiers get the light one and the heavy one. Originally they are meant for mountains the heavy one, for flat country the light one.

But he told me, that in the end it is a question of personal choice, what Austrian soldiers use in flat country.
One prefers the lighter one, one marches next to him in the heavier one.

In difficult mountain areas the heavy ones are recommended. They can be used with spikes too.

(I am not sure, if the heavy model still can be used with ski with the old binding, because I forgot to ask it.
In the 60ies similar boots were used with ski too, cross country and alpine down hill. But yes, used by Austrians who usually learn skiing before they learn speaking or walking! Nothing for beginners in my opinion.)

 

[Erbswurst]

WARNING

The guy from the shop told me, that the Austrian army currently gives out a new, different boot to the soldiers.
(I have no idea, how it looks like.)

They made a heavy construction or production fault. It was constructed to last for only six month in the ground service. But some recruits needed 3 pairs in only six weeks!

I guess, we will find that rubbish very soon in the unserious surplus shops!

The soldiers currently privately buy the classic models I recommended to you in his shop, and he hears the funny stories every day.

Boots, that lasts for two weeks!
A fantastic Idea!
I guess, the guy who decided to order them tested them well in his office!

;0)

 

[Broch]

I will also recommend Scarpa - especially the SL. I have been using them for well over 30 years (not the same boots mind ) and they have never come apart at any seam or the welt. They fit me like the proverbial glove. But everyone's feet are different and you really need to try a number of makes on to be sure.

The SL may be a little stiff if you're not doing any mountain work but there are more 'walkers' versions available.

Sorry Erbswurst but I have always found Italian boots to be just as long lasting at a better price point (usually).

 

[Erbswurst]

Yes, Scarpa and La Sportiva are well known quality stuff, so far I am informed.

Shoes made in Italy usually are good, no question. I had a lot of civil italian shoes in very good qualities.

I'm not sure, but I think, one of them sits in Süd Tyrol. More or less Austrian too. But everywhere in Italy they have fantastic good shoemakers.

I do not mean, that the German or Austrian brand is important. If you buy a glued Meindl or a glued Hanwag or whatever, you do not buy a boot that is handcrafted in Austria or Germany.
Asian production is Asian production, it doesn't matter, what they printed on it.

And it doesn't matter if Steinkogler hired perhaps a guy from Tanzania to work with his guys in his production in Austria.

Important is in my opinion the double stiched way to make it! And that was created and is tradition in Austria and Germany.

Hanwag, probably double stiched in Croatia can be good, if the leather is good. I don't know it.
My german made, double stiched Hanwag lasted 20 years. But they don't produce any more in Germany. I have no idea, if that is relevant for the quality or not.

I just can recommend, what I know.
Surely they have very good shoemakers in Amerika and Australia. But I don't know them.

But back to your italian boots: You used several pairs of them in 30 years, if I understand you right. My father used for more than 40 years one and the same pair of double stiched German hiking boots. Made more or less like the Austrian Army heavy boots, but lower, or the Steinkogler civil heavy mountain boots.
Do you see the difference?
Yours lasted 10 or 15 years. That's good!
But heavy double stiched boots last 20 to 50 years. That is better, if we talk about quality.

What is more comfortable to somebody can be another question.


Something which is also very good is the original French army boot. But it's not so easy to buy them.
Once I found them and had no money, when I came back next year, the shop was sold and the idiot who bought it had send the boots back to the factory.

Really disappointing!

 

[Erbswurst]

Oh, here is the French original.

The closed tongue is as high as the laces go, so it's more or less a low boot with attached gaiters.
It's often warm in France!

https://www.surplus-lemarsouin.com/chaussures-pieds/rangers-arme-francaise-bm65-graine-157.html

 

[GuestD]

Important is, that all this boots are made with very few seams.

Agreed, wear a pair of Hoggs Braemasters, if you're brave enough. I did for over 40 years at work.

 

[Erbswurst]

How long do they last?
In which job?

Are they made in Britain?

Is it uncomfortable to walk around with a sole like that? Why do they look like this?

 

[GuestD]

How long do they last?
In which job?

Are they made in Britain?

Is it uncomfortable to walk around with a sole like that? Why do they look like this?

Depending on how much abuse, I had 15 years out of one pair, with a couple.of re-soles. (I always had two in rotation). Mine were made in Scotland. (Fife, and horse hide ones in Dumfries). The only boots that would stand up to operating and repairing plant in isolated wooded areas, they were also a favourite of hill shepherds.
They are very comfortable once broken in. They are called "Braemasters" for walking up Braes; (a brae is Scots for a steep bank or hillside). You can still get them here;

https://www.rufflander.co.uk/shop/heritage-footwear/268r-hill-boots/

They are heavy compared to modern boots. The originals had full bellows tongues, and to waterproof them we used to fill them up with a 50/50 mix ofdripping and hoof oil, and hang them from the inside shed roof. Then they would be rotated with a second pair every few months.

 

[Erbswurst]

A very interesting shop!

What do you think about this here?

https://www.rufflander.co.uk/shop/heritage-footwear/107f-brown-zug-grain-field-boot/

 

[Erbswurst]

Or that?

https://www.rufflander.co.uk/shop/heritage-footwear/78tc-traditional-work-boot/

 

[GuestD]

A very interesting shop!

What do you think about this here?

https://www.rufflander.co.uk/shop/heritage-footwear/107f-brown-zug-grain-field-boot/

They will be fine. I also have a pair of these, which are a very good traditional field boot.
https://www.fifecountry.co.uk/footwear/mens/handmade-boots/rannoch-veldtschoen-boot-0668

 

[Erbswurst]

Do I understand it right, that boots like this were used in the British army?
Looking very elegant. Our Generals perhaps used shoes like that in the office, but nobody in the field.

Germans used boots more looking like that here, with foot wraps instead of (or additional to) woolen socks for the better fit.

https://www.vitalinus.de/jagdstiefel/nggallery/image/trabert-lederstiefel-becherling

https://www.alpine-boots.com/armeeschuhe/schaftstiefel/

How long do your field boots last?

 

[snappingturtle]

British army karrimor's and Meindl's desert boots, both pretty good as it my Meindl super perfekt's, I have hiked meadow ,moor and hill even done some climbing in them considered heavy and do cost some but very enduring.

 

[Nomad64]

But heavy double stiched boots last 20 to 50 years. That is better, if we talk about quality.

What is more comfortable to somebody can be another question!

Ensuring the boot is comfortable and suitable for both the user and intended terrain should be the starting point - boots will last indefinitely if they are too heavy, uncomfortable or otherwise unsuitable for what the OP intends doing with them - which he doesn’t seem to have explained.

I’m not sure how many rows of stitching on them but these boots will (un)comfortably last several centuries - some of them (the best ones?) are even made in Germany!

http://www.divingheritage.com/equipment_divers-bootskern.htm

 

[Wayland]

Another vote for Altbergs from me.

Best boots I have ever worn.

 

[GuestD]

How long do your field boots last?

I don't know yet, they haven't had that much wear. You could try a pair of. "Purdey's".
https://www.purdey.com/mens-rough-out-nubuck-twin-strap-boots

 

[Erbswurst]

Oh!
That's a good offer!

Even if they should last only two years, that would be only round about 1 £ per day!

That's cheaper than bread!

;0)

I didn't know that British boots look more elegant than similar French ones.

Chapeau !