Reply With QuoteHe cuts a pair apart on a later video. Confirms they are Goodyear welted, corrects his mistake. Good luck to him.Originally Posted by noTAGlove
The pain of breaking in shoes is not exclusively related to quality IMO.
Breaking in a pair of Red Wings nearly killed me, but once they were broken in they where like gloves on my feet.
Loakes have also caused me a bit of bother in the past until they are broken in.
He cuts a pair apart on a later video. Confirms they are Goodyear welted, corrects his mistake. Good luck to him.
I can see the welt in his first video. I can spot the welt because I have owned a lot of shoes with them.
I’m surprised as an expert he needed to cut the boot open to work that one out.
Does posting videos on YouTube make you an expert?
Clearly not.
I found that by the time I had (almost) broken in my Dr Martens they were worn on the sole to the stage where I would normally throw them away. Perhaps I would have had better luck with the made in England boots, rather than my made in Vietnam boots. I think that it is sad that Dr Martens have taken what was a good boot and cheapened in to make a bit of extra money. It was all about using cheaper materials and labour instead of maintaining the same quality, but this is often a route taken by companies that off-shore, bitten by the profit bug. They have thrown away a good reputation, and as was said by a previous poster, these are now fashion quality boots. At least Dr Martens have seen the error of their ways, and that is proven by them gaining greater control of the supply chain, but that reputation will take some time to regain, and it looks like it may have been lost for good for those of us that wore DMs in the 70s and 80s as we either move away from the style completely or move to what seems to be the superior Solovair.
All outsoles, wherever they are made, are made with the exact same ingredients and hardness.
DM's were 80 million in debt when the decision was made to move manufacturing to the Far East. The company had gone from 27 UK factories in 1996 down to two (Nene Park in Northampton and Picks in Whetstone, Leicester) in 2002
They've just announced their biggest YTD, both in profit and units sold.
The age demographic hasn't changed much in five decades.
Last edited by Jon Kenney; 5th February 2022 at 15:08.
My Loake boot brogues and Chelsea boots were good to go from the off.
I've never had to break in boots or shoes.
Merrell walking boots and shoes have been up and down with their sizing over the years though.
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My wife's had the exact same experience re tears and blisters and that's after a few short walks.
I bought some DM brogues about 7 or 8 years ago and have no trouble but my DM work steelies were rubbish and I left them in my locker when I took VR at xmas.
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I wore DM’s at school in the early 80s, and have been wearing them daily for about the last 10 years - mainly 1461 shoes, which have taken me around the world in comfort a few times.
In the 10 years since rediscovering them, I’ve only had cause to contact Customer Service once, and that was when the edge of the sole of one of my pairs started to split. The shoes were a couple of years old, and I was looking for a recommendation to get them repaired. DM just sent me a brand new replacement pair without question. Excellent customer service.
As regards the quality now vs back in the day, I can’t tell a difference. I’ve got pairs that are 10 years old, and they look pretty much like new.
And from that I came across Devon Reviewer who seems to have some interesting content and reviews:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HHv7TQ1HghM
@Jon - thank you for the background information. It corrects some of my false assumptions.
The UK site still accepting NHS Blue light 20% discount if anyone's interested.
Only applies to full price items I think as I only used it on insoles today.
I always wore them when they were police issue. Tramped for miles in them. They were quite warm in the freezing cold of winter.
I have some DM brown shoes for winter now, can't say they are any different currently.
Got some Made in England DMs a couple of years ago after a long time without. I tried some of the Chinese made ones - felt like cheap cardboard.
The Made in England ones seem almost identical to the pair I had from age 17 to 40 in terms of quality, fit, leather, etc.
They aren’t cheap though!
I picked up a NOS pair of made in England boots on ebay which are also excellent.
I looked at Solovair but they were the same price that I paid for the DMs and I fancied the originals. Maybe next time.
However, if you are looking for a great quality pair of boots that look and feel like Docs but at a fraction of the price - try Grinders Cedric.
I bought a pair for £60 (when made in England DMs were £150) and, in terms of quality, there is little to nothing in it - in my non-expert opinion at least. The leather seems of similar quality and thickness, the boots were comfortable from day 1, the soles wear at least as well, and they look as good as or better than the Docs after a couple of years each.
Cheers,
MarkC
Well me and Mrs John went out for a bit of a gentle ride yesterday and I thought, let’s have a nose at the DM factory shop. The queue was out the door and round the corner and I wasn’t that bothered, so we carried on a bit and 5 minutes round the corner of course is the NPS/Solovair factory and shop. The shop sells full price stuff at 10% off web prices and has an outlet shop of seconds at £70 or £80 depending on why you buy.
Ended up going back in the car and came home with a pair of seconds ‘Astronaut’ boots. There was a lot of choice and I came very close to bringing an 8 hole pair with me as well.
I got my first pair of DMs in ‘93 as a kid much to my mother’s seemingly eternal disappointment. They might have been 10 hole - I remember the top was untrimmed like the 1460 and they cost about £35.
Over the next few years I had at least 2 pairs of 1460s in black, a brown pair, a brown pair I liberated from my cousin, and 3 or 4 pairs of 1461 shoes.
And that was it - I probably didn’t wear another pair between about 2000 and more recently. I’ve tried them on over and over and they never seem to fit right. I’ve got a pair of Cabrillos that I bought a couple of years ago and they’re a full size smaller than I’d normally buy. I can’t seem to get a pair of 1460s to fit right.
My other half must have half a dozen pairs in various colours and some she’s never worn because they need breaking in.
I’ll see how the NPS feel in the next few days but they were really well priced considering the defect is almost unnoticeable.
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