I got my Outdoorsman Boots about one month ago. I walk _a lot_, hours a day on all kinds of surfaces. When I noticed the flat insoles, I knew that wasn’t going to cut it, so I went out and spent $12 on some Dr. Scholl’s.
Last week when I was putting them on I noticed that the heels were worn almost through the first layer of rubber. I’m a fan of getting things repaired in a timely fashion because I know from experience that heel/sole replacement gets more expensive the more layers you go through.
When the cobbler in town looked at them, he pointed out how the edge of toes had already worn through the first layer of rubber and that there were many large chips out of the edges. The uppers are still in perfect condition, but indeed the soles were a mess. I usually wear soles down pretty quickly, say six months or so, but this is a new record. Although the soles look remarkably like Alden’s, they are rubber and not particularly long wearing rubber at that.
Anyway, the cobbler went over options with me, and I finally decided on a complete rebuild of the sole in leather with a black Vibram sole protector for traction and longer wear. After all, I walk a lot.
The new soles came to a total of $85 (I live in the Boston area, so you're mileage may vary). This brings my grand total for the boots to...
$86 - boots
$12 - Dr. Scholl’s
$85 - new soles, heel replacement etc.
-----------
$183.00
Although this is actually much more than I usually spend on a pair of shoes, I feel pretty good about the results... and they are still about half the price of a pair of new Alden’s.
I’m passing this tale along not to say Todd produces bad boots, but to share one guy’s experience. I would also like to suggest to people who buy Todd’s Outdoorsman boots _and_ plan to wear them every day to get some decent insoles and sole protectors for them right away. It will cost you an extra $30, but you’ll get a lot more wear out of them and avoid my $85 bill.
--Bill B.
I know everyone here likes pics, so I'm including a couple:
