The men's dress style thread..

[Accy cyclist]

Unless they've improved the durability of the soles since I wore them in the 70s then £179 is a p1ss take. Great looking boots, super comfortable and an iconic brand and image, but the soles and heels wore out in no time and were unrepairable. They were also deadly in rain, snow or ice when the treads had gone smooth.

The soles on the Doc Martens I had seemed more plastic than rubber. As we know, plastic doesn't grip nearly half as good as rubber does! Not only shoe wise, but ferrul wise on walking sticks, as I've used plastic 'rubber' bung/end walking sticks and gone flying when I expected the thing to grip the floor, not slide along it!

 

[Drago]

Unless they've improved the durability of the soles since I wore them in the 70s then £179 is a p1ss take. Great looking boots, super comfortable and an iconic brand and image, but the soles and heels wore out in no time and were unrepairable. They were also deadly in rain, snow or ice when the treads had gone smooth.

Doc Martens air wair soles/heels are repairable.

 

[DRM]

Doc Martens air wair soles/heels are repairable.

I seem to recall it involved a hot knife to weld the split together, and a decent cobbler could get replacement soles to stitch on to replace worn out ones

 

[Shortfall]

Doc Martens air wair soles/heels are repairable.

Ok I'll rephrase that. I wasn't aware that they were repairable, but I suspect the fact that because we all used to get our leather brogues soled and heeled and none of us bothered getting our Air Wears done was probably because it wasn't economically worth it. They were significantly less than £179 a pair though, even accounting for inflation. I might be wrong of course.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I seem to recall it involved a hot knife to weld the split together, and a decent cobbler could get replacement soles to stitch on to replace worn out ones

Those Solovair boots and shoes are Goodyear Welted, so by rights the soles can be replaced when they wear out.🤔

 

[Drago]

Ok I'll rephrase that. I wasn't aware that they were repairable, but I suspect the fact that because we all used to get our leather brogues soled and heeled and none of us bothered getting our Air Wears done was probably because it wasn't economically worth it. They were significantly less than £179 a pair though, even accounting for inflation. I might be wrong of course.

Well, I say theyre repairable. They used to be BITD, but finding so where to do the job in 2026 is a different matter entirely.

Edit - Appaeently Timpsons can do it.

 

[DRM]

Ok I'll rephrase that. I wasn't aware that they were repairable, but I suspect the fact that because we all used to get our leather brogues soled and heeled and none of us bothered getting our Air Wears done was probably because it wasn't economically worth it. They were significantly less than £179 a pair though, even accounting for inflation. I might be wrong of course.

If my memory is not playing tricks, I seem to think in 1980 Doc's were about £20 ish, the modern cost of £179 would be £41.35 in 1980, so yes the price is extracting the urine somewhat.
Edit: Repairing a split in the sole of your DM's also involved not getting caught by your mum, or giving the game away by getting a burn on your hand, so you got caught by your mum ruining the cutlery!

 

[Drago]

If my memory is not playing tricks, I seem to think in 1980 Doc's were about £20 ish, the modern cost of £179 would be £41.35 in 1980, so yes the price is extracting the urine somewhat.

And thats for the normal stuff thats now made abroad.

The premium Made in England line boots are £220!

 

[Webbo2]

It’s probably par for the course these days. Cycling shoes can be over £300 these days, what were they in the 1980’s £25ish.

 

[Drago]

Greedflation at work.