In case you haven't heard, Reese Witherspoon is in a movie called WILD that has a retro backpacking theme. In the movie, the main character wears old school hiking boots that were SOOOooooo popular from mid 1970's to early 1980's.
The best like Vasque, Reichle, Herman Survivors had thick vibram soles, single piece molded leather, welt stitching, and the obligatory red laces. Beautiful and functional.... and heavy as hardwood logs.
Danner is producing a repop of the old style boots. They aren't cheap at around $200, but good boots were never cheap.
Of course, back in the day, I had a nice pair of hiking boots and wore them out only after thousands of miles of hiking and decades of use. I appreciated that I could walk on sharp rocks and through swamps and clank my ankles against boulders and my feet were always protected.
After that, I followed the softer, lightweight trends in boots until finally, "boots" became a lot more like tennis sports shoes than the leather stompers I grew up with.
Recently, I returned to the old style boot with Vibram soles and welt stitching and single piece high quality upper leather. I LOVE THEM. If you can deal with the weight and the cost, treat yourself to a nice pair - you might have to buy used to get a really excellent pair.
What trends are you guys seeing? Are the old style hiking boots worth revisiting?
The best like Vasque, Reichle, Herman Survivors had thick vibram soles, single piece molded leather, welt stitching, and the obligatory red laces. Beautiful and functional.... and heavy as hardwood logs.
Danner is producing a repop of the old style boots. They aren't cheap at around $200, but good boots were never cheap.
Of course, back in the day, I had a nice pair of hiking boots and wore them out only after thousands of miles of hiking and decades of use. I appreciated that I could walk on sharp rocks and through swamps and clank my ankles against boulders and my feet were always protected.
After that, I followed the softer, lightweight trends in boots until finally, "boots" became a lot more like tennis sports shoes than the leather stompers I grew up with.
Recently, I returned to the old style boot with Vibram soles and welt stitching and single piece high quality upper leather. I LOVE THEM. If you can deal with the weight and the cost, treat yourself to a nice pair - you might have to buy used to get a really excellent pair.
What trends are you guys seeing? Are the old style hiking boots worth revisiting?
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