Steel Toed Footwear

[ByMyBeard]

So, when I go to the manufacturing area at the plant, I'm required to wear steel toed boots. I don't go every day, but it will be frequent. I'm just curious what everyone's favorite pair of ST boots are. When in them, I'm mostly walking/standing on concrete indoors. I don't need water proof boots, and in fact would prefer them to not be so that they breath a little more. I'd also like the boots/shoes to look decent with a pair of khakis.

I've heard a lot of good things about Red Wings (even though I'm not a fan of that hockey team). There's a store nearby, so I could get fitted, but their website doesn't show prices. I get reimbursed some, but don't want to spend a lot of my own money (some is acceptable). If you could provide a cost on RW boots/shoes that'd be good too. Thanks.

 

[August West]

Do they have to be steel or simply safety toed?

Red Wing makes a decent boot under the WORX brand. They are cheaper. You can find them only at Red Wing retailers to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Mercer16]

Do they have to be steel or simply safety toed?

Red Wing makes decent boot under the WORX brand. They are cheaper. You can find them only at Red Wing retailers to the best of my knowledge.

I wouldn't recommend Worx boots; they're not made in the USA.

I believe that any good steel-toe boot -- any good work boot period, for that matter -- is, first and foremost, made in the USA. Red Wing offers a lot of made in USA styles, but so do Justin, Thorogood, Double H, Chippewa, Carolina, and Danner, to name a few. On most of those brands' websites, you can actually do a search for styles made in USA.

 

[LogisticEarth]

Mercer has a good list there. Red Wing, Chippewa, Carolina, Danner, Thorogood (slightly cheaper).

"Safety" toe is lighter than steel, and better in cold weather. It's usually a carbon composite toe. I recently got a composite toe on my last pair of boots, and it's a bit lighter, although not amazingly so. Based on your use of the boots, I would suggest looking into a goodyear welted/resolable pair. Treat them with Obenauf's LP and the uppers will last forever*.

Some people like myself work in environments where the uppers can get thrashed long before the sole wears out, so resoling isn't as attractive. Keep this in mind.

 

[ThomasR]

I am an industrial electrician, and I wear Redwing boots with the composite toe and dielectric soles. They are very comfortable right out of the box. The style I have what is called a "king toe" which is great for steel/safety toe boots.

 

[JaredB]

Red Wing, or Danner will never leave you with aching toes, as long as you buy them fitted right.

 

[Legion]

If you can get them, Blundstone or Redback with the elastic sides, Aussie style.

 

[Rudy Vey]

In all the years having to wear safety shoes at most of our customers, and even in some areas of my company, I found the most comfortable to wear safety shoes (with composite toe, not steel caps!!) are made by Florsheim! When you are on your feet all day and walking a lot of concrete floors or grate catwalks, these are shoes you can wear all day!
Red Wing both the Workx as well as their no-US made shoes are not good at all!!
I go through a pair in a year, the environment I work in at our customers is not easy on the shoes.

 

[ByMyBeard]

The idea for Florsheim sounds interesting as something a little different. And the prices seem reasonable. I may look into that route next time I need to update my typical office shoes. Thanks. I'll also look into the RedWings for boots as well, just because there is a retail store in my area so I can get fitted properly.

 

[dpm802]

I have a pair of RedWing composite-toed boots that I wore at work. They ran me $165 since I bought an upgraded insole. My company reimbursed me $60 and I paid $105 out-of-pocket. They are worth every penny.

My co-workers all laughed at me when I told them my shoes cost me $165. They took their $60 shoe allowance and went to Walmart and bought a $30 pair of shoes and pocketed the difference. But they were complaining about their feet hurting after 2 hours into the shift, I could work the whole day and was still raring to go.

They had to replace their shoes 2 or 3 times a year. I wore the same RedWings for 6 years until they finally wore out the soles. Later on, I bought a pair of RedWing street shoes to wear off-the-clock. They were every bit as comfortable, a bit more stylish than my work-boots, but they didn't last quite so long since the soles were made from a softer material.

You're lucky that you have a RedWing store near you. Don't buy RedWings from anywhere else, even when there is a cheaper price. RedWing stores will guarantee you get a proper fit, and they are well-schooled in choosing the right shoe for the environment you will be working in. If you get yours from a company-owned store, RedWings will give you free "Tune-Ups" for life. This includes cleaning, polishing, waterproofing, new laces, and minor repairs.

RedWing shoes are fairly expensive if you get the USA-made kind. Mine came from China and ran about half what the American equivalent would be. They were still more expensive than other brands, but I don't regret the extra cost. I got my money's worth out of them many times over, and when I need to get another pair of safety shoes, RedWing will be my first and only stop.

 

[dpm802]

At the RedWing store, various models are frequently on sale or clearance, and they offer discounts on non-sale items if you present a membership card to a Labor Union, AARP, military or other Professional Affiliation.

 

[dws]

Blundstones.

 

[yamaha0343]

I'm a Red Wing fan. If your company allows composite, that's the way to go. The Boa system is nice too.

 

[DS/B MCS]

Keen has a few different style ST boots. I enjoy mine

 

[JasonC]

I have been wearing a pair of Blundstones for over a year now. I am in a management position and don't like to wear steel toes all day long if I do not have to. They are quick on/off and that's great to me. I was having an issue finding something that was going to fit the bill and they sure do.

 

[Mapster]

I recently purchased a pair of thorogood steel toes from the weinbrenner shoe company, which are holding up very nicely, and were very comfortable out of the box. Bonus is they are made in the USA (wisconsin). I use them for warehouse and as a work boot outdoors. I went with them instead of RedWing because they are made in the US. I own the heritage 6" lace-up with lug sole.

That being said - I love my Iron Rangers, just can't wear 'em other than in the office when working.

 

[esswun]

One can still get Red Wings made in the USA but they're like twice the price of the Chinese ones.

I recently got a pair of Thorogoods from Zappos and they seemed very well made and were a fair price, made in the USA. I sent them back because I really didn't need steel toes and these were heavier than I wanted.

I ended up with some Irish Setters by Red Wing (Chinese) and they've been ok so far.

I still have a pair of Dr. Martens madein England that are probably 15 years old--maybe more--and have held up this whole time; try that with anything made today.

 

[flabajaba2213]

These are the boots that I wear for work, the redwing 2414. I work in environmental services, so I am all over the place job site wise. One day I'm outside, the next day I'm in a trash incineration plant on concrete floors, the next I'm in a power plant walking on steel grate catwalks or inside the boilers, the next I'll be inside a 500k gallon oil tank, the next I'll be inside a lab doing a decon. I love these boots, since they offer all of the features that I like (steel toe, full shank, puncture resistant, electrical resistant, oil resistant sole) and are still comfortable to wear. I can't tell you how many 30 hour shifts I've done and still be able to walk because I had proper support and ankle support. Even though they are a bit pricy, they are well worth it. I actually have 3 pairs. One pair for general work, one pair for especially dirty work like animal fat or heavy grease/PCB oil spills (used to be an all around pair, until the overboots I was wearing got stuck in 6 oil and I had to walk out in the regular pair), and one pair that I keep clean for when working in labs or customer buildings (keep the last 2 in the truck, just in case).