That's not my experience. Quality on the Doc MIE is just as good or better. The last on the Doc is MUCH better. The fit on the Solovair is not so good.
@Mark Lannister the grey stitching is way more contrasting than the yellow and the solovairs have those ugly grey edges on the leather that arent dyed black, they look very plastic in comparison.
I agree. I just got my first pair of Solovair boots and everything is superior: the support, leather, sole, NO fit problems, no break in problems, and the shape is much more reminiscient of what I (as an American) imagine of a true English gum-sole working class boot (I know that’s subjective). I love my DM MIE, but solovair is just a much better boot. It’s thst simple.
I had a pair of the Maid in China steel toed Docs about 4 years ago. I was helping a friend move, the glue or binding on the heel came loose (unknown to me!). I was going backwards down som stairs and the heel caught, I fell, shattered my wrist, banged the crap out of my elbow... 5 surgeries later (4 for the wrist, one for the elbow) and I’m just now getting back to normal. Ive had several of the Made in England’s and have never had the heel separate like that. Needless to say I’ll never buy the Made in China ones again!
I've had Doc Martens for years. I have a pair that's over 15 years old still made in the UK. I also have a 10 year old pair made in China. The two were of identical quality. However I bought a new pair a year ago and they are already falling apart. So sad to see this great company turn to garbage.
@@MsJosh917 True and the workmanship is China used to be top notch... Until recently. However the English made and For Life lines are probably still great. Though I don't think that make safety toe boots. I'm just sad about what happened to the brand in general
@@MsJosh917 Yes and no. When the surroundings differ the quality is going to differ. Like eg the humidity in the area. When you store materials in eg a more humid area they're going to behave differently from the ones you store in a drier area. Depending on the material drier can be better or worse. There are a lot of factors that differ and thus have an impact on the result
It's the nature of capitalism they have to keep growing if they don't they will have to save money and if it doesn't turn around it will be sold or they will run it to the ground pull out as much capital as they can and invest somewhere else and start over.
@@nicodabastard Not exactly, the production move to Asia was to maximise profit by laying off expensive skilled craftsmen in the UK. If it was about long-term sustainable growth then they would've expanded their production in the UK. Solovair will outlast Doc Martens because their owner has a long-term strategy and isn't driven by greed
I'm old enough to have wore DMs in the early 80's and have witnessed firsthand the drop in quality since the mid late 90's. I now own both MiE and Solovair and have to say Solovair are the closet thing to the originals, maybe that's because that's what they are!. Still both great boots but the price is now getting out of hand. Back before they became trendy the retail price for DMs remained the same for years. And that price £19.99. Shocking. It will be interesting to see what the long term reviews tell.
Having only ever purchased one pair of the boots, can’t recall what they were other than lace ups in tan hide, I absolutely had no problems and literally wore them out. Both the sole and then the upper were worn through so these did everything required. Bought in Ealing 1978
Solovairs also have a wooden shank, doc martens do not. Means you will be more comfortable in solos after being on your feet for extended periods of time than the docs
Looks like Docs has now scrapped the Hard Life collection as well, slashed the price from $160 to $96 and only available in Men's sz 14. In recent months they've been putting out colored "leather" 1460s (I hesitate to even call them a 1460, I guess they resemble what that boot used to be anyway) that I think are meant to appeal to people who want the look of the unique colored Docs that were iconic in the 80s (blues, reds, greens, yellows etc.) but these things can barely be called leather, it's like some sort of press-board composite garbage they're selling for $150.
66 Rockwell for the Solovairs? That's harder than the M4 steel of my Benchmade Contego.!! My For Life DM's which I bought on your recommendation are still going strong. No complaints at all. The Made In England DM's are so much more handsome than the Solovairs (which look like Dickies Workwear made them). The M.I.E. DM's are far more than just boots to those who wear them. They represent a lifestyle choice. Solovair are just...boots. Personally, I'd rather spend the extra on the M.I.E. DM's with a slightly shorter (sole) lifespan.
Yep, I must confess I may have got this a bit wrong www.smooth-on.com/page/durometer-shore-hardness-scale/ Interestingly the idea for testing durometer came from memories of skateboard wheels as a kid!
Just awaiting my new pair on Dr. M’ s Chelsea boots and then came across this video that is very interesting. I like the voice, well clearly spoken description, good pace to the piece and no silly background music ( or back to front baseball caps ) Well done you
As an American I used to wear Dr martens when I was a young punk rocker then they went Chinese. I have had tons of them 3 eye bump toe steel caps, 14 eye, 8 eye in Black blue and oxblood, 3 eye in blue purple cherry black, 12 eye steel cap cherry red. Finally the moral of my story not being English I switched to a boot make in my Homeland. Cochran paratroopers with lug soles and Carolina tanker boots with straps instead of laces and a lug soles, and Belleville rough out usgi boots for field work. The only downfall is that the paratroopers only really come in black and brown which I polish with oxblood to give them a slight hue. They aren't as trendy as Dr Marten boots but to me it's cheaper to wear an American boot than a Chinese doc let alone an English boot. Cheers for keeping your boots English whilst I keep mine American; thing is we both give enough of a shit to take pride in the boots we wear. Just one more thing, can you get your docs resoled? I am on the 2nd set of vibram lugs on my tankers and not sure if you can or if it is even worth it to resole. Thanks for hearing me out
I thought solovair’s were of better quality so I bought 2 pairs of 11eye boots. Oxblood and black. After a year the soles wore out like docs, but the worst was the heels leather fall down and touch the sole... no support at all. they have completely different shape too. They don’t look like docs.
I bought a pair of Dr Marten Chelsea boots a few years ago. Lasted a few wears before the sole split, to my shock. Have recently bought a pair of Solovair boots and shoes. Amazing quality.
The only problem I've experienced with Solovair is that the rubber soles detach from the welted on rubber. I do however believe that this was due to a manufacturing error and a miss during quality control, as I've only had this problem with one boot out of two pairs. So to all of you who buy Solovair, check them thouroughly when you recieve them for misses in manufacturing.
I just ordered a pair of solovairs, can’t wait to see what they’re like. I owned several pairs of docs from the late 80s/early 90s. Even then I had problems with the insole of them.
I’ll be interested to see the long term wear results. I do not believe that hardness is a tell tale sign of how a material will erode, however I agree in the guess that the Solovair and MEI will be longer wearing then the outsourced DMs. The Solovair thread pattern looks quite superior to me. Your measurement of hardness is an interesting thing though. Love your comparisons and reviews! Many of us appreciate them. Keep it up 😎
Please reassure Mrs DR that we are super grateful for the extra level of ‘science’. I can’t wait for your 6month update on the Solovairs, I bought mine after watching your videos and I love them
I completely agree that Doc Martens outside of the UK are of laughable quality but from personally owning both black Made in England 1460s and Black Solovair Eight Eye Debry Boots, that the MIE just look so much sexier and sleeker, especially with the exposed leather on the Made in Enlands. Something about the Solovair boot is just clunkier and just not as attractive (to me). Though I am certainly not critiquing the Solovair material quality. However, the Doc Marten MIE shape is just more aesthetically pleasing. It's difficult to explain. Like, I feel like the shape of a Solovair 8 Eye is more akin to a Made in China Doc, just like clunkier in the toe and ankle. Where the MIE is more formed to the ankle and foot? It just looks so much sleeker to me and has that classic tighter shape I feel like you see in old photos of people wearing Docs in the 80s. What I do love about the Solovair is the white stitching and the green tag. People interested in Doc Martens definitely take notice when they see they arent Docs but are actually Solovair! "Hey what kind of boots are those, are those Doc Martens?" Thank you for this video, as a DM fanboy I am pleased someone has finally made an almost 20 minute video dedicated to this topic haha.
If you want either pair to last I'd recommend a liberal dose of your favorite leather conditioner, Altberg's leder Gris for example. Oddly enough My Solovair 11 holes in rub off and Burgundy 6 holes do not use corrected leather or have piping at the top, only the 8 hole standard
You're cool! Thanks for the video, I was looking for dr.Martens info since I wanted to get them but thanks to you I now know there's also Solovair 🤔 will look into it further
worn docs since 82 , pretty muchnevery day for bouy 15 years solid now ,only ever got a year or so before leather went in creases just changed to solovair for quality
Solovair produced DMs as late as the 90s I believe and continued to produce their own boots with the iconic DM yellow stitching until they were given a cease and desist order where they switched to the silver they use today. None of this would make any sense if they were manufacturing Doc Martin MIEs in their factory. Northamptonshire is known for it's history of shoemaking. There are several factories in that same area from what I understand
Since I saw so many Videos prasing the Solovair Boots I decided to buy them, they are my first Boots with laces and so far the quality is perfect, but the Boots realy hurt on top of my feet. I'm guessing it is because there is the stich that combines the tongue of the boot with the Rest, has anyone had similar experiences and did the pain Go away? Cheers
I prefer the ridges. When I was a kid in the 70's I believed that when they were worn down you could peel off a layer of the sole (hence the ridges). A bit strange I know.
I inquired with Solovair customer services and got this regarding the leather in their 11 eye derby with the unfinished edge and their 8 eye with the piping around the top: "We use exactly the same leather for both styles. The 8 eye does have binding around the leg but the 11 eye is ‘raw’." So that should help clarify if they have different grain leather for their different eye models. I will be purchasing Solovair soon but will keep watching here for feedback on the durability testing over time. Thanks again for the great review.
Looks like to avoid copyright, they have modified the sole design by 30% as a legal requirement. Welt is different, tread, stitch etc... Probably have the lines as DM but have them scoured or roughed down.... with the lines maybe they can sell elsewhere.... with a changed sole plug with the brand. They are all made in Northampton in UK, from same sole supplier I guess.
Solovairs used to have yellow stitching I heard the change originally happened because Dr Martens patented use of yellow stitching in the USA. At that point Solovair made grey for the USA and yellow for other places. Possibly they decided it just made more sense to use it for all stock or maybe Dr Martens got more patent trolling done across the world.
Indeed, that’s correct. In fact, I bought one of the last produced pair of Oxford shoes, with the trademark yellow welt stitching. They are still NIB, because I can’t get myself to wear them 😄
fantastic video which has introduced me to "rockwell" units for hardness (I can add this to the vickers scale which i learnt about watch cases) You wife may be right!
Erm... I now realise my error, it seems like the Shore A Durometer is its own measure www.smooth-on.com/page/durometer-shore-hardness-scale/ I have always wanted a Spyderco Endura in ZDP-189! Not sure if it is still deemed to be the magical super steel it was a few years back or if something else has come along?
I have two pairs of DM MIE 1461s, a very old Vintage pair and a new Abandon pair, and my girlfriend has a pair of Soloviar ‘Premier’ 6-Eyelet boots. The leather on her boots is very high quality full-grain leather that’s much softer and easier to break in than the quilon leather on my 1461s, but I actually prefer the oiled leather on my new Abandon, comfortable off the box and did not need breaking in. Just as a note, sole hardness has nothing to do with quality, the difference between the English-made and Asian-made PVC soles will be mainly due to quality of raw materials and manufacturing. The main difference between them though is that Solovairs are constructed with a standard goodyear-welted sole construction, so any decent cobbler anywhere can resole them, whereas DM soles are moulded into the boot/shoe so they are very difficult to resole. As far as sole wear, my girlfriend’s Solovairs wear more quickly than my new DMs imo, considering that I am much heavier the soles on my new DMs seem to wear less quickly. But her boots have a different sole than the standard Solovairs so not sure if they are exactly the same.
Pretty sure both have a PVC welt which the outer sole unit is fused to. There's a shoe repairers in England (apart from the Solovair/ Dr Martens factory) which can remove the old sole and put on a new one, but I'm not sure about the rest of the world.
I think they are slightly, and I agree hardness is not definitive... although in rubbers chosen for soles I think a good indicator; it has certainly backed up some of may subjective thoughts on the variation of white christie soles used by thorogood, red wing and others
@@DevonReviewer Have you tried any DM boots with the Commando type sole? The tread is much thicker on those and I'm pretty sure you'd get more miles out of them before the sole had worn smooth. Occasionally they do a MIE style with commando sole www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/p/boots-wax-commander-1460-made-in-england
I never tried the new made in England Docs, but I have experience with the asian ones (3 pairs, never again): the leather quality is abysmal - usually the layers seperate or it develops cracks within months, not what i was used to see in the old ones - these shoes are too expensive for such issues. It might the quality of the material they buy or the storage within the facory, ...
not made in the same factory, (Martens where made at Solovair back far in the past under a license until Martens started producing there own shoes, after that solovair continued making there own shoes) The leather of the solovair shoes is thicker and better leather to. the solovair shoes have a weld making resoling possible. The new Martens both English and Chinese don't have a weld making resoling much harder, and since the leather is worst quality its not advised to do so. where silver stitching on the Solovair has a function of holding the weld which holds the inner padding. making a more durable connection with the soul itself. the Martens do not have this. everything from the bottom yellow stitches (that don't have a function only cosmetic thing) to the sole is glued and burned on. the shoe itself is of course stitched. if you have old martens the sole is replaceable. those where made till 1999. from 2000 and up, the production costs where lowered, on both the English ones and the Chinese ones. and both don't differ that much sadly, only a shady higher price with little less quality improvement. so if you want durable higher quality shoes with a option to replace sole, thicker leather, better stitching etc. buy Solovair. if you want awesome color scheme shoes, and don't mind buying new ones after 2 a 3 years. buy Martens. they aint bad shoes, but not as good as Solovair.
@@mrmike6805 The fluffy layer of leather is the "meat" side, cheaper and less compact leather, a.k.a. "genuine" leather (yeah, marketing). The highest quality, denser leather is the top layer, the "fur" side, a.k.a. full grain, and will show much more little defaults due to the animal life, and will be far from fluffy. And between the two is the top grain, which is still really high quality.
The Dublin ones are probably the best ones that dm make now, but I wore them from the early 80s and I have to say that the quality is not as good as far as the regular ones in shoe shops go are, if you want the best quality one and you want dms go for the made in England Dublin boots
Hey! Can you help me to choose the size of my future Solovair?😅 From the popular shoes I wear for example Converse Chuck Taylor All Star - my size is US 9.5 MEN (free comfortable fit, about 1 cm of free space in front). Most recently, I bought a Dr. Martens 1490 (regular, not Made in England) in the size of US 10 MEN (on the advice of their online support, although I sent them the size of my other shoes, foot length, etc.). They were very large for me and I had to return them. Now I want to buy a Solovair Black Hi-Shine 8 Eye Derby, but I'm not sure what size to choose. I think my size is probably US 9.5 or 9, but I can't decide. According to the instructions on their website, I should choose 9.5, because the length of my foot in the sock is 26.7-27 cm (each time a bit different, because it is impossible to measure perfectly). In their instructions, they recommend adding 7-8mm to this and choosing the nearest larger size (26.7~27 + 0.7 = 27.4~27.7cm), which corresponds to the size of the US 9.5. But the problem is that I don't know what size Dr. Martens and Solovair have in relation to. If they're the same, I think I need to take US 9, but according to their instructions - I need US 9.5. What do you think? P.S. It's also complicated by the fact that I live in Ukraine, where the official free delivery has recently been canceled, so I will have to order them through an intermediary company, which is quite expensive + I will have to pay tax. If we assume that I will have to return them back, then delivery to me through an intermediary + tax + return delivery = almost the full cost of new shoes, so it is not reasonable to return them and I need to guess the size from the first try. P.P.S. Sorry about my terrible English:)
Thanks for the video. Unfortunately, hardness does not equate to durability. At least, not directly. Wear is the key, definitely. Unfortunately, the only good method of testing this on the bench is destructive, and not too practical unless you want to write off three sets of boots!
How would you test in a lab bench setting? I am not planning to do so but would be interested in a suggested methodology? Belt sander? I agree hardness is not definitive... although in rubbers chosen for soles I think a good indicator; it has certainly backed up some of may subjective thoughts on the variation of white christie soles used by thorogood, red wing and others
@@DevonReviewer I think that it's as good as we can get without destructive testing or as you are doing, letting time tell. I destroy my DM soles with uneven wear (knee issues) so I am thinking the contact patch area might be more critical than hardness, at least in my case. The most disappointing aspect of being a DM owner is developing a patina, only to wear the soles out! Like I say, I think your approach is as good as can be hoped for. I look forward to your observations.
So basically what we're all saying is we'd all love to have the docs leather, attractive look and design, yellow stitching and what the name carries, but with solovair's sole, wouldn't that be great
@@DevonReviewer I have the mie in black and oxblood, I've worn the blacks almost every day for a month and if I'm honest its the leather I'm worried about, I've wonder balsamed and applied dubbin to them about 4 times since I've had them and if I'm honest they look quite dull and worn, the leather isnt as amazing as I'd hoped it would be, the sole is lasting well-ish, nothing amazing
There are different Rockwell scales for different types of materials they all still measure on something like a 0-100 scale. Your knife is generally tested with the Rockwell C scale, plastic products are normally tested on the Rockwell E, L or M scale.
The only way I have found to fic the tightness problem in the toe box is to take a ball been hammer and aggressively massage the inside, stretching the sides by working the hammer towards the front of the toe.
I can’t argue against the quality of the Solovair, but I’m not a fan of the bulky look. Plus, they will just never have the allure of DM’s. Just far too much history and culture attached to DM’s I’m afraid.
Agreed. Seems a bit annoying to say. But if you wear solovair you won’t have anybody notice. Kinda of a “if you know, you know”. While docs are INSTANTLY recognizable
Hello, do you wear size 8 on both dr martens and solivair? I am asking because I want to buy online made in England drMartens and I want to buy the correct size. I wear both on Chinese dr martens and English Solovairs UK size 8. Should I buy size 8 made in England docs too?
Bought a pair of 8 hole made in Thailand DMs about 10 years ago - unwearable and dreadful quality. Bought Solovair 8s about five years ago (even had yellow stitching back then), and much more like old school DMs. DMs Made In England range is an admission the vast majority of their non-UK output is crap. Solovair arguably the soul (forgive the pun) of Northampton DMs anyway, so no issue for me to go with Solovair.
The place of manufacture should not matter to the finished quality if the business has been thought properly. Good example you can take is Casio brand. Therefore I’d say it is more of a bad business practice which is unfortunate letting its long heritage go down the drain. Foolishness comes into mind. Lol
Chris Thompson Thanks for clearing that up I’ve only ever seen one pair and that was in my youth they didn’t seem to catch on DM’s were king then along with Adidas dark blue nylon sports jackets (flimsy nylon shite )
Looking forward to the results, have they always had the same finish? It could be me, but they seem more, well plasticy. Are they coated with something on the exterior surface? I have not worn Dr Martens since my school day's ( late 70's) but both my daughters own pairs of boots. On a side note, my mate has a pair of the chelsea boots waxed leather Dr's he has been wearing them solidly for 2yrs and the sole is still reasonable to be fair.
I think they have always had the thin shiny leather, of course there are some oily / greasy models from both manufacturers but the classics always looked like this to my knowledge
