Why Altra boots kinda suck but I ❤️ them - Olympus 5 

Could you cut apart the Converse Chuck 70 Leather? You previously cut apart the regular Chuck 70 and had good things to say about them. Converse claims the Chuck 70 Leather is made with premium leather, but since they are owned by Nike, the claim is suspicious. I think it would be a good follow up to the Chuck 70 video and also a good leather sneaker comparison against the recently released and sold out MUGS. Thanks!

Your cost meter is broken, at least for this video it was.

Looks comfy. Hey MOM! Im gonna cut the tongue out of these brand new boots. Can you use your sewing machine and sew in some waterproof neoprene spandex to the tongue. Asics figured it out. But Altra hasnt.

PLEASE CALL OUT BOOT BARN CHEAP JANKY BOOTS!!!

thats not going to happen. they started out with very high quality materials and construction, and as they have been bought and sold again and again, they have seemed to maintain the very high quality build but they are saving money on materials. Things in our society only go in one direction, and that is down. Things get worse not better. Name one thing that's getting better. Most things in our society don't even maintain their current level for long. And that's because of the way our economy is designed. Obviously technology and innovation is the great equalizer, the great deflator, but it's balance between that and the entropy of inflation that is built into the system. brands like costco that haven't gone to trash are very rare outliers. everything else gets slowly nickle and dimed down to a shadow of itself over time, the same fate awaits Altra. Anything from a bag of chips or your favorite ice cream, to retailers, or anything else with the obvious exceptions being consumer electronics.. Consumer electronics are always getting better and cheaper. Almost everything else is getting worse and more expensive, and when vultures like private equity are involved thats the recipe for the most drastic precipitous declines. Luckily for Altra their new new owner VFC is not private equity but a publicly traded company. That means the same pressures exist but nowhere on the level that you see in private equity. And if you look at VFC you will see that they are not doing so hot. They have lost over 85% of their market capitalization since the high back right before covid while many of their competitors are reaching all time highs and generating more revenue and profits than ever. Altra's parent company is the toilet and if it doesn't turn around soon they will be on the ropes. Do you think their quality will increase under that situation? They're already losing money, so now they're going to reduce their margins to make higher quality shoes? Not a chance in hell. Expect things to get worse.

@@k1_w3 I don't like the durability issues altras have been giving me lately. I've switched to topos instead. I'm also checking out keen for hiking boots, but I'd really love a PNW style rugged leather boot that gives me more toe room. I love my JK OTs but I really need a boot like that with toe room

Look up Lems Shoes Summit Boulders!!!

You might try the Courtney Selous..best I found yet for wide toe box in a stitch down..

I've had the same complaint but the best solution I've found is Jim Green. Most of their boots are wide by default and the African Ranger has a great wide toe box.

Meindl make a few - I have the Meran (Goretext lining, A/B grade) and the Bernina (leather lining, B grade) and they're the first boots I've tried that don't squash my toes sideways. Absolutely love them. Check out their Comfort Fit range, although beware that for some reason not all the footwear has the same toe room - the Balancing walking shoe was pretty uncomfortable on my toes, for example, and yet felt overly wide in the mid-foot.

I think they are so entrenched in tradition. It's really beyond me. They only traditional sort boot company that makes a sort of ergonomic shoe is jim green, and those are still pretty narrow

Jim green

It really is tradition. A lot of traditional boot making and dress shoe making is heavily based on traditional apprenticeships and they are very very very resistant to chnage. I'd love them to make foot shaped shoes instead if pointed elf shoes

There's a British brand called duck feet that seems to fit the bill if you want a properly made boot with plenty of width. Being British it's not the best of quality or made for the hardest of work but it seems to be pretty good quality. I say all this speculative language because I don't have a pair myself I know of them because they keep advising to me. For more extreme boots like the pnw style you actually want them to be tight and kind of uncomfortable because it keeps your foot from slipping around which can be dangerous in the environments those boots are designed for.

lone peak is the line i buy from them. very comfortable

hell yeah I want some sweet ass purple shoes. Only issue is that I'd need a size 13 4E and good luck finding that.

@@jeffhicks8428 altras are extremely wide shoes so there’s a good chance you’d fit them pretty well. That’s one of their signature designs to have a wide toe box. Topo also makes a really wide toe box and they last longer than altras. I have really wide feet, between 3e and 5e, and these shoes all feel great to me.

@@k1_w3ditto

This is very true. I know first hand the difference between raised and level heels while hiking. I can hike for much longer in my zero drops. Even when I first started using them that was the case.

I agree. I have only ever had two pairs of shoes that fit me perfectly in my life. They were from Fox Racing. They quit making shoes. I have tried literally every brand in the last 6 months and they all run Long and Narrow these days. It also doesn't help that shoe makers have gotten cheap and use a right shoe upper on left shoe soles. Nike, adidas, Levi's, DC and many others.

@@k1_w3 are you going to say the same thing in every comment? how much Altra is paying, bot?

​​@@k1_w3that's exactly what a bot would say

💯 The sizing needs improvement.

wear roman sandals, like a man!

Well damn you know of any good zero drop wide toe box hiking boots to really crank out some miles?

But the sole is not good for hiking. It’s a work boot.