Why You Should Get Work Boots That Can Be Resoled

Work boots that can be resoled are a better purchase than work boots that cannot. You can keep them longer, you'll spend less in the long run, it's better for everyone involved if you do. 

It usually means you get a better quality pair of boots as well. While price doesn't always have everything to do with quality, it's also true that there aren't many cheap work boots that are very good.

So why worry about whether a boot can be resoled? Why pay more or go out of your way to get a pair that is? Here's why…

The amount of money a person will spend on work boots varies. You might go through a pair a year or every other year, and some people go through a pair every six months...or possibly faster. 

The math is pretty simple. If you spend more to buy new boots than it costs to just resole a pair you already own, then you're spending more than you have to. 

Typically, getting boots resoled will cost you anywhere from $150 to $250, depending on what shop does it for you, what soles are being put on and what the cobbler has to do to replace the soles in question. 

The question, of course, is how much you're spending on work boots. For jobs that don't make incredible demands of footwear, you can get away with cheaper boots a bit longer but any seriously hard jobs are going to expose weaknesses fairly quickly. 

A pair of $50 boots from a "mart" store are probably okay if you don't ask much of them. Most mid-shelf work boots from reputable brands are probably going to run you somewhere between $200 to $300. 

There might be some decent work boots for less, but not many that are actually made well enough to stand up to a hard job. 

So the reality is you're going to spend about what you'd pay for a resole on a new pair of decent work boots anyway. The question is whether you want to throw away the rest of the boot just because of a worn sole. 

There's an idea out there called "virtuous consumption." The idea is that we have to buy products as consumers no matter what, so what we do buy should be as beneficial as possible to as many people as possible. 

Shop local, so your dollars benefit the local community. Buy American or from smaller companies, so your dollars aren't going to some corporate megalith and its shareholders. 

Another facet of it is buying products that reduce waste. 

Think of it like this: non-stick cooking pans have to be replaced every year or so, but cast iron, carbon steel or stainless steel pans never do...and produce better food anyway. 

So why get boots that can be resoled? To minimize waste! Since it's only the worn-out rubber sole that's going to the dump, you're contributing less to the landfills in your area. 

You know how people say "they don't make 'em like they used to?" Well, how "they used to" wear boots and leather shoes was to buy a pair and get them resoled as needed instead of throwing them away and buying a new pair. Doing so was expensive and wasteful. 

Ever get massively bummed out because a pair of shoes or boots finally wore down the sole to the point where it was obviously time to get rid of them? Shoes or boots that can be resoled let you avoid that disappointment. 

You get to start all over with the same pair, with a brand new sole. If you found a pair that fit you just right, that you really like, you get to keep wearing them. 

It's not always easy to find the one make and model of thing that really, really works best for you. When you do, it's a great comfort to know you can keep it working for longer by replacing a few parts. 

So making sure to buy work boots that can be resoled means you get to keep the pair (or pairs) that you really like for that much longer. It almost begs the question of why wouldn't you?