AJ Hamler
Active Member
First, my apologies if someone else has posted about these. I did a forum search, and although I found some discussion about rain boots I couldn't find anything specific to these. With that in mind, I thought some of you might find this useful.
I need Han Solo boots. I've been looking around, and as much as I'd like to buy a pair of Todd's or a pair of real riding boots, that is so far out of my budget after doing my DL-44 build that I couldn't consider them. (Especially since I'm saving up for Todd's holster!) I'd considered rain/mud/stable boots, but everything I saw looked awful, and some of those were ridiculously expensive, too. I had also considered the Funtasma boots, but all the reviews talking about soles coming off scared me away. I hated the zipper on the Funtasma boots anyway, plus reviews also mentioned that the calves are small, which concerned me.
So yesterday I'm walking through Walmart looking for something else entirely, literally just walking from point A to point B in the store, when I happened across these:
I stopped dead and gave them a thorough examination. The shot above is from the Walmart website, but the boots really do look exactly like this. They are solid black -- no funky bright yellow soles or any other colors anywhere on the boot. No embossed logos or writing. The only embossing of the rubber are the lines that you see on the lower sides of the boot in the photo. The upper part of the toe has a kind of waffle pattern, but it's subtle. I was amazed at just how much these look like riding boots, even from just a couple feet away. The store I was in didn't have my size, so today I went to another store and found them. I wear a size 10-1/2 or 11, depending on the shoe, and these fit nearly perfectly -- better, even, than a few other shoes I own. They only come in whole sizes and in a medium width. I generally take a wide in all my shoes, but these are pretty comfy. (Well, they are rubber...) The size 11 boots I bought stand 16-1/2" high, and the calf is 17" in circumference. Can't speak for those specs in other sizes.
The boots have a steel shank in the sole, and the insole is cushioned with some comfortable material. The inside of the uppers may or may not have a mesh-like material bonded to the rubber. Then again, maybe that mesh appearance is molded into the inner surface as part of the manufacturing process, I really can't tell. The uppers are plenty stiff -- the boots stand up just like in the photo -- and are not floppy like other rain boots I've seen, and when they're on my feet they look just like riding boots, not rain boots. For rubber, they're pretty shiny, but not overly so -- the shine approximates leather.
I was curious as to the maker, but the only markings on the boot are the size, Made In USA and claims of waterproofness on the bottom; there were no tags on the pair I got, or on any of the others in the rack, for that matter. So I did a reverse search on the image and it looks like these are made by Heartland Footwear of Indiana. I went to their website, and sure enough found them here:
http://heartlandfootwearinc.com/general-purpose-industrial-boot/
On the Heartland site are a couple more images:
In the photo on the right, the embossed lines on the sides look very prominent, but they really aren't that noticeable on the real thing. Also, I suspect the vertical boot in the combined photo on the right was actually shot with the boot laying down -- probably at the same time they shot the photo of the treads on the left. The boots do tend to flatten when laid down, but when worn that bulge on the back pretty much disappears. Also, the treads seem more prominent in the above two photos, but the treads on the boots I got more closely resemble the treads on the photo at the top of this post.
Best part was that these boots cost only $20.
Anyway, I hope everyone finds this helpful. Again, if someone has posted this before elsewhere in the forum, sorry to repeat.
A.J.
I need Han Solo boots. I've been looking around, and as much as I'd like to buy a pair of Todd's or a pair of real riding boots, that is so far out of my budget after doing my DL-44 build that I couldn't consider them. (Especially since I'm saving up for Todd's holster!) I'd considered rain/mud/stable boots, but everything I saw looked awful, and some of those were ridiculously expensive, too. I had also considered the Funtasma boots, but all the reviews talking about soles coming off scared me away. I hated the zipper on the Funtasma boots anyway, plus reviews also mentioned that the calves are small, which concerned me.
So yesterday I'm walking through Walmart looking for something else entirely, literally just walking from point A to point B in the store, when I happened across these:
I stopped dead and gave them a thorough examination. The shot above is from the Walmart website, but the boots really do look exactly like this. They are solid black -- no funky bright yellow soles or any other colors anywhere on the boot. No embossed logos or writing. The only embossing of the rubber are the lines that you see on the lower sides of the boot in the photo. The upper part of the toe has a kind of waffle pattern, but it's subtle. I was amazed at just how much these look like riding boots, even from just a couple feet away. The store I was in didn't have my size, so today I went to another store and found them. I wear a size 10-1/2 or 11, depending on the shoe, and these fit nearly perfectly -- better, even, than a few other shoes I own. They only come in whole sizes and in a medium width. I generally take a wide in all my shoes, but these are pretty comfy. (Well, they are rubber...) The size 11 boots I bought stand 16-1/2" high, and the calf is 17" in circumference. Can't speak for those specs in other sizes.
The boots have a steel shank in the sole, and the insole is cushioned with some comfortable material. The inside of the uppers may or may not have a mesh-like material bonded to the rubber. Then again, maybe that mesh appearance is molded into the inner surface as part of the manufacturing process, I really can't tell. The uppers are plenty stiff -- the boots stand up just like in the photo -- and are not floppy like other rain boots I've seen, and when they're on my feet they look just like riding boots, not rain boots. For rubber, they're pretty shiny, but not overly so -- the shine approximates leather.
I was curious as to the maker, but the only markings on the boot are the size, Made In USA and claims of waterproofness on the bottom; there were no tags on the pair I got, or on any of the others in the rack, for that matter. So I did a reverse search on the image and it looks like these are made by Heartland Footwear of Indiana. I went to their website, and sure enough found them here:
http://heartlandfootwearinc.com/general-purpose-industrial-boot/
On the Heartland site are a couple more images:
In the photo on the right, the embossed lines on the sides look very prominent, but they really aren't that noticeable on the real thing. Also, I suspect the vertical boot in the combined photo on the right was actually shot with the boot laying down -- probably at the same time they shot the photo of the treads on the left. The boots do tend to flatten when laid down, but when worn that bulge on the back pretty much disappears. Also, the treads seem more prominent in the above two photos, but the treads on the boots I got more closely resemble the treads on the photo at the top of this post.
Best part was that these boots cost only $20.
Anyway, I hope everyone finds this helpful. Again, if someone has posted this before elsewhere in the forum, sorry to repeat.
A.J.
