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Comment by noboostforyou | Hacker News Reader

> Price is 3-4 times higher but it lasts 5-10 times longer and is much more pleasant to use.

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness."

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I'm curious about this though, does a rich man actually wear the same pair of boots for 10 years?

That being said, I've noticed that a lot of clothes that I bought 10 years ago or so are of pretty high quality compared to today, (and no, they are not rich man's clothes). Some of them I actually have been wearing for more than 10 years now.

Oh hey I'm uniquely positioned to answer this; though I'm in tech (and at this point frankly speaking well-compensated) my family have been bootmakers for decades.

I'm sitting at a tech office right now wearing a pair of boots that my father made for me in 2015 - regardless, they're absolutely spotless and I'd wear them to a formal event without hesitation. Every 6 months or so when I'm by his store I shine them up and put in a fresh pair of leather laces. Every 3 or so years, he re-soles them when the soles eventually wear out and lose traction. Eventually they'll require a rebuild, but they've got probably another 5-10 years of daily wear in them before that. I've got a few more pairs I swap between every so often, like a pair with OD green canvas that looks nice with khakis, but these solid black ones are my daily wear.

While 10 years sounds like a good run for boots, my father has a pair at ~35 years old now that he still wears frequently. IIRC they've been through one or two rebuilds and few re-soles in that time.

Were these commodity sneakers, I'd be purchasing a new pair every few months. Even nice running or trail shoes only tend to last a few hundred miles in my experience, but I've put tens of thousands on these and will get ten thousand more easily. Re-soles and rebuilds aren't free, but they're less than a replacement and put years of lifetime back on the boot. They're also comfortable as hell and fit me like a glove.

So in short: yeah, rich men do wear the same pair of boots for 10 years, or even far longer.

https://franksboots.com/

Are you these guys? One techbro recommended these to me and my cofounder and I've never looked back. Your boots are going places, literally!

Edit:- Changed link to direct.

Yes, that's my family's business, I'm glad to hear you've had such great experiences. Similar to you, I've never looked back; every time I put on trail shoes I yearn for my boots again.

Your boots have withstood the Amazon forest and the floodwaters in Kerala, India, is all I'll say. Nothing more.

Any objective comparisons to Whites, Nicks, Thursday boots?

Purely anecdotal, but I know friends have used Nicks without issue. The basic advice I got was to buy jackets and leatherware from places in Washington and Oregon.

Not all boots are made the same though. I had some bad luck with a pair of veldtschoen welted boots from the English firm Crockett and Jones in a custom leather. The commando sole split twice at the toe, which they repaired, but after less than five years of wear the lining at the heel had worn through.

I took them in to be rebuilt, but after inspection they said the stiffener had come loose, and nothing could be done. Here have your expensive and now broken boots back.

I'd assumed when I got them I'd be wearing them for decades, and at least a few rebuilds. Maybe there was something wrong with that specific pair, but I did have a goodyear welted sole randomly detach from a pair of six month old city shoes from the same firm. And yes I had been looking after my shoes (frequent cleaning and polishing, always using shoe trees, skipping days between wears, etc).

When I had a pair of Church's fall apart I put that down to them no-longer being a quality brand, but now I don't think you can guarantee a long life just as the shoe was expensive and from a reputable brand. I have many shoes that have lasted better (and now since covid I don't wear polished shoes daily), but that does sometimes feel like luck of the draw.

When I had a pair of Church's fall apart I put that down to them no-longer being a quality brand

Church's was unfortunately bought by Prada, and is now a fashion brand more than a traditional high quality shoemaker.

I bought Levi's 501s at a farm supply store in the 80s, $12 on sale. About 10 years ago I gave away my two remaining pairs. They were a little thinner but still intact, no holes anywhere. Modern 501s are made of much thinner fabric; I'd be surprised if they would last 5 years. Looks like the sale price is $45 now, which seems comparable.

I bought a pair of 501s recently and they barely lasted 6 months. I do a fair bit of cycling which seemed to very quickly wear through them. I'm really not sure what to buy if I want things that last a long time now.

Levis are fashion products, not workwear. But even if they were, if you want things to last a long time then buy things made for a specific purpose. Denim products made by cycling brands are a rarity for a reason.

You don't have to be rich to buy shoes ([1]) that can last you 10 years if you take care of them and re-sole them few times.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_welt

Of course. And also it may be less expensive to buy 5 pairs of shoes that last 3 years each than 1 pair that last 15 years. Anyway the rich don't get rich because they can buy better clothes or appliances, they can buy them because they are rich.

"you can't save yourself rich"

(but with compound interest and market growth, ...)

One thing that better brands seem to have is longevity of sales.

If you find a good pair of boots, you can probably buy again without going through the investigation of an equivalent replacement.

That something to appreciate when you find something good.

This is one economic function of loans: borrow money to buy the more expensive boots, pay extra in interest, but save money in the long run. Assuming it is in fact cheaper to buy the more expensive item.

Loved the book! :)

But on the other hand, consider running shoes - most modern ones, even the expensive ones, will wear out in a few hundred kms and are usually non-repairable.

Probably $200 for a good pair of boots

$200 is enough to get you a pair of Keen boots, which will last a year or two. Truly "good" in the boot world is hand welted hand made leather boots, which are a rarity these days. There are functionally only a few bootmakers that still manufacture this way these days, and about half of them are all in the same Washington State region :)

Expect ~$400, and it's easy to spend $600 without much effort.

That said, look at my comment above in this thread; they do really last 10 years or more, so the investment is well worth it.

You can get goodyear welted boots which are decent and will likely last on the order of 10 years for 200$ if you're willing to let the person hand stitching it for you be brown and overseas (i.e. buy from Thursday who will make them in Mexico or Portugal)

Hell, Schott will sell you a pair of made in the USA goodyear welted boots for 300$.

Yes, I have an 8 year old pair of boots that have been through all sorts of conditions, all over the world. And I don't even do anything to maintain them. You can get very good boots for $200.

Back in 2016 when I didn't have much money I reluctantly bought a pair of Salomon hiking boots for what I thought was a crazy ~140€ price tag.

After punishing them heavily with hiking, working (concrete, dust, mud, stones, rocks, metal, paint...), running, sports, climbing... they are quite weathered but as good and comfortable as new. I just wish I could buy the same exact ones again.

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