Question:
looking for a steel toed work boot , made and assembled in the USA with
available metatarsal protection ?
Answer:
another dissatisfied former Red Wing customer. I used to enjoy the
thought of getting a new pair of Red Wings until the ass wipe that was
running the place stopped making the good stuff and went to a complete line
of junk.
I have not bought a pair of Red Wings in a few years, what happened to
them? Quality go down hill, or did they also move everything overseas?
I have had a lot of Red Wings, and have been very happy with every pair
. The only trouble I had is with a pair of the 6" uninsulated "air
sole" or cushion sole, whatever they call it. I stepped on a piece of
hot metal and burned through the sole, not there fault, but I wont buy
anymore air soles.
Back in the early 70's Red Wing opened a store in my neighborhood. I was
drawn to the sign in the window stating that they carries sizes from AAA to
EEEE. I talked my mother into bringing me there for my next shoe purchase
as I had wide feet and I was always miserable after a few hours in the shoes
that I had been wearing.
The salesman knew his stuff and I was fitted with a pair of shoes that were
comfortable from the day I left the store untill I wore them out. I
continued to ne a loyal customer of Red Wing until they had a change in
company philosophy that dictated that the quality shoes that they had beem
making were too expensive to produce and that they wanted to make more
profit by changing to cheaper methods and materials.
They discontinued wider widths and standard shoe lines that they had beem
making for years. Gone were the "sweat proof" leather insoles that set on a
bed of ground cork, gone were the solid Goodyear welted construction that
could be re-soled. In its place were shoes made from thinner leather,
insoles made from foam and soles that were injection molded and glued on to
the cheap leather uppers.
No longer could they claim that they were the sure cure for 5 O'clock feet,
now they were the cause.
I called up the factory in Red Wing MN and talked to the president of the
company. He was the heir to the legacy of a great company and my complaints
were met with comments like it costs so much to make the shoes the way they
used to make them, and he believed that the modern technology was better.
He could not explain why my feet hurt and why the damn shoes were falling
apart.
I was willing to buy quality and pay the price. Good shoes is like good
paint, it is not so much the price you pay but the value you receive in
exchange for your dollar.
The conversation I had with the know it all clown was about 10 years ago. I
now tend to avoid jobs where I have to spend a lot of time on my feet and I
am still pissed off.
