Thursday, January 4, 2018

Money well spent

My riding boots are in need of repairs yet again and it got me to thinking about a topic for a blog post.

What One item have you purchased long ago, that has lasted well past it's shelf life or expiration date, yet it still seems to just keep hanging in there, fighting the good fight, not quite ready to give up the ghost and die already? Would you say you got your money's worth out of it?

For me it is my dress boots. I bought them probably 17 years ago, after going on vacation and packing on some extra pounds, then trying to put on my previous pair and not being able to get them up over my calf. I had to go with Wide calf boots and wasn't exactly thrilled at the time.

I probably paid a little over $100 for them, had the soles restitched on them about 5 or 6 years ago for somwhere in the ballpark of $20-$25 and even though they need it again, once fixed they still look nice enough to show in.



For those thinking they probably haven't seen much use? Just one look at them says otherwise. For a while I was using them to ride at least 3 days a week, sometimes more. But I also typically take care of my things since I don't like having to replace stuff often. Yes my boots are a bit dirty at the moment, but they will be cleaned before I take them in for repairs.

Although the soles are coming off again in the same place- on the inside of the right foot from the ball of my foot back to the arch and the left one is likely to go there too, finding somewhere to have them repaired yet again is certainly in the budget and I seriously doubt it will break the bank. I found another pair so no rush on the repairs.

For those wondering what brand they are?  

Devon-Aire. 

Yep, no lie. 


3 comments:

  1. nice! its great when stuff holds up to the test of time!Probably for me it is my headstall, that was for Catana, then Johnny, now Dammit? silver accents I got it on my 21 birthday instead of a vanity set. which makes it 29 yrs old now and it still looks perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My old boots were like that, the kicked around for about 12 years which seems to be not so common place anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you weren’t looking for attention you would actually have straps on your spurs instead of just sliding them on for a picture. Also, a really worn pair of custom boots shows wear from your leathers over time, regardless of how strong your leg is. I don see how a pair of off the rack ones wouldn’t unless you are bareback all of the time.

    ReplyDelete