Timberland boots. Grrrr!

[BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny]

Ds has ligament problems in his feet, in a spark of genius I brought him some Timberland boots as they looked sturdy enough to keep his ankles straight so he wouldn't fall over his feet as much. They worked a treat but I had to take his first pair back to the shoe shop after 6 weeks because the sole began to come off one of them. He's had his current pair since September, I took him back a couple of weeks ago to make sure they were the correct size and he didn't need any new ones, I collected him today and the bloody sole is coming away from one of them again, meaning he has no boots/shoes for school tomorrow, I'm at work so can't replace them until Saturday. Shouldn't they last longer then this???

I don't know how old your DS is but boys can be hard on their footwear. My DS1 went through a pair of Doc Martens* in six weeks, so six months seems not so bad.

*Tbf to Dr M, their shoes were not made for playing football in seawater on a daily basis.

Strangely enough I was saying to dh this week that Timberlands arent as good as they used to be,I bought ds,doc martens when he was younger as he had very flat feet causing his ankles to turn in and the ortopaedic surgeon recommended sturdy boots to help combat the problem,however that was 15 years ago so i dont know what they are like now.

No, 6 months is getting a good deal of wear out of them, assuming he wears them most days.

Timberlands are not what they used to be - I agree. I would look for a boot that isn't a brand as such.

He's 10, he wears them every day but doesn't play football in them. They really did help, he was falling over at least twice a day before he started wearing them, now it's hardly at all. His feet turn inwards when he walks so he trips up over them, the boots helped them to be straight when he walked. They looked the most sturdy IYKWIM (that and I did buy them in the middle of summer so there's not alot of choice when buying boots). Do they still sell Doc Martins?? He has his first physio appointment in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping it's onwards and upwards.

wore mine walking dog for about 5 miles every day for 18 months before they started to disintegrate.

DH has abandoned Timberland for Caterpillar

I used to have to wear sturdy boots for work every day (civil engineer on construction sites) and abandoned Timberland for Catterpillar about 10 years ago -

But - can the orthopeadic man "prescribe" some boots for DS? I only ask because I know a lady whose 2 year old DS has very weak ankles and get little Timberland-type boots on the NHS.

Exectly the same thing happened to DS's timberlands - after a couple of months, but they were not being worn every day by any means. When I took them back, the shop claimed "this never happens" but exchanged them with no significant protest.

Definitely agree with going for a prescription if you can - if his feet start growing fast he will bankrupt you otherwise.

Dr Martens "For Life" from size 3 up. Not cheap, but that's some guarantee!

He's been discharged from the orthopedic bloke (he was planning on operating on ds as he thought his problems were from his femurs, thankfully he was wrong and I was right, I told him ds and I were hypermobile). He has insoles which are supposto help. Could the physio prescribe boots for him??

Thankyou all He's a size 1.5 so not ready for doc martins yet, I don't mind paying for them if they help, it's embarassing for a 11 year old to fall over all the time

Physio should be able to prescribe, I think.

at your 10yo being size 1.5 - my 7yo is in size 3 and has by no means the largest feet in his class.

Actually, if he is wearing them to school, then they are not that much more expensive than school shoes. The ones DS had first were dark brown and much nicer (IMO) than the 'traditional' colour - but they were completely unavailable when we came to swap them so he has the normal yellowish ones now.

How about walking boots/shoes?

His feet don't seem to grow alot (I did mention it to the orthotic woman and the orthopedic bloke), they stayed the same size for about 3 years which I thought was odd, they only grew over the past year or so. I keep getting them measured incase they are measured incorrectly but sadly not. He has the dark brown ones which he wears all the time when he's out. He goes to secondary school in September so he'll need some black boots.

In which case you may end up repairing them - the shop I took DS's back to said Dark Brown ones wouldn't be available again until late summer

My DS's feet didn't grow for 18mths (even though the rest of him certainly did).

I'll hunt out the superglue! We were in the shop a couple of weeks ago (Jones bootmaker) to check they still fitted, I did see some of the same colour. His current school are quite flexible once I explained why he was wearing them, I don't know about his secondary school though. They were fine when I took the first pair back, the sole was 2/3 of the way off, they also said they had never known this to happen before

He didn't grow alot for ages, now he's shooting up. His feet are growing but not as quickly. The hormones are definetly doing something aswell, poor thing.

I was going to say that I was quite surprised they are falling apart after so little time as I have worn my pair pretty much all winter, every winter for the last 5 years and they are fine.....but then I saw the age of your DS and remembered how my brother at the same age went through 3 pairs of school shoes in 1 term!!! Boys eh?

He's not outgrowing them, the glue on the soles has become unstuck, they are in really good condition. He doesn't run around as it makes his legs really sore, he can't walk long distances either, he has to stop on the way to school and it's about 4 streets away. Role on the physio appointment!

Don't try gluing (sp?) them yourself! Take them to a cobbler (preferably not Timpson's) and see if they can glue them first. There's something in superglue that means , if it doesn't work, the cobbler's glue won't stick to it. (Make sense?) Can you tell I work in a shoe shop?!

Ohh, I'll try that, thankyou (it's a good job I can't find the superglue or I would have seen this too late

You can buy the orthotic kids shoes such as Piedro's and Schein (sp?) boots.

I think there is a company called Gilbert & Mellish that sell the Piedro boots, but I keep getting a warning when looking onto their website.

My DH only wears Timberland boots, he swears by them and Ive seen tham take some hammering,walks the dog for miles every day through mud,water,snow even wears them on holiday in 35 degree heat.He has never had a problem with the sole and apparently Timberland have a lifetime guarantee on the sole as long as the top is in good condition so it might be worthwhile looking into it.

I think they make the childrens ones differently, the soles are glued on and there's 'fake' stitching on the sole, I've seen the adults and there's real stitching holding the sole to the boot IYSWIM. It's Saturday tomorrow so they have been added onto my list of things to do.