another thread about boots

[peekaboo1]

It's that time of year I suppose.

Am looking for a pair of knee high boots after stupidly buying from Clarks 2 years ago, meaning my worn down heel can't be replaced by a cobbler.

I have 3 problems: don't want to spend too much, have skinny ankles and have very muscly calves which have become more muscly over the last 2 years of pushing a pram round London. There's a beautiful pair of Hobbs boots in my cupboard barely worn as the zip won't do up over my calves any more.

Found a nice(ish) pair at M&S for £50 but they are not leather, made of some synthetic leather-like material which scares me. Does anyone have experience of synthetic boots' durability, warmth etc?

Or any leads for who makes boots for big calves and skinny ankles? I don't want to buy online as the probability of returns is far too high!

Thank you

Bumping to get some advice on synthetic leather boots before I take the plunge using the M&S 20% off tomorrow.

Synthetic will not last long, I think. Funnily enough synthetic suede is not too bad, but with fake leather the edges fray and the surface dulls, in my experience.

Have you tried Boden fabric boots that have a lot of stretch? I haven't but they are very popular.

Googling wide calf boots gets a lot of promising results.

Anyway of the cobbler doing anything with the Hobbs boots ? Perhaps putting an elastic insert ?

Any chance I meant

Wide calf boots always seem to come with wider ankles whenever I have tried them, and I have skinny ankles so they end up looking very baggy on the bottom half of the boot.

I hadn't thought of the cobbler doing an insert, will ask. Thanks. And will check out Boden too.

Part of me thinks just spend £40 and hope they last one winter but it feels wasteful.

Thank you for your replies

Why can't the worn down heel be fixed by the cobblers?

I wouldn't get synthetic - won't last, will likely be uncomfortable and will leave your feet a sweaty mess.

Otherwise could you save for a Duo pair?

Why can't the heel be fixed? I personally wouldn't go synthetic. I got some leather ankle one in sainsburys for £30 last week - not sure what their long ones are like though.

Cobblers can't replace/repair Clarks soles and heels. Clarks use some special material that means nothing can be glued to it to repair. Unless you go to Clarks, who charge almost what I paid for the boots in the sale.

I didn't know that! I had some Clarks boots re-heeled last year at an independent cobbler, they seem fine to me!

No one round here will touch mine. It's so annoying. Maybe it depends on the height and type of sole/heel.

I got some good pairs of boots in the Jones sale, which seems to last about 40 weeks of the year. One pair had functioning buckles that would have enabled me to let them out.

A bit like these.

I've definitely had Clarks boots reheeled in the past, but maybe not recently.

I had some Clarks boots soled and heeled last year, cost me £17!

Timpsons managed to sole and heel a pair of Clarks boots along with some from Dune within last 2 weeks - cost me £30 ish for both

Moda in Pelle give calf size info on some of their boots. I'm not suggesting you buy these beauties, but just to show you it's there in the description:

www.modainpelle.com/treble#tabs

No idea why, but they only do this for some styles.

I think a good cobbler could widen your Hobbs boots.

I've also had my Clarks boots soled and heeled, would put me off buying them if it's not standard to be able to - I trash my heels!

i have had mid-heel Clarks boots reheeled/soled in the past too. It seems like flat/low-heeled boots are the issue due to the type of material they use. Timpsons flat out refused, I tried 3 branches and a local cobbler too.

Thanks for all the tips on places to try. I will be looking into all of them. Fingers crossed I can find some which don't bag at the ankles. I've decided to avoid the synthetic boots.

I had my Clarks approx 1inch heeled ankle boots re heeled and resolved by my local timpsons about a month ago so it seems odd that no-one will even attempt to do yours. It cost me £20 and I can see they had to cut the old sole off but the guy did a really good job with them.

It must be the specific type of heel on that particular boot rather than Clarks in general.

I have the slim ankle and large calf problem too. I don't buy long boots anymore as they never fit or stay up properly and stick with ankle or calf length boots instead.

These are the boots no one wants to fix. Has anyone had success with these kind of boots? It's just the heel I need done though it looks like they are moulded to the sole.