How to break-in Dr Martens?!?

[DrMartensForMe]

Any tips for breaking-in a pair of vegan Dr Marten's?

Keep wearing them although if they're plastic they probably won't stretch

Wear them round the house for as long as possible, will take a few weeks though

I’ve seen people putting a double thickness ziploc bag of water deep down into the shoe and freezing it for a few days. Then pulling out the bag of ice still frozen and wiping to avoid condensation damaging the shoe.
The idea is that expanding ice makes them a size larger and freezing the shoes softens the leather too.

When I broke mine in it was thick socks and wear them around the house for a few weeks, then thin socks around the house, then short trips and then whenever.

Although one pair I did have to break the ankle section with a hammer to soften it. Which got me odd looks from my then boyfriend.

I bought the Church monkey-style boots in about 2018. They are still not comfortable.

Saw this
the other day, might help although havent tried, it's decades since I had any and I think then I used plasters and persistence and pain, can't recommend that route 😂

My friends & I used to get a hammer & pummel the inside back heel seam for about 20 mins to make it flexible enough not to cause blistering. One guy swore by piddling in a brand new pair of Docs to soften the leather. 2 pairs of socks (one thin by the foot & a fatter, chunkier sock in contact with the boot) to help stretch them and provide a friction barrier helped.

You’d regularly go into the crew room at work to find someone going at a pair of new boots on the workbench!

I don’t know if this would work for vegan Docs as all of these high plastic content shoes & boots I’ve owned turn my feet into swamps & have never been comfortable as they never soften in the right places, but it might be worth a go. This may be me though, after a pair of grey jelly shoes cut my feet to ribbons in 1982 in Great Yarmouth and I’ve never forgiven the medium lol.

A good, worn pair of Docs should be as comfortable as wearing a pair of fluffy socks.

These Dr Martin socks made my sons shoes wearable from day one with no blisters or rubbing www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/double-doc-sock-black/p/AC610303?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_campaign=gcdL%2FATRVoE&utm_content=15&utm_term=UKNetwork&ranMID=41462&ranEAID=gcdL%2FATRVoE&ranSiteID=gcdL_ATRVoE-bfJSDEqVKeog9bhg6jyAvA

Give the seam a good hammering and put 2 layers of duct tape where the boot rubs. The boot will cause that to 'blister' amd not your skin. Also, line the part of the boot thst rubs with the duct tape as well.

@newyorkbreakfast i have two pairs of those. The black are soft like butter, the oxblood are like razors two years on. (In fairness they have had less wear because I bought them in lockdown.)

OP this might not work for vegan boots but DM do a thing called wonder balsam which softens leather. It’s a bit like Vaseline. The sales assistant told me to put on absolutely loads of it then leave the boots under an on radiator for a couple of days to let it really soak in.

My daughter wore these silicone heel protectors and didn't get any blisters or soreness. Get them on Amazon.

A friend of mine microwaved hers to make the leather malleable and then put them on. Frankly I'm not brave enough to try it considering some DMs cost more than my car payments.

The silicone heel socks on amazon!My daughter wore her doc marten shoes with these straight from the box and has had no blisters and now they are broken in.Get a 5 pack off amazon.My boots also rubbed my calves at the top of the boot but the DM balm helped soften that a bit.

Agree with the silicon heel sock recommendations. I wore my Sinclairs all day straight from the box with the heel socks on and had no problems at all.

I think a lot of the tricks that work on leather won't work on the synthetic materials that vegan shoes are made from. I'd especially avoid the microwave - you don't want to melt your plastic boots!

I'd go with thick socks and blister plasters.

Rub a bar of soap on the inside of the back of the heels.

Thick socks and lots of plasters. Took me about 3-4 weeks in my leather ones. Wearing here and there. Wore them round IKEA the first day I had them and honestly thought I was going to have to sit in the trolley after about half an hour 🤦🏼‍♀️

Aren't vegan shoes just plastic? What's the point of calling them vegan?

I guess so that instead of having something made from a natural material which is a by-product of animal agriculture you are wearing something that is made from fossil fuels.

I tried for weeks with mine and they just never became comfortable

Microwave?! Don't they have metal eyelets? Very dangerous.

The vegan ones don't break in the same as the leather, they tend to stay stiffer

Plenty of saddle soap and repeatedly folding the heel down to the sole, then gradually increase the amount of time you wear them for.
No idea if that will work on fake leather though, and I suspect saddle soap or anything similar wouldn’t be absorbed.

Another vote for the silicone heel protectors! They are great, no friction/blisters at all.
I have the leather ones and I rub the balm in every other night or so to keep them soft.