What brand of steel toe boots do the old timer construction workers, miners, and farmers wear in America?

20 comments

1. I prefer Georgia boots.

2. Personally, I didn’t wear steel toes because I didn’t like them. But a couple of the more popular brands in this area of the Northeast are Chippewa and Red Wing. It’s often a factor of where you are and what’s available in stores. Timberland are also popular. Style of boot matters, too. Sometimes I wore a logger heel and cap toe and other times a moccasin toe.

3. Chippewa or Tim’s around here in Maine seem to be the most common

4. I don’t work in a field where steel toe boots are needed.

   So, as an outsider? The only name I know is Red Wing.

5. I wanna say ‘Redwing’. Is that a brand?

6. This is a quasi-religious topic that always generates the same old tired discussions. Like “what handgun caliber is best?” or “what company makes the best pickup truck?”

   Justin, Ariat, Georgia, RedWing, Chippewa, Dr Marten, Cat, whatever WalMart is selling, etc…

   The ironic truth is that they all kinda suck. The less time in work boots the better.

7. This old timer wears Nicks.

8. Arians or Justins

9. Redwings or thorogood is my favorite brands.

10. A lot of people swear by Red Wings and my company even gives employees a “boot voucher” to buy a new pair every couple years, but in my experience you have to be meticulous about maintenance or they will only last a year.

    I would love to buy into the Red Wing hype, but I have a pair of Wolverines that have outlasted two pairs of Red Wings for half the price with half the maintenance, and are twice as comfortable.

11. Georgia boot and Timberland are my go to brands.

12. I work in the chimney business. Think chimney sweeps, fireplace installation crews, and brick masons. All of our field guys have to wear steel or composite toe boots. I wear them in the office every day in solidarity with them and also since I’m often called on to do warehouse duty also. Kind of a fill in manager for every aspect of the business, including warehouse management.

    The field guys that want steel toes often go with Redwing. The guys that prefer composite toe boots are more diverse but Timberland Pro Series and CAT are the most popular. I prefer Timberland because they are a boot company. CAT isn’t. They just license the brand, but whoever they license it to seems to make decent composite toe boots.

    The thing about steel toe boots covered in leather is that it wears and you have the leather worn off to the steel in no time. Sure it makes you look cool and worn, but it also makes you look sloppy and worn. The composite toe boots are covered in a durable rubber that never wears through.

    Being more management, how our field crews are perceived in the field is something I think about. Worn clothing doesn’t give the best impression.

    I also don’t like it when guys are doing electrical work with steel on their toes. It’s never been an issue, but the idea just doesn’t sit well with me.

13. Just a data point here, and I’m probably old enough to be considered an old-timer:” Redwings, at least that’s what I wore when I did work that required steel-toed boots. Tightly-laced, they also served as a cast/support for a few months after I wrecked my ankle skydiving.

14. I see Ariat and Redwings the most. I prefer red wings. I find Ariat to not fit wider feet and I don’t like the cowboy boot style.

15. Redwing is the common answer.

    When I worked as a wildfire fighter, white’s were the boot of choice with the old timers.

    I haven’t seen any real boot of choice in manufacturing. Probably because most jobs have a boot truck come by yearly and employees can get decent boots yearly or twice the cost every two years on company dime.

16. I’ve had a pair of Red Wing composite toe boots for 9 years. The first 4 years saw very heavy use, and while the last 5 have been much lighter they’re still going strong.

17. Well, I’m old and I wear steel toes at work but…. I wear Keens. They may be new fangled, but they’re as comfortable as any pair of sneakers.

18. My grandpa was an iron worker for the better part of 40 years. He loved his Red Wing boots.

19. I used to swear by tightly laced tall redwing boots. They have a brutal break in period but they become quite comfortable after.

    However last year I swapped over to a Justin western style steel toe and I don’t think I’m ever going back.

20. I spend a few years of my youth working construction – mostly as a carpenter, but occasionally an electrician’s helper. I mostly did residential, so beat-up athletic sneakers were the usual footwear of choice.

    When I moved to a company that did the occasional commercial job, I got some composite-toe sneakers that looked and felt like athletic shoes. Sometimes the GC or foreman would try to tell me I wasn’t compliant, but I’d pull out my hammer and knock on the toes and they’d be like “oh, cool. Where’d you get those?” It was some company that specifically made vocational footwear.

    When it comes to actual work boots, they’re great for casual, kind of outdoorsy situations. They can be comfortable to wear as long as you’re not running, or bending over, or contorting yourself in weird ways. I actually hate work boots for doing actual work. They’re heavy, hot, and uncomfortable. I have always owned a pair, throughout my adult life, but they’re not my go-to for outdoor work.

    Also, as a person with kinda crappy circulation, whose feet are always cold, fuck steel toes so hard. Fuck them with a rusty hammer.