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I wore these boots for 250 miles doc
marten premiums made in England on the right
solovairs on the left and I really started to hate these boots the Doc
Martens so let's go through and compare these
two boots and talk about why these premium dr martens kind of suck
I've cut apart ten plus boots since I first did the Doc Martens and I've
learned a lot since then I've worn these a lot since then and usually I don't get
too opinionated or positional in these videos because cutting a boot in half
kind of speaks for itself and it's easier to just let you guys draw your
own conclusions because you can literally see what's in it but I've kind
of formed a strong opinion on this one so if you disagree before you go rage at
me in the comment section first thank you for the comment and second hear me
out watch to the end of the video because I think I have some pretty good points
that you can get on board with and I have a feeling you'll agree with me by
the end of this video and if not we can still be friends everyone's got opinions
when I did the video where I cut these in half I had enough foresight to cut
opposite sides so that I could wear them side by side and so I walk about 8 miles
per day and most of my walking is in the shop like 99% of it and the concrete is
a smooth concrete and I'm doing mostly standing so a lot of my opinions are
formed in that way so that can kind of help frame this video for you and
there's lots of things that we can talk about and compare and contrast with
these two boots but we're just gonna stick with a 5 the most important things
that I noticed so if you want to see a full breakdown of both of these boots
I'll put a link to both of these videos in the description but the 5 things that
w e're going to talk about are style comfort the leather the shank and the
welt and then the price of these two boots two hundred and thirty dollars for
the Doc Martens two hundred and ten dollars for the solovairs so one of
the biggest difference is people are gonna notice right off the bat is the
thread color around the welt the Doc Martens have this classic yellow
stitching the solovairs have more of a silverish stitching and I noticed
while wearing these that the Doc Martens they are not as waterproof has the solovairs because the solovairs this this stitching you see on the outside is
actually a decorative stitch it doesn't actually stitch the welt to the boot
that stitch is hidden inside so the Doc Martens are far less
waterproof boot than the solovairs the solovair s are still not waterproof but
they're more water resistant and some people are just gonna like the color of
thread better I don't mind the yellow stitching but a lot of men and adults
kind of shy away from flashy colors like that the other thing that I noticed is
the toe's profile so if you look at the height of the toe box on these the Doc
Martens is a lot slimmer and lower toe box versus the solovairs is a lot
larger and taller more like the classic Doc Martens that's a more kind of
bulbish bulbous bulbish Bulbasaur looking toe box if you're going for that
classic Doc Marten style these ones are a lot closer both of those are kind of
minor issues so now let's talk about comfort starting with like initial
comfort like the first couple days of wearing the boots
so the Doc Martens were really pretty comfortable right off the bat and I
think the main reason for that is you've got this pad at the ball of your foot
and the leathers a little bit softer versus the solovairs the solovairs
we're a little bit harder compared to the Doc Martens at first and it's cuz
you don't have the pad of the ball your foot and the leathers a little bit
stiffer but there's kind of a saying with boots where if they're
comfortable at first they're not going to be comfortable in the long run if they're
uncomfortable at first or they're stiff at first they're gonna be really
comfortable in the long run and that turned out to be the case with these two
boots because at about the 100 hour mark the comfort of these started to go
downhill as they became more and more broken in and the comfort of the solovairs just got more and more comfortable as time wore on a lot of that has to do
with the leather the construction no pad at the ball of your foot so we'll go over
more of that as we go on but overall comfort the solovairs are way more
comfortable the doc martens are a little bit more comfortable up front but they
really start a plateau and head downhill at about the hundred hour mark and now
to the leather so the leather in the Doc Martens boots they it's just a bad
leather initially when I first did this review I really liked this leather but once
I started wearing them I kind of realized how bad it was and especially
once I started cutting some nicer boots in half I realized how bad this leather
is and it's the thin leather the fiber structure is really loose and it doesn't
have a whole lot of structural integrity to the leather which to me is not a big
deal because I don't mind like a floppy boot because most of what I'm doing is
walking around in a shop I don't need a lot of ankle support but a lot of people
are gonna hate that versus the solovairs it's a lot thicker leather it's a
the fiber structure is a lot more tight it's not nearly as loose and
floppy these are gonna be a little more uncomfortable at first because it is a
nicer leather it's a stiffer leather but once it's worn in it's gonna fit you
like a glove and it's not gonna completely lose all of its structure
like the Doc Martens did they're both a finished leather which finished leather
can kind of go one of two ways the better way is they take a nice leather
and they throw a finish on top of it and make it look even nicer make it look
classy make it look really clean or they can take a kind of a poor leather throw
a finish on top and kind of disguise it as a better leather and I don't
think the Doc Marten did that intentionally because having a shiny
finished leather is kind of Doc Martens thing but they definitely threw a nice
finish over top of a cheap leather so overall solovair's is a way better
leather it's gonna last longer it's gonna be more comfortable in the long
run it's gonna give you some support in your ankle it's just a better leather
now to the shank so the Doc Martens do not have a shank the solovairs have a
wooden shank and this might be the biggest problem with the Doc Marten
boots is they have no shank whatsoever and if you haven't seen the why a boot needs
a shank video I'll put a link to that in this video wherever the cards are but
this boot needs a shank and it's not obvious right up front but about once
again the 100 hour mark this whole boot starts to collapse and you lose all
support in this arch area and after standing for a long day with the boot
without a shank and a boot with a shank the Doc Marten boots are
so much more uncomfortable and my my foot was so much more tired because I
didn't have that support in the arch and part of that is probably because of the
midsole the midsole is this kind of matted material and it might as well not
be there because once it starts being compressed it doesn't really make any
difference it's so thin compared to the solovairs you might as well not have a
midsole in there versus the solovair boots which in the solovair video I kind
of threw some shade at them because they use a wooden shank but I kind of retract
that statement and that sentiment because this had a lot more support in it and
that wooden shank actually did provide a lot of support so solovair
significantly better outshines the the Doc Martens by 10 times I would I
would way rather have a wooden shank than no shank any day and then to the
last thing that we're gonna talk about is the welt and kind of the footprint of
these boots the Doc Martens I actually really like the way these boots are
structured it's got a really wide footprint and the welt
sits along side of the upper versus the solovairs they've kind of got that
classic Doc Marten style where the welt is kind of tucked underneath the upper
and that's one thing I do not like about the solovairs
I hate when boots do this because when you're first wearing them in your pinky
toe feels like it's sitting on top of a ridge and even when the boots are really
broken in you still have a little bit of pinky toe rubbing versus a boot like
this it has a wider platform and the welts sits like outside of the upper or
on the side of the upper you don't ever have to deal with that problem and it's
I think it's a more comfortable boot initially and it's more comfortable in a
long run because there's a structure underneath of the insole that the welt
is stitched to so if your pinky toe is sitting on top of that there's a lot
more like material for it to break in and it's just not gonna break in as much
or as well as if it was just sitting on top of the midsole I think that makes
sense so you know I I really like the footprint of this boot and I like I like
the way that the welts it's but once these are broken in they're fine
any time I look at a boot that's one of the first things they look
at is how is the welt positioned am I gonna be standing on the well for the
first three months of wearing these boots so on that aspect I do like the
Doc Martens better so that's kind of like the biggest things that bothered me
about these boots so to bring it all together which boot's a better boot solovair is a way better boot night and day difference everything but a few little
things like the welt position are better on the solovair they are better leather better construction they've got a shank everything's just
better about the solovairs and they're cheaper than the Doc Martens so solovair is a better boot so you might be thinking like well that wasn't that
hateful but the thing that I hate most about these boots is they could be a
good boot but they're just not like I feel like I've been sold like for 230
dollars this boot is kind of garbage you know when you really start breaking it
down and seeing what's in the inside of it compared to a cheaper boot from a
smaller company who has less resources and less distribution to make a better
boot for cheaper like it makes me hate these boots because these boots have so
much potential if they spent time and money and make to make a decent boot
like I would love these boots but these are marginally better than their boots
that are half the price that you can buy on Amazon and so the thing I hate is
like I feel like I was a little bit lied to that these are premium boots it's a
different leather and slightly different construction and they are made in
England but they're basically the exact same boot has a cheaper boots they just
need to improve a few things and that's the thing I hate when people disagree
with things or don't like something and don't have a solution so to make these a
better boot they just need to put a shank in it use better leather because
they used to use better leather they need a decent midsole like the old doc
martens had a decent midsole you know I don't need a cork midsole for a $230
boot but give me something more than this freaking garbage and then if you
want to get real crazy let's make Doc Martens resoleable like
why not like I know that like the like this seam sewing or like the heat sewing
is kind of their thing but if I'm going to spend 230 dollars on a boot I
would like to be able to resole them because these soles wear out fast
and like there's tons of reviews on people like wearing these shoes for a
long time and the souls wearing out fast they don't wear out as fast for me because
I'm on smooth concrete but like still I would like to resole these boots so I'm
actually gonna try to make better Doc Marten boots and I kind of talked about
this in a different video but I bought a pair of like $30
made in England used boots and I'm gonna try to improve it in all those ways so
be on the lookout for that video and let me know if I'm off on this am I just
like having a bad day and just hating on Doc Martens or do you guys agree with me
and if you're Doc Marten lover was I off you know it's kind of a crappy boot for
the money if it was cheaper I'd be all about it like if there's $100 I would buy the
boot for $100 yeah that's kind of why I hate these boots and I'm like hate is a
strong word but I just really really don't like these if you're a doc marten
girl and you didn't get that reference are you Doc Marten girl see you
