7 Mistakes Only Boot Noobs Make

I've made these mistakes when buying boots maybe you've made these mistakes they're pretty common and whether you're just getting started and getting your first or second pair of high quality boots or you've been building your collection for years these are seven of the worst mistakes that if you avoid you'll save yourself a ton of time and money when you're first getting into high quality boots there's a much wider variety of sizes available than back when you were just wearing sneakers with boots you have both wide and narrow sizes not many people know this but sneakers are generally D width or standard width you may have been buying size 11 sneakers when your foot is more like a 10.5 wide or a 10.5 e do yourself a favor before buying your next pair of boots and get your foot properly sized on a brand new device seriously check out how easy this is [Music] foreign [Music] two minutes now I know exactly what my branic sizing is it's a 10 and a half deep that metal thingy is called a branic device which is a universal measurement tool knowing that measurement is going to help you tremendously throughout the rest of your boot buying life probably the number one question guys have when buying a new pair of boots is how to correctly size for any particular brand most boot brands will tell you how their boots fit relative to the branic device but even if they don't knowing your exact foot size is going to help you track down the best size in any brand you're shopping for so the number one mistake boot noobs make is just guessing what their foot size is based on the last pair of shoes they wore hot tip Nikes and Red Wings fit differently fix this mistake by going to a local shoe store and asking to have your foot measured write that number down and like Gandalf says keep it secret keep it safe if you're just looking for a good pair of boots you can get sucked down a wormhole and end up like one of those Reddit guys who won't settle for anything less than a 1200 pair of boots that can survive ten thousand feet below the surface of the Earth the construction on this boat is phenomenal that's why I like to start with the budget only have 200 you can find a good pair of boots for that price looking for something that's going to last a little longer and you have 400 to spend you can narrow down your search and find something that's going to fit exactly what you need personally I think of boots in four different price categories there are the boots that are under 100 you should pretty much always avoid boots less than a hundred dollars there are a few accessions I've talked about on this channel before but as a rule cheap boots won't last long there are a lot of better options when you're willing to spend 200 or a little bit more you'll start seeing terms like Goodyear welt at this price level and the best brands are going to clue you into the construction and materials more you can really start to learn about Quality Boot making and things like leather quality at this tier a few of my favorite beginner brands in this realm are Mega seminar and Thursday Boot Company their quality is pretty solid the Leathers are no fuss and durable and they don't cost so much this is where boots really start to get interesting some guys start their boot Journey at this level and for most people this is all you ever really need probably the most popular boot in this price range is the Red Wing Iron Ranger in the mid tier you're starting to get custom and high high quality leathers and most of the improvements are actually in the insole and the midsole while you might not notice a huge stylistic difference a lot of boots in this range are much more durable than their less expensive counterparts I mentioned Red Wing is a good brand in this category if you can find some of their boots but another favorite of mine is Grant Stone you can easily stay in this range for your boots and build an amazing collection Brands like Truman Boot Company Grant Stone Oak Street boot makers they come out with interesting and hard to find Leathers all the time so a lot of guys find themselves diving deep into all the different aspects of boot making at this level if your budget is over 500 for a pair of boots you're either loaded or you've been around the boot block a few times I haven't heard too many guys swapping out their Vans for a pair of Nicks or viberg boots but I'm sure it happens usually these boot brands are made to order and have significant wait times to get them or at least that's been the story for the past few years the point I'm making here is that if you start with a budget you're going to make it a lot easier to find the best boot for your money so many guys start they find Thursday and then they find out oh grandstone has better construction and then they find out that Grant Stone pales in comparison to Nyx suddenly they've gone from a 200 dollar boot to a 700 boot thinking that only the top tier is worth getting but the truth is there are great Brands all along the Spectrum so the second mistake boot noobs make is that they don't set a budget ahead of shopping fix this mistake by setting a budget you're willing to spend on a new pair of boots with a bit of searching you can find the best Brands within that price range I have a ton of videos here on boots by to help but some other amazing boot reviewers you can trust are stride wise and Rose Anvil versatility is king that's why I always recommend the oh oh no no oh no there are plenty of boots that look cool but if you get something that's super unique one of a kind and really only works with that one outfit you're not doing yourself any favors if you can only get one boot get a simple Brown Boot something like a Thursday Captain the grant Stone diesel or the Red Wing Iron Ranger these are all simple boots that go with a wide variety of styles if you have a brown boot already and you're interested in a black boot same thing goes get something that's not too bulky or too trendy classic styles are always better for boots and if you invest in quality you'll be able to get years of wear out of them the third mistake boot noobs make is starting off with a complicated boot that barely matches anything in their closet so then they have to get another Boot and another and another to fix this mistake get a simple casual Brown boot then a dressier boot then a working boot once you've covered these bases you can go Hog Wild and get whatever you want I once had someone email me asking if they should be concerned that the boot they were looking at only had a Goodyear welt and not a Goodyear storm welt they claim that everything else on the boot was exactly what they were looking for except they were worried about the lack of the storm weld when they told me they lived in California where the last cloud in the sky was reported over a decade ago I was pretty shocked this is a prime example of getting psyched out from focusing too much on Minor Details for what it's worth your boots can probably handle whatever you're gonna throw at them and if you need a specific boot for work or for hiking then you'll probably know where to go to find the best specific brands for those use cases so the fourth mistake boot noobs make is turning Minor Details into deal breakers to me this mistake is easily forgivable because you may think a certain feature is a huge deal when it really doesn't affect the experience as much at all to fix this mistake hit the Subscribe button down below so you can learn the ins and outs of high quality men's boots and understand what the most important factors are when buying a new pair of boots whether you realize it or not there's a whole subculture to Boots and then there's sub subcultures to boots if you want to know exactly what I mean go spend a few days on Reddit like any subculture there's usually a mix of enthusiasts snobs and a few trolls who will drink the nearest Kool-Aid they can find like with most other communities especially in the world of men's fashion it's around 97 of guys who like good quality things and want to share their experience then two percent of people are snobs and say that only the absolute best quality is worth it and then there's one percent of people who just regurgitate whatever the last thing they read was now I like to check out the forums to find things that are impossible to know before buying like how the boots gonna age but a Surefire way to end up with a boot you never actually wear is to randomly follow someone from a forum and get a boot because a lot of people are talking about it at the same time make sure you take the time to figure out if it fits your budget if it works with your personal style and if the boot is going to add something new and versatile to your wardrobe room now if it's popular on the forums and checks all of those boxes for you then definitely go ahead and pick it up but the fifth mistake I see boot noobs make is they buy a boot they don't love because Reddit likes it now on the flip side of this I've seen some of my viewers in the comments say they really like a particular boot but we're dissuaded because they read some negative comments on Reddit too to fix this mistake continue using forms as a sort of due diligence on your boots but don't solely go off of what you're seeing there I like to find people with a similar style as me and see what's working for them then I see if the boot works with what I need and I go from there this next mistake can be controversial because I know you might be doing this yourself right now do you have multiple pairs of the same boot I was talking to someone the other day who owned four pairs of iron Rangers and that was it while I personally love the Iron Ranger you're not getting a lot of Versatility by owning four different pairs I can see two maybe maybe a brown and a black one but beyond that you're getting another casual Workwear type boot that basically just works with the same outfits the sixth mistake boot noobs make is buying too many of the same model of boot before getting a second pair of the same boots try some different Styles if I were building my boot collection from scratch I'd start with a brown casual boot then a dressy boot a black casual boot then a work boot and then a unique style in whatever color or shape you want there are three types of people in the world the first is Bob Mc conditions a lot he conditions his boots a lot it's my third time today [Music] some guys condition their boots once a month some every five to ten wears that's probably too much if you work in a special industry and your boots are regularly splattered with tar or concrete and you need to clean them often or if they get wet and soaked through then reconditioning that often may be necessary but in any casual scenario you really shouldn't be conditioning that often then there's Craig Von leathercraft red Von leather crack never does anything to care for his boots he doesn't brush them off he doesn't condition them and if they get wet he just throws them in his garage Craig Von leather crack doesn't get the full value out of his boots because the leather cracks or dirt clogs up the Weld and the stitching rots away or his boots just get moldy the third type of person is you and the whole boots by fan we clean condition and care for our Boots the perfect amount not too much not too little so the last huge mistake I see boot noobs make is that they either neglect their boots completely or they totally pamper them to fix this mistake there are a few basic rules to know first most of the time just brushing your boots with a horsehair brush is all that's really needed if there's a little bit of stubborn dirt you can use a damp rag to get the dirt off if your boots are seriously kicked in mud you can clean your boots with a little bit of Saddle soap just make sure to condition afterwards as for conditioning I usually condition all my boots at the same time about twice per year I just wear mine casually and I don't mind a few scrapes and scuffs here and there the exception is with dress boots but I'll usually polish dress boots which is a full separate thing when I'm not wearing my boots I use cedar shoe trees which help keep the moisture levels low and it allows the boot to retain its shape when it's not being used you probably could condition your boots every three months if you really wanted to keep them fresh looking but it's not necessary and on the flip side you can go also a full year between conditions if you wanted to do the bare minimum I mean you can never condition your boots and that would be the bare minimum but considering that conditioning your boots takes less than 10 minutes and can extend the life of your leather by a year or more it's definitely worth doing at least once a year if you want to know where to find the best boots right now and add that special something something to your collection make sure you watch this video right here I'll see you in the next video and until then put your best boot forward

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