When these were made in Scotland they were made of tougher material than the ones now made in China.
Now the rubber seems to break down at the point where your big toe connects to the foot, i.e. at the flex point and in a section of the boot that is unfixable.
In decades past I could buy a pair for general gardening and winter use and get 10 years out of them. The soles and heels would wear away before they leaked. But not now.
What sort of rubber are they made of ?, EPDM ??
Andrew
Can't comment on Argyles but wellies seem to be a bit of pot luck these days. My wife used to always buy Hunters, but they no longer seem to guarantee long life. I tend to use Mole Valley (was Countrywide) own brand basics, you sometimes find something very similar branded Dunlop, but obviously made in the far east. Sometimes they last, sometimes not.
Not sure of the rubber (but not NR/SBR because bicycle patches and "rubber solution" don't stick properly). Could be EPDM.
I always used to find PVC reliable for kids wellies.
It happens that newshound formulated :
I still wear my dad's old Dunlop wellies, from the 1950's. No leaks yet.
Dunno. But I had the same problem with Gill wellingtons which I bought for yachting purposes. They began to leak within less than a year (of fairly light usage, too).
Dunlop is now Hevea (footwear) or Sports Direct (clothing) in the UK. I think the Dunlop Liverpool factory closed in 2000.
According to this
Owain
Don't know, but Alaska boots went through a phase where they cracked in the middle of the tread below the ball of the foot along the line of the tread pattern. They have been made in Russia for some time, but as you rightly say, often they use a kind of rubber/plastic stuff that will not survive as much flexing as they used to. My guess is its when the bean counters decide that on paper the new substance is as good as the old but much less expensive to get made in the shape they need.
Brian
but they are cheaper to make....
I go to the builders merchants and buy the cheapest.
They were made of better stuff back then.
I found this website where the owner has noticed similar problems :-
Someone in the comments have pointed the finger at lack of ozone resistance.
Local SCATS/Mole Valley sells wellies for well over £100. Sod that, I just want a pair that I can use maybe a few times a year (if that). At this time of year the flood plain across to the RSPB visitor centre can only be used when wearing wellies and the round trip involves some walking on back roads and pavements, so I used to mechanically wear out a pair of Argyles to the point where the soles would end up with a hole and then leak. Since production was moved to China they only last about 2 to 3 years even if hardly used at all.
But if you are forced to buy a new pair every 2 to 3 years they are now damned expensive to buy over a longer period.
I have wide feet and Argyle wellies are very comfortable to wear and also come in 3/4 length where the circumference of the opening is larger than Dunlop wellies hence easy to slip on and kick off while both hands are full of other 'stuff'.
My Hunters came at reduced price from Norwich market, picked up when I was in the area over 35 years ago. Looks like I had better cherish them. ;-)
I tend to use a more ordinary pair around the garden, whilst the Hunters spent the winter in the car boot, since I could drive OK with them, should the need arise.
Chris
Daughter 2 gave me my Hunters, like you I could drive in them. My gardening welies came from Lidl.
+1 or even from Screwfix etc. I've had a £10 pair in the back of my car for 5+ years that have had a lot of usage and are still going strong. Also easy to drive with them on.
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I have a pair 10 yr old ..... performing well, but no idea where they were made.
In similar vein I had 2 pair of army bots (Combat High) made by G.B.Britton (TUFF) and bought in their factory shop (when it was open)
Didn't wear for a about 2 years, put them on and as I was walking noticed, black marks ...... the sole and heels had become very soft and was leaving stripes of rubber with every step .... SWMBO was not pleased with the mess it made on tiled floor in utility room.
Didn't realise rubber disintegrated like that.
Same thing happened to me!
45 years ago! Took my new pair of army boots onto the factory shop floor and then attended a meeting in the managers office. Then spent 30 minutes trying to scrape black sticky rubber off his carpet. Bearing manufacture; shop floor covered in coolant/oil residues!
In 2008 I bought a new pair of Elten chainsaw boots but very soon after I took a job where I was issued a much nicer pair of Meindl ones, so I put the Eltens away. When I retired 5 years ago, I decided to wear the Eltens for a private job but by the end of the day the soles had disintegrated.
Too late to complain but I asked Elten if it was possible to resole them. They said the polyurethane had failed through hydrolysis and because they were moulded on could not be repaired. I now wear ordinary safety boots if I used a saw.
For walking the dog I have EVA wellies. They last a year. £25 warm and light as a feather. I am on my 4th pair. They do not degrade, ecen when left outside
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