Pros: Comfortable, steel toe, good customer service
Cons: Glued soles may be an issue after a few years of even light wear.
The Bottom Line: I love my dr. martens shoes, this pair are the only ones I've ever had a sole failure. Dissappointing, hoping the company will honor the manufacturing defect warranty.
suemccartin's Full Review: Dr. Martens 0053 for Women
I believe the pair of boots I have may be a slightly older model than these but they look pretty much identical.
These are the most comfortable steel toed work boots I've ever owned and up until recently they were very tough and durable boots. I've had these about four years now, they are hardly worn (maybe three or four times a month). I can walk for miles in these and they've saved my tootsies a few times when stuff was dropped on them. Like I said, I love these boots but the other day I looked down to see the heel completely separated from the left boot and signs that the right boot sole is also failing. I've got probably eight pairs of dr. martens shoes, I wear them to work every day and none of them have failed like these did. The difference in my other shoes is that the soles are "sewn" to the upper in some manner they are not just glued like these appear to be.
The uppers in my boots are perfect. The Dr. Martens website states that while there is no "lifetime" warranty for fit abuse etc., they will replace shoes with "manufacturing defects." They state that any retailer can return shoes with manufacturing defects to them at any time.
I contacted zappos.com about the problem, since it's been "too long" they refuse to assist me (see my zappos review) no matter what the Dr. Marten's web site says (and the customer service person went and read it himself too).
I've sent an email to Dr. Martens directly, I'm hoping they'll help me out, either by repairing these or replacing them. I just sent the email a few minutes agao, don't know how long it will take them to respond.
So to wrap this up....I will most likely never buy any more Dr. Martens shoes/boots with this type of sole. I did see at least one or two reviews on the Zappos web site from other people stating they had the same issue with these.
You might say to yourself...gee what does she expect after five years...I expect the same quality that all my other Dr. Martens shoes show and I've got several pairs even older than these that I wear to work every single day and none of the soles on those shoes has failed (but those are also sewn on not just glued like these are). Dr. Marten's are not cheap, even most of my work shoes I paid at least 50-80 dollars for and these boots retailed at over two hundred. They should last longer than they did with the sort of light use I put them to. I'm working on my motorcycle license, other than the steel toes these are perfect for riding (motorcyclists recommend plastic toes over steel) and I wanted them for that purpose. I'm glad I noticed the problem before the practical class because if I hadn't I would not have been able to do the skills part of the class at all if they'd failed during that.
Love the boots but right now I hope the company will help me out.
Size etc. comments: All the Doc martens I own that have non-welted soles (see explaination below) run a bit large and roomy from top of foot to sole. All of my no longer made mary jane style shoes are a bit wide for their us size. I normally wear a US size 8 regular width or a 7.5 wide width. The UK 5 is supposed to be the equivalent of a US size 7, I find they're wider than that, more like a US 7.5. The way these boots are made would be called a non-welted sole if they were sewn on. If you get "welted" sole shoes, as some of the newer mary janes and some of the boots, then I find that UK size is closer to US 7 as far as "height" from top of upper to the sole (ie. a bit tight on top for my 8 foot) but it's the same width and long enough for my foot. In other words, if I buy a welted sole shoe I'm tempted to get a 6 but I've found that even though the UK 5 (welted sole) starts out a bit tight they do eventually break in and are no longer tight across the top of the foot. (Welted/non-welted has to do with the way the sole is sewn on, welted means that the upper comes down around to foot to be flat on the sides around the shoe. On a welted sole, the sole is a bit wider than the upper and the upper is sewn flat to the sole. Welted soles were invented by shoe makers long ago (middle ages) to make it easier to replace worn out soles without damaging the often expensively decorated uppers of the hand made shoe. I imagine manufacturing wise a welted sole shoe may be easier to deal with as far as the machinery needed as well. A non-welted sole comes down straight on the sides and is not flattened out around the upper and sewn to the sole..I hope that made sense.)
update: the automated reply to the email contained an 800 number. The lady who answered the phone was very nice and said that they would look at them, but, she agreed the age of the shoes may become an issue. Even at 5 years old she didn't completely rule out that the company would do something for me. I didn't have the numbers off the boot to give her so I will be calling her back when I get home. The 800 number is 800-229-1262 for the USA. Not giving up yet, if it costs me ten bucks to ship them someplace for inspection that's still better than a hundred for a new pair. Boots along these lines are around 99.00 right now but I still prefer my old ones and I'd really like those back compared with a new pair (and I don't think the ones like mine are made anymore).
Update november 2009: I came home one day and there was a sizeable box waiting by my door. As I had not ordered anything I didn't know what could be inside. To my pleasant surprise, Doc Martins had sent me a new pair of boots, the same as my old ones. So apparently even if I could not find them on web sites anymore they must have had some stock.
I'm very pleased they honored their good name and replaced the boots, I still won't be buying any more glued on soles from Doc Martins. I have had other boots with glued soles that separated from the upper but those were a fairly easy repair with some good strong glue and a brick to hold it with weight on it till the glue dried. These didn't just separate from the upper, the whole sole actually deteriorated and developed holes in it. We'll see if these last longer under the same light use, maybe it was just a bad batch of rubber but since these are made in China these days....anything could have happened. I'm very happy that Doc Martens stood behind their product, now I feel like I got my original 200 bucks worth of shoe.
As for "doc martins for life" I've looked around but those seem to be a rare creature at least on the web. Depending on the price of those it could be worth it to never have to buy another pair.
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