Bit late to the party, but something to be aware of if you’re buying Solovair. I have a pair of astronaut boots, had them for about 20 months, worn them almost daily and I need to get them resoled now. I went to my local cobblers and they said they don’t do Solovair, they just do glue jobs. I went to Solovair (I’m local to their factory) and they said that they’re currently doing so much business that they’re not able to offer resoling. They provided details of two webshops (keycobbler.co.uk and bootrepaircompany.co.uk) who do offer this service, but that involves sending them off for weeks and weeks. So I’m going to need to buy a second pair of boots to wear while my first pair are out for repair. And the resole is a significant chunk of the original boot cost: I spent under £170 on the boots, and they’re going to cost £70 to resole plus shipping.

I’m still going to do it, I love them and I’d have spent a similar amount on trainers in the same period just through wear and tear, but it’s not particularly a money saver or a convenience.

I guess that when I do have two pairs I’ll be able to rotate them daily so this will be something that comes up every four years rather than every two.

No footwear is truly buy it for life, but if you get something resoleable with a goodyear welt you can get more life out of the footwear.

Redwing, Solovair, and Danner are examples of companies that offer some of their boots made in this way, but there are a number of other companies out there.

Redwings, had a pair last 5+ years of 16 hr days. Re-soled and wore them another 5 years before throwing them out