Breaking in work boots is such a job that needs patience. While purchasing your boots make sure they are fit. To break in new pair of boots, start wearing them indoors. The most efficient methods of breaking in work boots are, wearing winter thick socks, using boot stretcher, applying leather conditioner, and usage of indoor stairs to go up and down. Avoid submerging your new pair of boots in water or applying them direct heat.
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Right work boots
While purchasing your boots, make sure you are choosing the right pair with the right number. If you have brought your work boots with the wrong size or number mistakenly to your home, it will be better to exchange or return them to the specific shop instead of letting them hurt you for months.
So, at the time of purchase, you should not ignore the hot spots, pinches, and uncomfortable areas. Remember work boots with the wrong size and number will keep on hurting you in spite of all possible efforts of breaking in.
Techniques of breaking in work boots
If you think being comfortable with your waterproof work boots really matters and is important for you. Let us go through some tips and techniques that will break up your boots according to your choice. For work boots, detailed knowledge is necessary as they are manufactured harder as compared to regular boots. So it is more difficult to break them in as compared to regular boots.
Walking Around at Home
Do not use your new pair of work boots immediately for outdoor activities all day. Keep in mind once work boots are used for outdoor activities they are unable to be returned within the warranty period. You should use your new work boots for 15 to 20 minutes just before or after your daily work at home. Time can be increased gradually.
This method may take at least one week to break in the new pair. During this period, placing the middle of your work boot sole on edge of the stairs and rocking it back and forth will quickly break in the boots. It seems a time-consuming process however it is quite a natural and long-lasting method. I am sure you will not regret using it.
Recommendation: Walking around at home is a very easy, natural, and effective method. It is a little bit time-consuming as it takes about 1 week to break in boots.
Applying leather conditioner
When our skin is dry, hard, and stiff, what do we do? We obviously apply moisturizer. Likewise leather is animal skin. To break in new pair of leather work boots efficiently, leather conditioners are applied. They can be creams, different types of liquids, or sprays.
Leather conditioners when applied nourish our work boots by increasing their life span. After the application of leather conditioner, work boots will bend and mold easily to conform to feet shape. The leather conditioner application technique can be used once, twice, or as many times as required to break in the boots.
Recommendation: Applying leather conditioner is an easy, efficient, and quick method but it is not cost-effective comparatively because you will be spending your money to buy the conditioner.
Wearing thick winter socks
Wearing thick winter socks is also a true method to break in new pair of work boots. Thick socks provide padding to your feet which avoids hurting them in uncomfortable areas. Thick socks put a gradual pressure to stretch and break in the leather material of boots.
After wearing your new pair of boots with socks, you can walk for 20 minutes to half an hour on your lawn on daily basis. Just after a week you will find your boots completely broken in without any damage to your feet or boots.
Recommendation: The thick socks method is a very easy, long-lasting, and cost-effective technique that needs one week at least to break into work boots.
Mechanical boot stretcher
A mechanical boot stretcher is an instrument made of steel and wood that helps break in work boots quickly and efficiently. Put the instrument inside the work boot. Clockwise cranking of the metallic handles will expand the size of the boot stretcher. It will ultimately loosen and expand your boot to break in according to your foot size.
You can break in your work boot in only 5 hours by using this method. It is expensive in that sense as you need to spend extra money to purchase it. But once you have bought it, it will work for years breaking in a lot of pairs of your boots.
Recommendation: A mechanical boot stretcher is a very quick, efficient, and decent technique. Here you will pay some extra money for buying a boot stretcher.
Application of boot stretching spray
Many people believe that using boot stretching spray is an efficient method to break in your new pair of boots. This technique can be applied when you want to break in your boots quickly. Many kinds of boot stretching sprays are available in the market.
Make sure to clean the leather surface before spray application. After its application, the spray softens the hard leather allowing it to mold and expand easily. For obtaining desired results the process can be repeated.
Recommendation: Boot stretching spray is also an efficient and time-saving technique that will be a little bit expensive because boot stretching spray is an additional product to be bought.
Extra pair break-in method
If you have extra pair of work boots then use them with new pair in an alternative fashion. For example, if you wear new pair on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, You can use extra pair on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The objective is to slowly mold new pair of boots without hurting your feet. Actually, this is not a separate technique of breaking in boots. Rather it is a supplementary technique that can be used in combination with the above-mentioned techniques.
Recommendation: The extra pair break-in method is a long-lasting, moderately effective method that can be used as a supplement to every technique
Hot moist towel technique
Take a rough towel or a useless piece of cloth. Now moisten this towel slightly with warm water. Cram the moistened towel all the way in for one an hour at least. Remove the towel and gently pat it inside with the dry towel. Put the boots on for 30 minutes. It will quickly break in. above mentioned techniques can be supplemented using this technique.
Recommendation: The hot moist towel technique is also a moderately effective and quick way to speed up the breaking-in process. It can also be used in combination with other techniques.
Hydration techniques
You will probably find someone advising you to soak the pair of new work boots in a 70% filled water bucket, to stretch its leather material. Saturating work boots with water (hot or cold) is quite a useless idea.
Leather has a certain limit to withstand water saturation. After that specific limit, it may warp out, losing its original shape. So, direct water application is an irrational approach to breaking into your work boots. It is a risky method that may result in a waste of time and money.
Recommendation: While using the hydration technique, soaking your boots in water to submerge them is not a rational practice nor is it recommended.
Heat application technique
There are some other guys convincing you to bake your newly purchased work boots in an oven at a lower temperature to loosen their leather to break in quickly. They also claim the usage of a hair dryer for heating work boots directly. Remember, direct heating in these ways can damage the leather boots, ultimately wasting the money that you have spent. Direct application of heat or water will certainly lead towards such haste that will certainly make waste.
Recommendation: The heat application technique is not consumer friendly. Direct heat application can deteriorate the leather boot material. So it should be avoided.
Statistical pieces of evidence
Work boots are used after breaking them in properly all over the world generally and in developed countries especially. For example in Japan 3.48 million pairs of work boots were prepared in 2021 and buyers were provided all the information to break in their newly bought product.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The Time taken to break in a new pair of work boots ranges from 1 day to 1 week at least. However, it varies from company to company and brand to brand.
Direct application of water should never be encouraged as it can deteriorate the leather quality, wasting your money.
Yes. It may or may not. But remember by opting for this method you are taking risks to deform and warp the leather material of your boots.
These are a mechanical boot stretcher, leather conditioner, and stretcher spray which are recommended for a quick break-in. using thick socks, a moist towels and walking around at home are moderate but durable and long-lasting methods.
Yes, they are. It is because they are made of harder leather to work in the field rather than sitting on a chair in the case of regular boots.
The most important thing in this regard is that you should be conscious and wise enough at the time of purchase. Do choose the right size and number of your boots. Never ignore foot arch or discomfort when you are selecting your product. It is because work boots paired with the wrong size or number can never be broken in for you to fit snugly.
Bottom Line
You can combine two or more technique to get results faster. You can use the mechanical boot stretcher method accompanied by thick socks. Leather conditioner can be used along with the moist towel method for quick results. You will select the technique according to your time, resources, and other prevailing conditions. Moreover, you can use one technique repeatedly if needed.