Spent the day yesterday shopping for new work boots. Needed a strong sole for jumping on shovels, hopefully not too hot, since we run over 100 degrees here alot in summer. Been buying $100 day hikers called Merrill Ventilators, due to excellent ventilation and cooling, but they last about 30 days under hard use.

Shopped 6 different shops from small to large, outdoors outfitters to logging supplies. If you want boots made in China, Bang the dish, or Vietnam, I can hook you up. If you want American made, I can't tell you where 1 single pair exists.

They say, "Buy American!". Yeah, would love to. Problem is, I can't!

So if a patriot wants to do the right thing, but corporations won't stock their shelves with American goods, who's to blame for all our dollars ending up in another country rather than supporting families at home?

Who's to blame for the mass exodus of jobs from here to some third world sheithole? Is it the American patriot, or is it the American Traitor, the corporations, whether retail or wholesale, that won't give us a choice?? If I could have found them, I swear I would have gladly paid more for American goods.

I did not.

When China and/or India collapse our dollar, I'll remember who to thank for making it possible.

Labor Unions is the short answer.

Unionbootpro.com has all the Made in the USA boots a guy could ever need. I have ordered many times in the past through them and been very pleased with Thoroughgood Boots

Believe these are still American. And I love mine!

http://www.redwingheritage.com/boot...ing-heritage-mens-iron-ranger-boot-amber

No American made boots available in the shops I hit.

Kinda hard to buy unfamiliar boots through the mail having no clue how they feel or fit. Now, boots that you buy repeatedly, yes. Otherwise, you're gambling on fit. If they don't fit, you package them up, send them back, try again, and again.

How long you got to buy boots?

You need to go to a different store, good American boots are made in Oregon by more than one company.

Plus exorbitant tax rates, Dimocrap workers who work 50% of their time on the job, kids who can't read, and Dimocraps showing up looking for a way to get hurt and sue.

I'd hate to wear boots from china due to the possibility of carcinogens in the leather.

Danner boots Made in USA

http://www.danner.com/product/work/#features=79

Check out Whites. They are built in Spokane Wa.
http://www.whitesboots.com/location.php

For over twenty years I chose their lower cost alternative, the Hathorn. I still keep a pair in the closet. When my feet start hurting from wearing light weight boots, I can switch back to the Hathorns for a few days and alleviate the pain.
http://www.whitesboots.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=409



I wore them all day every day 365 per year.
Minus fifteen degrees in the winter to 115 degrees in the summer at my work station. Fifty to sixty hours a week on rough concrete floors. The original Vibram sole would last me two years and then I could get another year out of a resole.

In 1985 dollars, $50 boots were destroyed in three months. $100 boots would last six months. The Hathorns were the most inexpensive boots I ever found.

Whites, Danner, Nicks, WESCO, Hoffmans, and more.
Hawthorne is a damn good boot for the money.

Not available at the stores we shopped. With the exception of Danners, which, IIRC from prior campfire threads, are not all made in USA.
At any rate, I did buy Danners a few times in the past, as have a couple buddies, and we all moved on. I quit wearing them as hunting boots because they squeaked, which wouldn't be as big a deal for workboots as it was for hunting boots.

Methinks the problem isn't that there aren't American made boots, it's that you aren't shopping in the right places.

I guess one could go to McDonalds and Burger King in search of a kobe filet.....

The manufactures websites will easily lead you to a dealer.

Whites and Hathorns are sold universally through the Pacific North West.

Don't know if there is a Murdochs near you but they carried Whites and Hawthornes.

Not sure what that's about. I didn't have any pre-conceived plans of shopping at the McDonalds of shoes stores, and when I was looking at $300 hikers I was pretty sure I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

The American made shoes just weren't on the shelves of any of the shops I went to.

LL bean makes excellent boots and they have an unconditional lifetime warranty.

I don't know about LL Bean's boots, but I know their jeans used to be made in the USA and then they came from Mexico.

My point being that things change, and you need to check out the current situation.

Paul

Red Wings are still made in Good Ol Red Wing MN...

How about Danner's over at the Big R in White City? or did they sell out to overseas also?

There's no doubt American made boots, the problem is they aren't available in any of the usual places a guy goes to shop for boots. Even Roleys Supply (logging and industrial) didn't have anything but Chinese.

Late in the day made a stop at REI and got measured, and fitted to a pair that should work. Got some good old American customer service, what a concept.

Bought a pair there because, you know, we needed to get home by 7pm to cook for kids. Can't spend forever looking for American made boots if no one in our area wants to stock 'em.

I wear slip on work boots, and found a pair of HH boots. They are made in the USA.

Was glad to find them.

Boots in Medford

Blackbird was next, but it was 6pm and time to finish.

Double H boots. Made in the USA.

http://www.doublehboots.com/Product?stockNo=DH1552

BP...

So, let me get this straight.
You bought a pair of boots yesterday evening, then started this thread this morning?
Is that correct?

I believe Altama boots are made in the USA too

Try Danner Boots. I believe that they're still manufactured in Oregon. I have a pair that's at least 20 years' old, and they're still in great shape.

I ALWAYS try to buy American. I bought a few pounds each of R-19 & R-22. I was surprised that Reloader powder is made in Sweden.

Somewhere along our path toward becoming a satellite state of a one-world-government, we were duped in to becoming a consumer-driven economy. Since about 2000 we have lost at least 40,000 American factories, mostly to China; and have lost at least 6 million good-paying American factory jobs, mostly to China. Politicians have told us that it was progress. They forgot to add that it was China's progress and our regress.

As far as I know, no TV is made in America.

Pounding on a chinese computer about wanting to buy american has never made sense to me..

P.S... Most of our crew and a lot of our subs are going to Keens.

Don't care where they are made, the fuggers are awesome..

Good boots are available in ALL the places in which I shop for boots. And I am pretty sure Medford Oregon has a much better selection of boot stores than does Payette County, Idaho or Ontario Or.

Over the years, I have made it a point to remember which retailers carry the goods in which I am interested.



On top of that, the OP suggests that the guy has been paying $100 per month for footwear for quite some time, and is ready for a change.

But he has never spent five minutes at the computer to find where the good stuff is sold in his neighborhood. Nor has he, in all his years ever noticed the shops which sell real men's work boots.

Yet he seems insulted when viable alternatives are offered up.

Perhaps someone was just wishing for commiseration with his self imposed misfortune.

Oh gee, that'd be super! Thanks for the insight!






The irony here is that I thought spending most of a day driving around looking in Grants Pass and then Medford was doing a pretty normal thing when looking for a different brand and model of boots. I didn't realize I was such an odd duck.
What I should have done was plan it well in advance. Spent some time on the computer, talked with real men that wear real shoes, men like you, not like me, and not went to town with any expectation of finding anything made in America at all. Why should I have been surprised to find no American made boots in 6 stops? I should have expected it, and since I should have been clairvoyant, I should have avoided those 6 McDonalds-grade shoe stores and went to the one's I didn't know about or were the farthest away first. Why use logic like going from the closest to the farthest when driving? That's stupid.

Clearly, I should have gone straight to the real man's store, and skipped all the others. And I should have expected to spend days doing it, not one day.

I should have known that my disappointment at not finding American made products in half a dozen shops would be ridiculed as poor planning, being out of touch with real mens products, and general inadequacy as a man. What was I thinking?

Since I know all that contributed did not have the intention to create this sentiment, I want to thank those guys, you know who you are. For the ones that have nothing to offer but criticism, you can just keep it to yourself, I have no use for it.

Who's to blame ? The American public...
You can buy American...
Wesco and whites are the best and you will never be sorry you spent the extra money
I started wearing the when redwing started farming out to china and their us made quality went down hill.
Wesco will outlast 5 pear of redwings. Murder to break in tho.

Pointer jeans. Made in USA

You won't find these at your local wall mart..

I haven't been to a wall mart in 20 years. NOT ONE TIME...
There are still good products made here you just have to look..

I buy the US Made Danners. But not all Danners are made in the USA.

I also buy Redwings like Bob mentioned. Great boots for every day wear. Redwing does have a Chinese line also, nowadays. But I buy the USA ones

Most dangers are farmed out...

As for Red Wing's steel toe line, in 2010 the RWs I got then were USA, now that same boot is made in China. Just so Seafire knows.

They do still make a few specific lines here but many Red Wings are made in China.

But....,also so are MUCK boots (made in China) and those are damn fine boots for slop and cold.

Surprised someone has not mentioned Thorogood. All of their boots are made in the U.S. and are priced competitively with a lot of the Chinese stuff. I'm going to get a pair when my Wolverines die.

http://www.weinbrennerusa.com/dspNavCategory.cfm?rootid=1

If given a reasonable alternative I would go made in the USA.

Not sure if you can even find American made computer type [bleep]/electronics?


Who knows.

Last 2 pair of boots I bought were made in Canada. Those and a pair of Italian hikers.

And another pair of Schnees pacs last winter, made in Montana if I'm not mistaken?

And I also have a pair of Chinese Ariats that are okay.



Bonafide boot junky.......grin



Construction days were USA Redwings, great boots.

I love American made.

That's why I'm buying a Tundra.



Travis

They make excellent car-pickups!

Tundra's are awesome.. We're looking at one in the next few mths..

Deflave, nice fish on the knife board.. hope you had a good trip..

Oregon.....
WTF?
Good comedy, though.
You boys wanna be taken seriously you better move out and clear your mind........
Or lay off the weed......

My wildland boots are custom 13" wescos.. Great boot, don't use them much on a jobsite.. Keen's are the chit. I'll risk the foot cancer..

All Thorogood boots are not made in the USA. Like most companies, they've outsourced some of their lines as well.

Seems like someone who can bitch online about shopping for American made boots ought to be able to shop online for American made boots. But what do I know? I just spent an extra $20 for an American made belt that I bought online. I should have just saved my money and bitched about not being able to find anything made in America instead.

Red Wing still has several boots that are made in the USA. In fact, their web site has the option to list boots only made in the USA.

Red Wing Boots Made in the USA

A lot of Justin's are USA made. Two plants here in southwest Missouri.

I did stop buying foreign made dog treats.

kaywoodie check them carefully because Redwing is having boots made in china. I don't which models or how many but have seen them with made in china tags. Cheers NC

Yeah, we don't do that either.. only frozen marrow bones for the nut brain and bob tail.

the red wing site lists my boots as being made in usa.
the tag inside them says china,though.

Yeah I did when I bought my first pair of iron rangers back in 2012. Model 8111. Here's my second pair I bought and put away.



But you are correct! You gotta look to make sure!!! I really like these boots. I wanna say Chippewa makes these for Red Wing.

Thorogoods, made in milwaukee wisconsin, all american sourced materials, but some of you guys wont buy them cause they're a union shop. Ones i get are 149$ and feel broke in when i get them.

I tried this song and dance, ended up forgoing until next season as I couldn't decide. Buying Made in the U.S.A gear is increasing difficult and tremendously more costly.

A better question to this, does anyone know of a store that carries largely US made goods? Sure is hard to buy boots over the interweb that cost what a good pistol should.

http://www.madeinusa.org/

Not much apparently, otherwise you would know that most of us NEED to try the boots on for size and fit.

I have the same problem here, I cannot access anything of quality unless I make a specific trip to a large country centre or city, as there is nothing of worth available locally.


And if you think it is a bitch for blokes to access good clothing/footwear, ask the females in your family what it is like trying to find well fitting quality under garments locally.

Just steer clear of the Chi-Com kiddie slides.