I’m in the market for a good pair of hiking boots, saw no posts about it, so I thought, might as well!
Any good recommendations?
I must say that I’m also rather unfamiliar with what makes a good pair of hiking boots so I’d be grateful if you’d share why they’re good.
Not Canadian, but Hanwag makes amazing boots in Germany.
Vessi makes hiking shoes but specializes in waterproof everyday footwear rather than hiking gear, so their hiking options likely don’t match dedicated outdoor brands.
It’s been a while since I looked myself (not using the ones I bought all that often so they look almost new), but I don’t recall coming across any Canadian ones unfortunately.
At first I thought, Arcteryx has been doing some hiking shoes/boots, but they haven’t been Canadian owned for over 2 decades and I found them a bit too gimmicky personally.
As for what to look for, you need to realize what you find comfortable. For example I need arch support and wider toebox. You’re gonna be wearing them for extended periods of time and you don’t want blisters/discomfort.
I ended up trying a bunch in various shops and ordering a pair of Danners (not Canadian) online from a place where I could do free return, in case they didn’t fit. It was the closest to my need, but I still had to get additional insoles for arch support.
Once you think you got it figured out, do yourself a favour and wear them at home for a few days, and see if anything is rubbing etc. “Breaking shoes in” is bollocks, mine were leather and didn’t require any breaking in.
Hope that helps at least a little bit
Thanks for the reply and suggestion! It’s sort of unfortunate that we don’t have Canadian options, esp given that Canada has once been active in the textile industry, and that many of us (at least, it seems to me) love our great outdoors.
But yeah, thanks for pointing out the potential need to just get additional stuff like insoles to support my feet. Sounds like it’s gonna be a bit of a hunt, and part of it is cause I’m not even sure what exactly do my feet need.
If non Canadian is an option look for European brands like Lowa, Mammut, Salewa or Geox. All good quality companies!
Good shout. I do know Lowa are, or at least some models(?), made in central Europe. I did like some design from them but it was seemingly impossible to find in lower mainland BC to try back then.
No sporting life over there? Lowa I would think it’s pretty much available where hiking boots are sold. But maybe I am mistaking. Edit: check their homepage. They have a store locator I see.
They did open one during COVID actually IIRC, we went there at the time since everything was always empty but the choice of products (at the time) was poor. No idea what it’s like now, it’s kinda out of the way of any route we take to get anywhere so generally not worth a stop.
Arcteryx has been doing some hiking shoes/boots, but they haven’t been Canadian owned for over 2 decades
Sad to learn this :-/
Ikwym …I only checked as I was writing my original response and was disappointed myself.
