Rocky Boots... or the Amazing Case of the Disintegrating Soles..

[Worf]

I'm not sure if someone's posted this before but I wanted to make sure the alarm is sounded long and hard on this one. I get boots provided with my job 2 years ago they bought me a pair of "waterproof" "insulated" Rocky Boots for in-field use. In that I had sveral pairs of boots I liked better at the time I put these Rocky's in my closet and only wore them once in a while in the winter. Yesterday we got 8 inches of snow so I said, let me put on the Rocky's while I snow blow.

Whelp to make a long story short the boots leaket terribly and my feet were almost frozen off. But that was nothing to what happened when I wore them to work this morning. I was stiling at my desk and went to get up and when I looked down I found the floor littered with black pieces of rubber. I thought, "eh I probably stepped in something", so I ignored it. However when I went to the bathroom I discovered that my feet were sticking to the ground. When I looked down I found a perfect footprint of a Vibram Sole in disintegrating rubber on the bathroom floor. I peeled to boots off and found that ANY pressure agaist the sole would result in large, melted gobs of disintegrating glob attaching itself to my hands, the floor, the carpet, the car. A google search revealed that this problem is well known, well documented and totally ignored by the company!

So... in the spirit of "Public Service" I'm warning any and all involved to NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BY ROCKY BOOTS!

Don't say you weren't warned.

Worf

 

[johnnycanuck]

If it was me I would contact the company and let them know what happened. See if they do anyting for you.
Johnny

 

[SteveAS]

It kind of sounds like a problem with the Vibram sole, rather than the manufacture of the boot itself. Perhaps Rocky got a bad batch of soles from Vibram?

 

[JonnyO]

Worf, what pair of boots do you have? I have a pair of Rocky's Paraboots and have had no issue with them at all.

 

[splintercellsz]

I wear the Rocky S2Vs snd they are great. Very comfortable... and the anti-ankle roll feature is nice, as are the drainage ports.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I had a pair and the same thing happened. I was shocked..and just had to throw them away.
HD

 

[dogguira]

My fiancé works at a mine. Most of the miners wear Ariats or Redwings.

 

[galopede]

I've had the same thing happen with a pair of Clark's shoes and a pair of Ecco boots. It doesn't seem to matter how often you wear them, more a matter of the age of the sole unit. Both were a moulded sole unit, not Vibram which surprises me with yours as Vibram I've always thought almost bomb proof!

The Clark's were the most embarrasing as I was in the middle of Cheltenham when I noticed the front of the sole on one shoe looked a bit loose. Within five minutes, both were hanging off - simultaneous disintegration! They'd not been worn that much either but were several years old. I got a couple of rubber bands froma nearby shop to hold them on as I shuffled back to my car!

The Ecco boots both went in a field. The heels collapsed with a sort of squelch!

I have stopped buying that really comfy moulded sole style shoe nowadays! Sticking with the Trickers for smart and William Lennon with jeans!

Gareth

 

[DeaconKC]

Call Rocky, I wore them for years working a maximum security prison and they were excellent. One time I called them and asked if I could get a new sole on mine. They asked how old they were and I told them almost a year old. They replaced them even though i told them they were NOT defective, just honest wear! They stand behind their product, call them.

 

[kiwilrdg]

Sounds kind of like the way Bates soles break down in a few years.