October Boot Wearing

During October I decided to keep track of which boots I wore and for how long. I tried to wear boots as much as possible, and wear taller boots whenever I could. I did my usual 'inch-hours' measurements where I took lo-tops as the zero-point and multiplied the height of the boot with how long I wore them for. If taller boots are better than shorter boots, then the higher the inch-hours score the better.

I managed to wear most of my boots, from my normal converse hi-tops, all the way up to my riding boots. I wore boots for a total of 272 hours, and lo-tops for only 43 hours. The boots I wore the longest were:
Converse XX-Hi: 87 hours (worn on 14 days out of 31. I even slept in these boots one night, which I enjoyed doing.)
Lonsdale Boxing boots: 58 hours (worn on 11 days)
Converse Hi-tops: 54 hours (worn on 8 days)
Adidas Boxing boots and Riding boots: both worn for 22 hours each.

I also wore my wellies on 15 days during the month, mainly in the garden, but managed to wear them for a total of 12 hours.

My total tally was 2,800 inch-hours if I ignored any times when I didn't wear anything. If I counted nothing as -2 inches, then the total was 1,940 inch-hours, which was equivalent to wearing Converse hi-tops for 864 hours, or 36 days straight. This was also equivalent to wearing my wellies for 139 hours, or  5.8 days.

By subtracting time spend wearing no shoes, I have to wear boots for a minimum length of time to avoid being in negative inch-hours. Since normal Converse are just over 2 inches taller than lo-tops, I need to wear them for just under 12 hours per day to break even. Alternatively I need to wear my wellies for only 3 hours a day to break even.

Converse Heights

I still can't really believe that I own a pair of the knee length Converse XX-Hi. I have been wanting a pair for years, ever since I first found out about them. I was curious how they compared to my other pairs of Converse so I prepared a chart:

The blue column is the height in inches from the ground. The red column is the height above a normal shoe or low-top trainer. The XX-Hi converse are higher than I was expecting. I realised they would be taller than any of my boxing boots but I think they are taller than my Doc Martens. I will need to compare them when I get back home.

Edit:
I am home now, after wearing the converse all day. For the record, the Converse XX-hi are taller than my DMs and only about 1/2 inch shorter than my green wellies! I also weighted them and they are 1146g for the pair, compared to 940-970 for the x-hi.

Boot survey part 2

After the recent snow and cold weather I have repeated the boot survey.
From a total of 470 people, (male 228, female 242),  30.56% of men were wearing boots and 78.51% of women wore boots. These are both increases over last month.

	Shoes	Ankle boot	Above the ankle	Calf length	Knee Length
Male	60.44%	23.96%	3.13%	2.08%	1.39%
Female	21.49%	21.90%	32.64%	14.05%	9.92%

Men:

Women:

Boot Wearing Survey

I decided to do a week-long survey of boot-wearing. This survey was conducted in and around where I work, which is in a mostly pedestrianised area. I made a note of how many people I saw while I was walking around, mainly walking between the car park and my office, and whether they were wearing shoes/trainers, ankle boots, above the ankle, calf length or knee length boots.

In total I observed 1048 people, 536 male and 512 female. 

Only 19.03% of males were wearing  boots, while 58.01% of females were wearing boots.

	Shoes	Ankle boot	Above the ankle	Calf length	Knee Length
Male	80.97%	16.23%	1.87%	0.75%	0.19%
Female	41.99%	19.14%	23.24%	11.52%	4.10%

I wasn't surprised to record that women wore more boots than men. There was only 1 recorded man wearing knee length boots and that was a builder wearing wellies. I included myself in the tally, so my 20-eye doc martens and my boxing boots helped to boost the above-the-ankle and calf length count. In fact all but one of the male calf length boots were me - the other was a motorcyclist.

In the charts below, non=shoes/trainers, low=ankle boot, mid=above the ankle, high=calf length boot and top=knee length boot.

Women:

Men:

I might conduct the survey again in the summer and see how the results change.

Doc Martens weather

The weather is a bit grim today so I put my doc martens on this morning. I haven't worn them for ages (according to this blog, sometime in June). They were a bit dusty so I had to give them a brief clean before I laced them up.
It's a pleasant feeling, sitting at my desk in work, with the tall boots gently pressing on the back of my leg.

Riding Boots again

I've been wearing my riding boots again today. I've been thinking about them a lot and have missed the feeling of wearing a snug boot around my knee.
I put the boots on earlier this evening and I'd forgotten quite how snug they are. It's a very warm day again so I don't think I will be wearing them overnight again.

At the start of June, I mentioned that I was going to measure my boot-inch-hours for the month. I was too busy and only managed to record the details for the first half of the month. The days between the 9th and the 17th were exceptional because they included me wearing my riding boots a lot, including one day where I wore them non-stop for 24 hours. This gives a daily score of 372 boot-inch-hours. I wore my DMs or lonsdale boxing boots in work so every day was well over 100 boot-inch-hours.

The following week was probably more representative. I mostly wore my converse hi-tops, so the days scored 20-30. I wore my adidas boxing boots in work one day, which scored 50.

The scores are (inches above the ankle x hours worn) - (time not wearing boots x 2). The '2' comes from the ankle to sole of foot distance, so this sets a minimum wearing time to avoid getting a negative score.

8 days a week of boots

For the past week, including today the past 8 days, I've only been wearing tall boots. Most of my time has been spent wearing knee length boots - either my riding boots, wellies or Doc Martens. The shortest boots I've been wearing have been my Lonsdale boxing boots.

I have been sleeping in my boots quite a lot recently. Last saturday I decided to wear my new riding boots for the whole day. I put them on friday evening and slept in them overnight, then wore them for all of saturday. I took them off at midnight.

I have been wearing my Doc Martens in work if it's been raining, otherwise I've been wearing my boxing boots. Every evening I changed into my riding boots when I got home. I like wearing riding boots - I think the close fitting shaft of the boot looks great as it reaches up towards the knee. When I'm watching TV or reading a book, I find myself looking at the boots and enjoying the way they fit.

On thursday night I slept in my riding boots again. When I woke up on friday morning I changed into my boxing boots to go to work. I wore my wellies for a while before changing into my riding boots for the evening. When I went to bed I changed into my boxing boots and slept in those.

It is now the 2nd saturday of this 8 day week of tall boots. I plan to wear my boxing boots for most of the day - the weather looks like it might be warm so boxing boots and shorts might be good to wear. I intend to change into my riding boots this evening and sleep in them for one last time before I return to my more normal boot wearing routine.

Weighing my Boots

A few weeks ago I had a play on the Wii Fit while wearing my Lonsdale boxing boots. I thought the boots felt very light compared to my skate shoes, so today I decided to weight most of my boots and shoes.

Weights are in grams and are for a pair.

Vans Sk8 hi	1126
B&W Converse	945
Black Converse	880
Maroon Converse	905
Tall Converse	792
Adidas boxing boots	742
Gola boxing boots	732
Lonsdale boxing boots	820
Doc Martens	1742
Blue Wellies	2088
Le Chameau wellies	1958
Riding Boots	2278
Black and Red skate shoes	961
Grey Vans skate shoes	1080

Unsurprisingly the knee length boots were the heaviest. The one thing which surprised me was how heavy the Converse hi-tops were. I expected them to be much lighter than my skate shoes and didn't expect them to be heavier than my boxing boots.

Boxing Boots in work

I've been wearing my Doc Martens boots a lot in work. Today I'm wearing my old gola boxing boots for a change. I haven't worn these in ages. They are well padded and feel nice around my ankles.

Summary of 2009

Ok, so 2009 is over. I was successful in wearing boots for some part of every day. There were a few days when I nearly went boot-free but I always managed to slip on a pair of boots for at least a few minutes of each day.

The most popular boots were my Vans Sk8-hi (worn for 110 days) and my Doc Martens (worn for 81 days). This is the same way round as after 6 months.

Next in popularity were my Adidas boxing boots (62 days), closely followed by Le Chameau wellies and Gola boxing boots (joint 57 days). At the 6 month point, the order was Gola,Wellies, with Adidas tying with my Levi's tall converse.

Running order after 6 months:

1. Vans Sk8-hi
2. Doc Martens
3. Gola boxing boots
4. Le Chameau wellies
5. (joint) Adidas boxing boots & Levi's boots
6. B&W Converse
7. Blue Wellies
8. Other Converse

After 12 months:

1. Vans Sk8-hi
2. Doc Martens
3. Adidas Boxing boots
4. (joint) Le Chameau Wellies & Gola boxing boots
5. (joint) B&W Converse, Levi's & Lonsdale boxing boots (new entry)
6. Blue Wellies
7. Other Converse

I only bought the Lonsdale boxing boots in October but I wore them at least once every week so they did quite well after only a few weeks.

I wore my different types of boots roughly equally. Low boots includes Vans and Converse. Boxing boots includes my Levi's 'tall converse style' boots. Knee length includes Doc Martens and Wellies.

As expected, I wore low boots mostly in the spring and summer. Knee length boots were mostly worn in autumn and winter, being worn less during summer. I wasn't expecting boxing boots to be mostly an autumn thing.

The numbers vary because I would have worn more than one pair of boots for some days, so each would count towards the total.

After 6 months, my Blue Wellies were my newest pair. They cost £20 and I had worn them fewer than 20 times, which worked out as over £1 per wearing. By the end of 2009, I had worn them 31 times. I actually bought the boots in the autumn of 2008, so I had already worn them a few times before I started keeping count. They are probably down to 50p per wearing by now. They are starting to look a bit battered since I was wearing them when I was painting the house, so I might get around to replacing them sometime this year.

Week 51: busy in boots

Monday: Wore my Doc Martens in work. Changed into my green wellies when I got home. I went out to the shed to retrieve my blue wellies, which I put on the radiator to warm up. When I put them on later, they were lovely and warm. After wearing the blue wellies all evening, I changed into my Lonsdale boxing boots for about an hour.

Tuesday: Green wellies first, when I went outside to empty the bin. Then changed into my Doc Martens (trousers tucked inside the boots) to go to work. Trousers outside the boots when I got to work. When I got home I changed into my blue wellies. Later on, a couple of hours wearing my Lonsdale boxing boots.

On wednesday I started the day wearing my blue wellies, before briefly changing into my green wellies to go outside. After returning the blue wellies to the shed, I changed into my Doc Martens (trousers tucked inside the boots) for my journey to work. As with yesterday, I returned trousers to outside of boots when I got to work. In the evening I changed into my Lonsdale boxing boots again. My girlfriend was away so I decided to sleep in my boots again.

On thursday I decided to keep my Lonsdale boxing boots on and wear them all day

Friday I wore my Doc Martens all day.

At the weekend I wore my green wellies again. I only wore them briefly on saturday but I wore them a bit longer on sunday, when I put them on to go out to the shops.

This was another week when I only wore tall boots. The shortest boots I wore were my Lonsdale boxing boots, which at 13 inches, are still pretty tall.

Week 50: no short boots

I had a week of mostly wearing boxing boots. I had 4 days of wearing my Adidas boxing boots, and 2 days of wearing my doc martens. Today I wore my lonsdale boxing boots for a while, and briefly wore my green wellies too.

Week 49: Another week of Doc Martens

It's been another week of wearing my Doc Martens in work. I wore them for 4 days, and my Gola boxing boots for one day.

At the weekend I spent some time in the garden so I wore my green wellies. Back in the house, I wore my Lonsdale boxing boots for a while.

November Boot Inches

My November boot wearing data gathering is over. I'm not sure what to make of all the numbers I collected. I'll start with a few summaries:

I wore boots for 261 hours, out of a total of 720 hours in the month. I wore lo-tops for only 74 hours, leaving 385 hours when I wore no shoes.

My most-worn boots (in decreasing order):

• Doc Martens (139 hours)
• Adidas/Gola boxing boots (combined total 59¼ hours)
• Vans Sk8-hi (45 hours)
• Lonsdale boxing boots (8½ hours)
• Wellies (6½ hours combined for both pairs)

For my overall calculations, I counted lo-tops as zero and no shoes as -2 inches. This meant if I only wore short boots (eg. Converse or Vans) then I would have to be careful to avoid a negative score. Since I wore my Doc Martens and boxing boots so much, there was no danger of that happening.

My total for the month was: 1414 boot-inch-hours. This was equivalent to wearing Converse hi-tops non-stop for 628.5 hours.

The longest continuous period of boot-wearing was 13 hours, which happened on 2 days. Both occasions involved wearing my Doc Martens. The least amount of boot-wearing was 15 minutes. This was one sunday when I didn't leave the house. I briefly wore my Lonsdale boxing boots while I was using my computer, just to avoid having a boot-free day.

I might try the experiment again in the summer. The final total will be lower since I won't be wearing my Doc Martens as much.

Week 48: More Doc Martens

I've been wearing my Doc Martens a lot again. Wore them in work 4 days, and wore my Adidas boxing boots for one day. At the weekend I mainly wore my Vans. I wore my Lonsdale boxing boots a few times in the evening. I'm wearing them at the moment - trousers tucked inside.

Week 47: Doc Martens

It has been cold and/or wet this week so I spent most of the week wearing my doc marten boots. I wore my gola boxing boots for work on the monday but the DMs for the rest of the week. In the evening I briefly wore my Lonsdale boxing boots a couple of times. Since these boots live under my desk at home, I often slip them on while I'm using the computer.

On saturday I did a bit of work in the garden so I wore my green Le Chameau wellies for a while. On sunday I wore my Vans hi-tops for most of the day.

Week 46: Decorating in my wellies

In work, I've been mainly wearing my boxing boots and doc martens.

I have been spending a lot of time up ladders, doing some decorating. I have been wearing a variety of boots to do this: I wore my blue wellies one day, and my 'fake converse' and my lonsdale boxing boots on other days.

week 45: more Doc Martens

It's getting more like winter so that means wearing my Doc Martens more often. I wore my boxing boots for work most days, wearing my DMs a couple of days and also at the weekend. I have decided to wear my Gola boxing boots more often so I have left them in my office and I change into them when I get to work. They still aren't as comfortable as the Adidas Tygun, despite looking like they are based on the same basic shoe. I'll see if they soften up after I've worn them a bit more.

Week 44: boxing boots and wellies.

On monday I wore my Adidas boxing boots in work, and changed into my Lonsdale boots as soon as I got home. I tucked my trousers into the boots and laced them up all the way. Well, nearly all the way. I didn't lace up the top-most eyelet. Either the laces aren't long enough or my legs are a bit too fat. I can lace them up all the way if I don't tuck my trousers into the boots.

On tuesday morning I put my green wellies on to go into the garden, then changed into my new boxing boots, ready to go to work. When I got home I put my blue (indoor) wellies on and wore them for the rest of the evening. The rest of the week followed a similar pattern - Lonsdale boxing boots during the day and wellies in the evening, occasionally wearing my green wellies if I needed to go into the garden.

At the weekend I alternated between wearing my doc martens, blue wellies and boxing boots around the house - trousers tucked into the boots of course.

Boot-Inch-Hours

I have decided to try a new way of measuring how much time I spend wearing my boots. I have measured the height of each of my boots, taking the ankle as the zero point, so the height is the distance above a normal low-top shoe.

My boots range from:

• Converse high top : 2¼ inches
• Vans hi-top: 2.5 inches
• Mid-height boxing boots: 6 inches
• Lonsdale boxing boots: 10 inches
• 20 eye Doc martens: 11 inches
• Blue wellies: 12 inches
• Green Le Chameau wellies: 14 inches

I measure the number of hours I spend wearing each boot and multiply by the height. Lo-tops count as zero. I am going to try this out as an experiment during November so see what kind of results I get. I I will just wear boots as normal, rather than try to wear taller boots. For the last week I have been doing a bit of a 'preview' of the experiment, but since I spent the last week wearing taller boots, the numbers will be higher.

During the last week I wore nothing shorter than my boxing boots. On monday I wore my adidas boots all day then changed into my Lonsdale boots in the evening - a total of 15 hours and 114 inch-hours (9 hours * 6 inches + 6 hours * 10 inches).

My highest Boot Inch Hours score was 269. This was today, thanks to my 24+ hours of boxing boots which started yesterday morning. I spend all of today wearing taller boots - mostly wellies and doc martens. Simply wearing my boxing boots all day would have scored 240 boot-inch-hours. The highest possible score is 336, which would be if I wore my green wellies for the full 24 hours.

For a bit of comparison, the list below shows how many hours of Converse wearing is equivalent to one hour of my other boots:

• Vans Hi-Tops : 1.1 hours
• Mid-height boots: 2.7 hours
• Lonsdale boots: 4.4 hours
• Doc Martens: 4.9 hours
• Blue wellies: 5.3 hours
• Green wellies: 6.2 hours