Levi's Hi-tops

My Levi's extra-tall converse style boots are definitely getting closer to being thrown out. I wore them for work today because it was dry and sunny when I left the house. It rained during the day so the pavements were wet when I left. The sole has started to crack so water got in while I was walking. Since I enjoy wearing them I am going to keep them for as long as possible, but I'll only wear them when it's definitely going to be dry.

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.

Another month of Boot Hours

Back in November, I did a boot-inch-hours tally where I measured my boot wearing by multiplying boot height above the ankle by the number of hours I wore them. I said that I would try again in the summer so I have decided to do it again for June. Both are 30 day months so the results should be comparable.

Since I love wearing taller boots, I thought I'd start the month with my tall converse-style boots. I noticed it had started raining so I changed into my Vans Sk8-hi, which will lower todays score.

One thing is different: I have a pair of riding boots now. These are a couple of inches taller than my Le Chameau wellies, so any time I wear these, the boot wearing score will increase quite rapidly. I will be spending a few days on my own so I think I'll wear them as much as possible while I get the chance.

I don't know whether I will get much chance to wear my wellies this month. I managed to wear them a couple of times over the bank holiday weekend, for a couple of hours each time. I was out in the countryside and it seemed the right thing to do.

Tall boots week

I've been wearing my tall hi-tops in work this week. On monday and again today, I wore my Gola boxing boots. I wore my Adidas boxing boots and my tall 'fake converse' boots on the other days.

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.

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.

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

Week 42: Some thoughts on my new boots.

For the last few weeks I've made sure I've only worn tall boots in work, and I've also worn tall boots a lot at home too. This week was no exception. On Monday I wore both my Adidas boxing boots and my new beautifully tall Lonsdale boxing boots - the latter I wore all day in work, laced up all the way, but with the boots inside the trousers.

Even though I didn't pull the laces tight, the boots still felt quite 'grippy' and tight on my leg. I expect they will get better after I have worn them a bit more. They are wonderfully soft and padded though. They feel really nice with the trousers tucked inside - as I found out when I went for a walk on monday evening.

I didn't wear the new boots for work on tuesday - I wore my Adidas instead - but I wore them briefly in the evening. I wore them all day on wednesday though. I laced them up all the way again. Even though I didn't pull the laces tight - I can easily get my hand between leg and boot - the boot still feels tight on my leg. My legs also got a bit warm and sweaty too.

On wednesday evening I did a bit of work in the garden. My blue wellies have been 'in storage', hidden away in the shed. I decided to put them on while I was outside. It's been ages since I've worn them - back in July.

I wore my Doc Martens for work on thursday but I wore my new boxing boots in the evening.

I wore my new boots for most of saturday - trousers tucked inside so that I could see the full height of the boots at all times - see yesterdays post and accompanying video for details. When I wasn't busy wearing the boxing boots I was wearing my doc martens or wellies.

On sunday I mostly wore my Levi's converse-style boots but I also wore my new boxing boots for a while. This means I wore my new boots for some part of every day this week.

Saturday: boots day

I spent nearly all of today with trousers tucked into boots. When I went out this morning, I was wearing my Doc Martens. When I got home I changed into my new boxing boots.



This afternoon I went into the garden so I wore my green wellies. When I came back into the house, I put my blue wellies on and kept them on until the evening, when I put my Levi's converse-style boots on.

Week 40: Boxing Boots and Wellies

Apart from Monday, when I wore my tall converse-style Levi's boots, I've been wearing my Adidas Tygun boxing boots for work every day during the week.

On Saturday I mostly wore my Vans hi-tops but in the afternoon I put my wellies on and went for a walk. It wasn't wet but it was cold and windy so I thought the boots would be useful against the wind.

Sunday was a better welly day. I was out all day in the countryside with the girlfriend. I put my Vans on to drive there but when we got to our destination, I put on a thick pair of socks to keep my feet warm. This meant I had to put my wellies on because my hi-tops wouldn't fit any more. I wore my wellies for the rest of the day, until it was time to drive home.

My ideal boot collection

This would be my boot collection if I had free reign to buy anything I wanted. Starting from shortest:

I would have to have a pair or two of the classic Converse all-star hi-tops. They are great to wear in the summer.

I would also get a couple of pairs of other ankle boots, probably skate hi-tops or basketball boots. From the age of 16 until my early 20s, I wore basketball boots pretty much all the time.

As an alternative to skate or basketball boots, I might get a pair of low-cut boxing boots. These should be ok to wear with shorts.

Next in height, the tall Converse and mid-cut boxing boots. When I was in my late teens, I had a couple of pairs of converse-style tall boots which I wore as much as possible. I was quite disappointed when they finally fell apart and I couldn't find any more in the shops.

While I'd love a pair of genuine Converse x-hi, they are quite expensive and not easy to find in my size. These boots from Demonia would be a great alternative - and they have zips up the side so they would only take seconds to put on.

I would have to have a pair of mid-cut Adidas boxing boots. I love my old pair of Tygun boxing boots. Since they aren't available any more, I would probably get a pair of the Tygun II boots.

Getting all sensible and practical next, I would get myself a pair of rigger boots. These would be my gardening boots when the weather is too warm to wear wellies. Since these boots are designed to be worn with the trousers tucked inside, I'd be able to wear them like that all the time.

I would have to have some sort of mid-length leather boot, possibly Doc Martens.

Or possibly a Demonia boot.

Next, high-cut boxing boots. I am actually getting a pair of these Lonsdale boots soon.

When I was at university, I had a pair of these Adidas Box Champ. Back then I didn't have the confidence to tuck my trousers into them and wear them in public, but I often wore them like that when I was on my own.

Getting closer to knee-length, there are the ultra-tall Converse-style boots. These boots usually have zips up the side so they will be easy to wear. Demonia have a wide range.

Alternatively, there are these boots from 'Refuse to be usual', on ebay. They come in a wide range of styles:

I would have to get a pair of knee-length or almost knee-length leather lace-up boots. I already have a pair of 20 eyelet Doc Martens, which are as tall as many wellies.

Or there are many different boots available from Demonia.

I would have to get several pairs of wellies. One pair would stay near the back door so I could wear them in the garden. Another pair might live by the front door if I needed to wear a pair when I left the house. A third pair would be kept in the car in case I needed to wear some while I was out. I would probably also keep a 'clean' pair for wearing indoors if I felt like it.

I wouldn't just get traditional rubber wellies. I would also get a few pairs of leather 'country boots'. They would be great to wear inside or outside trousers. I could walk around wearing them and nobody would know I was wearing knee length boots.

Moving higher than knee length, there are some available from 'rtbu'. I wish these were available in my size - they look perfect to me.

Otherwise there are these 'thigh length' boots, which would be fun to wear, and are available in larger sizes.

I have never worn fishing waders but I'd be tempted to get a pair to try. I think I would have to get an 'all in one' pair like the Le Chameau at the bottom of the page. They look like an actual thigh length boot rather than a normal pair of wellies with 'leg extensions'.

Boots and Yogurt

I am wearing my converse-style boots today. Which is appropriate because so is the strawberry on the yogurt I had for lunch.

The yogurt looks happy - probably because he is wearing boots. The 'Muller Stars' range of yogurts and fromage frais all feature fruit wearing different boots. I wonder if this is some kind of subliminal way of getting kids to wear more boots. I would certainly be in favour of something like that. Anything which improved the selection of boots available in shops would be fine by me. The range of boots available for men is quite poor. There are very few boots between ankle and wellington.

The yogurt was only wearing the short hi-tops whereas I am wearing the taller calf-height boots. Because most of my boots are taller than ankle boots, I sometimes find myself thinking of 'ordinary' hi-tops as lo-tops because they are much lower than the boots I usually wear.

Boot Buying Dilemma

Some of my boots are getting a bit old and will need replacing soon. My old Adidas Tygun boxing boots probably don't have long left. I really love those boots - they are incredibly comfortable and I think they look great when I wear them with my trousers tucked inside.

Sadly Adidas don't make these any more. They have replaced them with the Tygun II, which are more expensive. I have been on the lookout for a cheap pair - of either the new or old style, but so far I haven't found any in my price range.

I now need to decide what boots to replace them with. Many years ago I had a pair of Adidas Box Champ, and I really loved the extra height you get with the 'high cut' boots. Sadly Adidas have discontinued those too, and I don't like the look of the Box Champ II as much.

I like the look of these Lonsdale boots - the Lonsdale Jab hi-cut boot. They cost less than I paid for either of my pairs of Adidas boots.

I also love tall converse style boots. So far I only have my Levi's but I would dearly love to have a pair of the Demonia knee-length boots. Since I already own a pair of all black Converse, I could easily wear these interchangeably, and probably nobody would notice.

I wouldn't tuck my trousers into the knee length boots in public but I would certainly enjoy wearing them like that around the house.

If I was going to get a pair of the knee length boots the I would also get a pair of these - they are the same boot but only calf length. The beauty of these is that I feel like I could get away with wearing these with trousers tucked inside.
I think I have fallen in love with the Lonsdale boots. I keep thinking about them, and how I'd love to tuck my trousers inside, lace them up and go for a walk. I have decided to wear my Adidas boots constantly from now on, to wear them out so that I have an excuse to buy some new boots. Then I will probably try to 'wear out' my fake converse so I can buy the Demonia boots.

Week 39: Week of Boxing Boots

It has been another week of wearing tall boots. I have been wearing my boxing boots for some part of every day.

I wore my converse style Levi's boots on monday. At lunchtime I went for a walk in the countryside again. Like last week, I tucked my trousers into my boots.

The rest of the week I wore my adidas boxing boots. I wore the gola boxing boots at home in the evening on a few occasions.

Saturday started with me wearing my Vans sk8-hi but later on I changed into my Gola boxing boots (trousers tucked inside) when I walked to the shops. Sunday was similar - I wore my Vans boots to start with but later in the day I wore my Adidas boots. In the evening I wore my Gola boots for a while.

Tucking trousers into boots

On monday I went for a walk again, with my trousers tucked inside my boots. I have been doing this more often recently. Normally my boots are 'hidden away' inside the trousers.

Until recently I wouldn't have the confidence to walk around with my boots on show like that - apart from wearing wellies in the winter. For some strange reason it isn't accepted fashion for men to wear tall boots on show, apart from safety boots or similar, and then you need to be wearing suitable clothing or it looks a bit strange.

Many years ago I had a few pairs of the fake tall converse, this time they were made by Hi-Tec. I wore them all the time. When I was on my own I would often tuck my trousers in the boots and lace them up. I only wore them like this once outside, when I walked into town. I just felt too self-concious to wear them like that routinely. These days I often wear my boots like that, but usually only when there is a close to zero chance of bumping into somebody I know.

Week 38: welly time again

On monday I wore my Vans hi-tops.

Tuesday was a good tall boots day. I wore my Levi's boots for work, then changed into my Gola boxing boots when I got home. Later in the evening I wore my Le Chameau wellies for a while.

On Thursday I wore my 'fake converse' boots for work and in the evening I briefly wore my wellies again.

On Wednesday and Friday I wore my doc martens for work. On both days I went for a walk at lunchtime, around the fields near work. I tucked my trousers into the boots and walked through the long grass.

On Saturday I started off wearing my old black & white converse but changed into my gola boxing boots when I went out. I tucked my trousers inside and laced them up all the way. It was quite a warm day so my ankles got a bit sweaty.

Today is another warm day so it's short trousers and boots. I have been wearing my Vans sk8-hi for most of the day.

Week 37: mostly tall boots

I've been wearing tall boots for most of the week. I started off wearing my adidas boxing boots on monday. Next I wore my Levi's 'fake converse x-hi' on tuesday. It was warm when I got home on tuesday so I changed into short trousers but kept the boots on. Later on tuesday evening it was getting a bit colder so I decided I wanted something covering my legs, so I put my wellies on for a while.

Wednesday I was back in my Levi's boots, then on thursday it was turn of the adidas boxing boots again. Thursday evening I got another chance to wear my Le Chameu wellies again. They are lovely boots but I wish I could wear my blue wellies more often. They are hiding in the store cupboard - I don't think my girlfriend knows about them so I don't wear them when she is around.

Friday I was wearing my adidas boots again.

Saturday was warm and sunny so I found myself wearing my black and white converse boots. On sunday I managed to wear my wellies - I'm wearing them right now while I write this. It has been a good week for wellies - I wore mine 3 times this week.

Week 36: brief welly time

I realised that I hadn't worn my wellies for ages so I briefly pulled my Le Chameau on and wore them around the house on friday evening and again tonight. On friday I wore them with my trousers tucked inside. Tonight I'm wearing them inside my trousers. It's good to feel the boots against my legs again.

The rest of the week was mainly just wearing hi-top boots (Vans and Levi's fake converse x-hi) and although I wore my doc martens for work one day.

Week 35 - assortment of hi-tops

I mostly wore my taller hi-tops this week: Levis red tab, adidas and gola boxing boots. I wore one pair of 'low' hi-tops: my Vans sk8-hi.

Week 33: assorted hi-tops for work

No doc martens this week - it's been a bit warm and there hasn't been as much heavy rain. I've been wearing various pairs of hi-tops this week for work: Vans sk8-hi, Levi's red tab, adidas boxing boots and my old pair of black & white converse. The latter are becoming even more tatty - a hole has appeared in the toe of one of them. It will soon be time to replace them with a shiny new pair.

At the weekend I wore my gola boxing boots and my Vans around the house.