Dubarry Ultima Boots - Soles Coming Off

[andyskip]

Whilst this experience with Dubarry was disappointing and meant no boots for over a week offshore.... I'm pleased to say that Dubarry have offered to re-sole the boots now.

I think that's fair enough. And I'm interested to see what they do here as there seems to be some confusion about the 'older stitched sole' boots vs my ones which have bonded soles.

If they manage to repair them properly I will post an update here...

[Tupaia]

It's all down to PU. Polyurethane is the glue of choice for shoes. Modern manufacturing techniques apply an exact quantity and so a very thin layer. PU breaks down with age due to moisture and humidity (boats) hence the soles fall off. Not just boat shoes any shoes with glued on soles.



5200 is also a PU and after a time will fail in the same way, look at your hatch seals and after about 10 years it will go sticky and crumbly. Of course high brand shoes could be considered as fashion accessories and therefore should only be expected to last a season.


I have a pair of wholly socks and rubber wellies on board, got to be close to 30 years old and still going strong, although they are no longer "this years" colour.

[Old Bay]

If I get 10 years on my reattached soles with 5200, with only a 24 hour wait time, that would be good enough for me. Boots are not on deck in the sun 24/7/365. What's the wait time and shipping cost for repair at the manufacturer? 3 years repaired so far so good.

[Jimmyhenry]

Just binned my Dubarry boots after 30 years. The soles were starting to delaminate. I am just using Crocs now.

[andyskip]

I wanted to post a final update from my side on this.

Dubarry in the end agreed to repair the boots free of charge. I'd like to thank Donna (in their customer service team) for her help.

To be quite honest they took some persuading. But in the end they did the right thing and that's what counts.

A few points of detail that may be interesitng for others:

1. I had boots with glued on soles. For a while at least these were deemed irrepairable, however their repair partners have now clearly found a way.

2. See pic attached. The new soles are much more sturdy than the originals and by the looks of things have been properly re-moulded to the body of the boot, with the sides of the moulding reaching up right around the original sole.

It seems to me that they have done a very good job. I will post any updates here when I have given them a go.

Just as a final thought.... from speaking with Dubarry it does seem that they have had known issues with the earlier glued-on soles and claim that their newer versions are better.

That response indicates that there is a known manufacturing 'weakness' with some of their earlier boots.

If you experience the same thing I would recommend getting straight in touch with the Dubarry customer service team who should be willing to help.