Hand made boots.

[Linzi]

Hi all. Some people need one off boots due to unusual feet and/or injuries. Does anyone know of anywhere quality, made to measure footwear is available worldwide?

I know of Altberg in Yorkshire, England but I must wait a further 18 months for my fitting and then pay £1,000 for them. Frey Daytona also make to order but only race type footwear.

Ciao, Lindsay.

[Dodger]

Viberg boots in Victoria ,BC ,Canada sell excellent boots .
Send them an outline of your foot and they make the boots to suit you .
I can recommend the quality of their boots because I wear them every day for work.
Motorcycle and Biker Boots - Viberg Boots

[Ekke]

My Vibergs have on the order of 200,000 km on them, riding from Inuvik, Northwest Territories to Cape Town, South Africa and pretty much everywhere in between. And I've hiked the Chilkoot Tr and to the top of Kilimanjaro in them. I think that I'll probably wear them on our next trip too.

Oh yeah, they don't cost a thousand pounds!

[Linzi]

Wow! I thought this great forum would come up trumps. I shall contact Viburg immediately. As for Altberg, who's boots are superb, they cost about £180 off the shelf. Their hand made price covers totally hand made including the last. But the price is frightening. Ciao, Lindsay.

[geordie_e]

Hi

I could be wrong (my Altbergs are now 3 years old) but Im sure I had my feet measured and it took about 3 months to make... the cost was around the £150 (cant quite remember the actual price)

not sure if this is the same service your after

Cheers
Geordie

[Bobduro]

Geordie, you're not wrong.

Linzi, not sure what boots you're having made but my wife and I are currently on our RTW and we both popped up to Alt-Berg before leaving (Feb '10) to get fitted for a pair of boots. They were ready about 4 weeks later at a cost of £125 per pair.

They've been absolutely faultless ever since (we've worn them in heavy rain, extreme heat and any other testing environment you can think of) and are incredibly comfortable to walk around in.

We can't recommend them highly enough.

[Linzi]

Hi, thanks for the input. My situation remains the same. Viburg replied promptly and said I need orthopedic shoes which they can't supply. That's a real pity. You're both correct about Altberg's normal lead time and cost but if you check their website for bespoke boots you'll see the reason for my delay and cost. I've had my feet measured by them and they concluded that I'm one of the few who need totally one off boots made. Two days later I returned and asked meekly if I could have a standard wide pair modified as a compromise till I get my measured pair. They didn't want to do this as they thought my feet would press over the outside edges causing pain. Boy, they're right as that's exactly what happens to me with all footwear at the moment. They're going to build boots around a pair of orthotic insoles and I can't wait for the luxury of comfortable footwear.
I had my feet measured at Penglers, Arundel, Sussex. These people supply expeditions. My feet came in at European size 43 but off the scale for width and the width is far back. So no joy again. Thanks for the help.

For anyone else with foot problems, try Shoemakers.org.uk - Shoes, Sandals, Boots and Clogs from specialists. Vegan and Leather. , also Jacoform from Germany are wide, but not wide enough for me alas.

Push The Limits, Lindsay.