Hi all, I know this is the second time I've asked but the need is great. I am searching online and asking everyone I can think of to find a person who can make a pair of boots for me suitable for protection on a bike and also to walk in. Altberg have just e-mailed me to contact them again in six months, after waiting 2 years and three months already. With a badly broken ankle through using inadequate boots and now only able to use trainers I am desperate. I need bespoke footwear, that is, hand made to fit my feet and absolutely not off the shelf. I'm going to contact Frey Daytona, Scarpa, Meindl, Raichle, Lowa, Salamon and Berghaus. But there must be skilled people in, for instance India, who could copy a pair of Lowa combat boots which I have but which cripple my feet due to being simply too narrow. Any ideas at all please? Lindsay.

A difficult one Linzi, without having that experience. My only caution about India is that there are undoubtedly skilled craftsmen there but you'd have to wade through a lot of bluffers to find them. And how to do it at a distance?

Palace 15 is also a traveller in India and maybe he could comment on that. Morocco has a leather working tradition - but you'd have to go there and watch the price closely. Ryanair and Easyjet fly there.

I don't know the nature of your feet problem, but is it possible to do some serious bootstretching with the right equipment? On a standard pair I mean. Or "Cut and Shut" - ie make a cut and close it with a neat patch at the right dimension?

How about going to the orthopedic dept in a hospital. If they cant do it they may point you in the right direction?

Hi, I'd meant to travel out to India with a pair of boots to be cut up to analyze the construction and copy that. Basically my feet are very, very wide. Altberg refused to modify a pair as my feet, being wider than the sole, would press out and overlap. I had two pairs of mountaineering boots made at age 20, many years ago. Since then my feet have been compressed and widened even more. I have size 42 or US 9, but 6E wide. E wide is the normally stocked widest size. In Sussex my feet were measured at a mountaineering specialists' and they said my feet obliterated the width calibrations. No wonder I used to be so fast swimming!!! I've asked the NHS but there are people with smashed feet, feet missing etc and I'm seen as not having a problem...the NHS is simply out of cash. I attacked a pair of Lowa combat boots with a craft knife but the boot needs the sides intact to maintain any integrity and as Altberg said, my feet still hurt. At the moment I've got to judge whether riding with soft trainers is a risk worth taking. I don't think so. Rats. Lindsay.

I don't think that such big companies would get into that, so you'd need something to a smaller scale.

Wouldn't it be easier to ADAPT those Lowa boots, rather than make them from new?? As Caminando pointed, what about orthopaedic deparments? (although I guess you've tried that already).

In Spain we've had a long tradition of high quality shoemaking -which is now suffering due to cheap chinese competition, as every field-, so I wonder if that could be done by Spanish craftsmen more easily, and plenty of flights (Mallorca has been the core of that tradition, actually, EasyJet+boots+holidays package, sounds too good).

There is a company with a long tradition which has modernized into modern hiking boots/shoes in La Rioja. Inicio - Chiruca I don't know if they would do that jov, but know someone who has contacts there and he could point me into the right direction.

Best luck,

Esteban

A late thought - some ski boots are fitted by inserting your foot in a shell and then a polystyrene foam stuff is pumped in to make a perfect fit.

Maybe not much use, but......

And yes, Spain has very fine shoemakers. And the Spanish people all seem to have perfect footwear.

You could try Viberg boots in Canada . They are very well made boots that last a long time .They are made in English sizes and have wide fittings as well . One of the "lace to toe" designs might work .
I use Vibergs for work and riding the bike.
My feet are 4E and also I find SIDI discovery boots fit well .

A quick search for custom makers revealed ;
Custom and Hand Made Hiking Boots

How To Order

Redwing boots are available in wide sizes ,not sure if you can get them in UK .
Northamptonshire is the traditional area for boot making and when I lived in the UK , I would get very good handmade boots from one of the makers , can't remember which one though . So it might be a good idea to do a search there .

Good luck .

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

You could try Wesco in the States.

Hi, great thanks to each who has offered help. I'll immediately follow up on those links. Firstly, my feet are simply wider than the soles of the wide version of Lowas. Years ago I tried on a plastic ski boot without the inner and my foot pressed against the shell at the little toe's base joint. That's why I've skied only once, in New Zealand, and my feet hurt for several months afterwards.
No, it has to be bespoke. My two pairs of mountaineering boots were hand made in the Alps somewhere. They were made in a very out of date method of internal wooden pegs around the inner edge of the boot. After wearing those perfect fitting boots for a couple of days the pegs would protrude into the boot and "sir", or his batman, would then sand paper the pegs back....Love!
I'll admit to using public transport to get to Ripley as I don't want to compress my feet again with the Lowas after getting rid of all the inflammation and pain. I am not prepared to ride that distance in trainers and so I put off the job of fixing my bike's carb problem.

Wide feet? It seems that playing cowboys and indians in the woods near Vancouver, I was always an indian brave, widened my feet as I was bare foot till aged seven. (Oh the glory days of childhood.) My feet spread and are wide far back, not just at the toes. In addition I have high arches, so the upper material is always simply too tight to make it up, over, round and down again. It's akin to having a car with a sloping roof. You can't get two adults into the back seats without a lot of cramping and stooping. You just have to get a bigger car.

Thanks again for the tips. Incidentally, it just struck me that India would not be good surely? They're Hindu, so what are their shoes made of? Pakistan would be better. I think when I've scraped together some money, my trip is not going to be an adventure bike trip but an adventure all the same..to get a pair of boots! Lindsay.