Any suggestion or recommendations of an online retailer, any or product that has impressed someone of late? I need to replace a pair of boots sooner rather than later..
Many Thanks
you really need to make sure they fit, different brands can fit different shape feet....
i wouldnt order any brand online that i hadnt tried on beforehand...
I've been happy with purchases from BootsNZ & Amazon. Have tried the Greytown TradeMe guy too. All good to deal with but unfortunately the TradeMe purchases of GriSport and Wenger boots were dissapointing due to those boots having poor durability.
The ones I've been happy with were BootsNZ - Logger & Tramper models (many people don't like them though because they are heavy & need breaking in)
and Amazon's - Scarpa SL's (these also need breaking in & have quite stiff soles for general tramping but are great for climbing hills)
I'm experiencing dejavu as there is another thread on this some where.
Roger that waynowski. Even within the same brand, different variants have caught me out.
I tried on the goretex-lined 'Andrews Guida' in a shop and ordered the leather lined version of the same boot in the same size ... which on arrival turned out to be a whole size bigger that the goretex equivalent. Pity - they seem great boots and feel as if they will last years - if only they fitted!
As for your original question Ruger: sorry - just spamming the topic with my own thoughts: not able to help with a useful answer! The andrews importers in Upper Hutt allow phone orders, and possibly internet too. They were efficient and helpful with the variants of the boots they could get from Italy - but the size issue would mean I wouldn't recommend you go there without trying them on.
Recently landed a pair of Asolo Sasslongs from Derailed for half the NZ retail price. Amazon is also good.
Key is knowing your Euro size as this is the most accurate & then checking the manufacturers size comparison for us or uk, ie- some have euro45 at us11 while others have it at us11.5 & then buying to suit. Most have a wide fit boot which is advisable for us kiwi's.
Some boots cannot be shipped to NZ, but thanks to NZ Posts Youshop, you can now get around this....
My sister bought me a pair of Meindl boots in the UK (retail) for 100 pounds recently. Beautiful 4 season boots, fit perfectly. Plenty of websites give size conversions.
She got a good price admittedly but why do we pay nearly $700 for the same thing here and boots are never heavily specialed. I reckon even with good care a pair of boots only last me between 35 and 40 tramping days. Do the maths, it makes pulling them on each day an expensive exercise at NZ prices.
local distributors charge whatever price they like, they have a local monopoly, they do have to spend on advertising and marketing and claim that as a reason for the markup. plus bricks and mortar shops have higher overheads, most major shops eem to be in pretty pricey rental areas.
if you have a well known quality product and you're the only one allowed to sell it to the shops, you can charge a premium as long as people keep buying, andor if you're not shifting enough stock to make a decent living then hike the price to try and make more....
there must be people aroudn willing to pay that sort of money otherwise they wouldnt be charging that much.... as good as any brand can be , i avoid teh ones that charge the most theres ussualy a comparable product going for less.
i hear nothing but good things about arcteryx, but their prices are horrendous. similar with the north face and marmot. so i can find similiar gear for a lot less
I don't know everything about how this works, but don't be too surprised if the distributor is paying a massive licensing fee back to Miendl to be allowed to distribute them in New Zealand, and the wholesale prices might reflect that there's not enough of a market to be able to charge smaller amounts to be able to cover it.
Or they may just be gouging the market.
some distributors get all their stock on consignment, if they don't sell it they can give it back without having to bear the loss of buying stock they can't sell, its just not justifiable to charge what companies charge for gear thats often made in countries where they pay next to nothing to the factory workers. so those meindl boots must be something like $400 a kilo.... the raw materials are worth nothing like that, so theres a lot of markup going on,, be thankful so many other manufactured products you buy don't cost that... its certainly not what you'd epect to pay for goods made in places like asia....
There are many good brands of boot available in NZ If one is overpriced buy a different one. There is enough variety in the market to kill any attempt at gouging.
Thats why I wear Vasque Boots. Had them 2 years now and still strong at less than half the price of anything else at Hunting and Fishing. They might not be a recognised brand but the spec was good the price good as well as the fit. They have lived up to expectation.
