Back in May my L.L. Bean 8″ Bison boots were delivered to the house. I promised to do a product review on them, seeing as they were featured in Vogue this March, but I wanted to make sure they could “walk the talk” (no pun intended) and even though very cute, could they be functional? Then one of C&C’s followers, Bobbie Jo reminded me, “Hey Brandy, where the heck is the boot review?”
Well first let me start with the weekend outfit, I put together to go with the Bean Boots, I still have many ideas for them this fall… The dark bison leather with the brick red combo makes an attractive combo but I wanted to see if I could put these to the test and prove them with some wear and tear in the field.
First let me start with sizing these boots. It was recommended to go at least a half a size smaller than your regular shoes, I chose to go a full size down and the boots fit well even with a mid weight sock on. The boots are very comfortable and lightweight, perfect for tromping around in wet grass or mud.
I wore these for a full 10-12 hours at a time. And my experience was these boots are very comfortable for low levels of hiking. The ankle support on the 8″ boot was sufficient but for any significant hiking lacked the bottom tread, arch support and stiffness I look for. However for getting on and off the quad, checking trail camera’s or setting up bird blinds these are perfect.
By 5 pm (I’ve had the boots on since 7am), I’m checking the set up of a new stand. So far, I had to get a quad that was stuck out of a bog, tromp through a wack of wet willows giving them a fair share of testing on how waterproof they are. My feet were dry, BUT with the rubber bottoms and lack of ventilation, I had a huge SWEATY feet situation on my hands, followed by damp, chilled feet at 10pm that night. Not very lady like but we are providing honest feedback so you get to hear all the gory details 🙂
Overall I give the bean boots a thumbs up in terms of comfort and wear for a general muck around boot that is also stylish enough to be taken from street to field.
Having grown-up wearing this very same style of boots from LLBean but the leather tops back in the 1970’s was in the lighter, more natural color way. We used mink oil on the leather uppers to help keep them waterproof over the years. 2 years ago, I finally gave in and threw-out the last pair I got … in 1978 at the age of 13, my feet now are to wide. Try getting the boots in your true size, using a slightly thicker and more absorbent removable shoe liner with good 100% wool ski sock. This might help slow-down the approach of cold and clammy toes as your day’s activities winds down.