Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
My feet are in love with these boots |
| Disadvantages: |
They're not cheap |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
One year without realising what I was letting myself into, I promised my husband a new pair of walking boots for his birthday. I was expecting to pay £60-£70 but bless him, he fell in love with a pair of Brasher Supalites and I didn't have the heart to say no. With a 10% discount they cost me £108 and he assured me they were worth every penny.
Bad Boot History
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At this stage I'd been fighting the need to buy proper boots. As a student I studied geology and spent a lot of wet miserable weeks plodding over mountains with wet feet. In my book, proper boots weighed a tonne and took a lot of looking after. We used to do the most bizarre things to make them fit and to soften the leather - sitting with your boots on in bowls of hot water, putting lots of Nikwax onto the wet boots so the nasty stuff got sucked into the pores as they dried. Horrible - really horrible. And they used to stink too.
We'd been doing a lot of walking and I was happy with a scruffy pair of glorified trainers - ugly walking shoes with low ankles. I didn't see the need for something better but hubby just kept banging on about his wonderful Brashers. We'd booked a 'proper' walking holiday and I conceded that my shoes weren't going to pass muster. Maybe I was going to have to fight my revulsion and buy some proper boots.
My feet
******
Now my feet aren't exactly 'standard'.
They are very narrow especially round the heel.
They are skinny feet and I have skinny bony ankles - I'm not going to claim to be carrying no excess flesh but I can confirm that none of it is on my feet or ankles.
And I have high insteps - apparently I'd have made a great ballet dancer if it weren't for a total lack of talent and growing to be 5 foot 8.
Personally I think I have really nice feet but I struggle to find shoes that won't fall off and I'm utterly rubbish at heels.
Boot Problems
************
Women's boots are usually built to be lower round the back of the ankle than men's boots. This is something to do with anatomy - not so obvious as a bit of extra space in the crotch of your jeans but whatever the reason, it seems to be established practice with boot makers.
Common practice believes boots need to be stiff around the ankles in order to give support - but then if they are too stiff, they rub like heck and my bony little knobbles get reduced to red raw bumps of pain. Luckily, I have strong ankles as a result of playing ice hockey for years and building them up so I don't want too much support.
Feet have been getting longer and wider - you don't want a walking boot with too much space in it or your foot will slide around and you will get blisters (see my review on Compeed Blister Plasters).
Most boots weigh so much that you think twice about taking them on holiday. Do I really need them? Can I get away with some trainers? Or those nice all terrain sandals that look the biz but rub in all the wrong places?
Off to the shops
*************
I went to an outdoor shop - probably Mountain Warehouse - at Clacton outlet centre of all the bizarre places. Well I had a 10% discount card and fancied a trip to the seaside and was living about an hour away at the time. This is also where husband had got his and they had separated us from a large amount of dosh over the years. I think there's something about the scent of Kendal Mint Cake that just has me reaching for the credit card.
I was determined - I would buy some funky little canvas boots in a nice colour that would not make me look like I was wearing walking boots. I would spend no more than £60. I would not be seduced by the power of
Brasher.
Love at first step
***************
Love is such a powerful emotion. Feet went in to the Brashers, hand went into pocket, £108 went onto the bill.
I could not resist. It was like putting on a pair of slippers - a well-worn old pair of friends.
Brashers Supalites are:
Unbelievably light - less than a kg for the pair
Unbelievably soft - especially round the ankles
Comfortable - oh boy, they are just so good. No rushing to get them off at the end of the day. I could sleep in these and they have NEVER given me a blister.
Made from a single piece of leather (well, two pieces - one for each boot of course). I have no idea how they do it but it works - fewer seams, fewer leakage points
Lined with gortex membranes - so they breathe. When I'm wheezing on a hill my boots are breathing freely
Lined with gortex - so they are waterproof - yes, really, amazing. (Obviously if you step into a river and the water goes over the top then they aren't. But you should buy a set of those kinky fishing waders if that's what you are into).
Scruffy as heck because I don't clean them very often - after a while but you've gotta love em.
Brasher Superlites need:
To be worn and loved
To be treated once in a blue moon with a specialist cream that doesn't block the Goretex pores
Things you shouldn't do in Brashers
Let a guy on the side of the street clean them for you, however much he begs and pleads - ordinary polish will block your goretex
Lend them to your friends - they'll never give them back
Really hard trekking - they are designed as a hill boot and aren't a really heavy duty boot. However, we've done a lot in them and they've not let us down yet.
Let the soles wear down too much - the soles aren't the absolutely best and they are starting to lose a touch of the grip they had when new. I don't know if you can get them resoled - this used to be an option on boots when you'd spent years breaking them in but with these there's no breaking in required so maybe you'd better just buy some new ones.
Pros - fantastically comfortable,
Cons - horribly expensive
Shop around and price check them - the RRP is £120 and if you can get them under £100 give yourself a pat on the back. They don't get discounted by much.
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