Bates Men's 11" Paratrooper Side Zip Boot

Took a little work but now I love them. So here is what I mean when say it took some work. When I for relieved these boots, I fell in love with there looks. But the moment I picked them up I knew it was going to take weeks of walking in them to get them as soft as I would like. The leather the boots are made of, granted nice, is also very hard. I believe that's the nature of paratrooper style boots, since they are more for show at this point then anything. I did not want to kill my feet waiting for a break in, so I decided to go to town on these bad boys and try to speed up the process. The main thing that helped these get a soft as I wanted was adding neastfoot oil to them over a period of a few days. After a coat at night, by morning I would walk in them. Then again at night another coat, an again take them for a walk in the morning. After a few days and coats of the oil, these boots fit me like a glove. After all the oil treatments, I gave these a good cleaning, then a hell of a polishing. They take a shine like no ones business... A little parade gloss on the tips and back, and black polishes everywhere else, and you can blind a person they shine so hard. I get people asking me about these all the time. I'm in EMS but I get cops stopping me at the ERs all the time to look at them, then it become a shoe shine tips and tricks trade off conversation. Also believe it or not a lot of the nurses love them... I think they just like things that shine and are easily distracted, maybe they just like a clean cut looking guy... Just maybe. Sadly today's standards in EMS appearance has basically depleted to null. It's basically cooler to look like a slob, and give that... I don't care look. But that's okay because when that rare medic walks in looking sharp, it stands out. Obviously coupled with being on your game and knowing your stuff helps a lot also. I have added a picture of some of my shining supply's, figured it might help people. Remember people, they say the Shoes, the Shine, and the shave, make the man... These will definitely deliver the shine. (So long as your treat them well)

Uncomfortable at first as you’re breaking them in but after a couple weeks of consistent wearing, they are excellent. I love them. High quality and durable, been wearing them nonstop for work. I do private security and they get the job done. The sizing was perfect I wear 11.5 and they don’t weigh too much. The zipper quality is good too and protected by a button flap additionally. Also noticed they have excellent non slip capability. A good bonus.

I’ve owned two paires of these over the years because I love them. Great and durable boots. The look is awesome too. They are a bit rough at first on your feet but once broken in, they are just perfect.

These boots are a little tight across the top of the foot, but these boots take a while to break in.

Arrived quickly and had next to no breaking in period. Excellent value but do run slightly big, I could have done with half a size down