Lady Prospects

Many companies produce reports and articles of why their steel toe shoes are perfect, so I will give an unbiased opinion of how to select a pair of quality steel toe shoes.

You should consider the following 5 factors when buying steel toe shoes:  Fabric, Durability, Sole, Flexibility, and Additional Features. I will go into more detail on each of these categories below.

Fabric: Different fabrics can make or break a shoe in a matter of months. It can also make you feel uncomfortable if it is not the right fabric. There are gortex like rubber, canvas like fabrics, suede, and leather. Leather has one of the best aspects for steel toe safety aspects in my opinion. They are easily broken in after a few days and then they fit your foot like a glove. Leather will not burn and ignite into flames or melt. If they are burnt or scuffed they can be easily polished and masked away. Thick leather is ideal and looks nice.

Durability: Is the shoe made to last a long time or is it just made to OSHA standards with a shelf life of only six months? What I mean by durability, is whether the shoe will last for two years of wear and tear before you have to replace them. Some shoes may look nice and can take a beating but after a few months the stitches come apart, the metal wears through the padding and digs into your foot, there are many things which can occur if the shoe is not engineered just right. Does the shoe have a steel shank? Is the steel toe area padded well and with lasting material? Will the shoe backing hold? And the sole, how long will that last?

These days steel capped shoes are big business both from a safety point of view and inverse snobbery as a fashion accessory for the “punks”. To decide how to find the best pair of steel toe shoes for your purpose I decided to review the “review sites”

Steel-Toe-Shoes.com claim to be the “largest source of safety shoes on the web”. What I liked about the site was its clear returns policy, how to send something back. It demonstrates that it does have a clear after sales policy and the quality matters. . It caters for special needs as in large sizes and wide shoes as well as splitting the sales into male and female. They have a good clearance section, which clearly shows there current offers. The price range is very wide and the selection is enormous. If you can’t find it here then you can’t find it on the Web.

Shoes for Crews deal in steel capped shoes for the industrial workplace. The emphasis of this site is slip resistant shoes, both for the dress occasion, walking and for industrial shoes. There are a wide range of styles and prices but all made by the Shoes for Crews.

Hunts Supplies actually cover more than steel toed shoes they cover work wear including protective hats and leisure wear as well. They have 163 entries for safety footwear covering 14 brands.

Nextag.u.k. have reviewed the steel toe shoes by brands and cover four categories, type material and by price. However this is purely a sales site, as there is a section for ratings, but they are empty. What is good about this site is that they have clear pictures and specifications as to exactly what you are buying. They are all under £50.00.