About 22 years ago I bought a pair of Vasque boots. One piece leather uppers and Gore-tex. I dont what you call them, I guess "Sundowners"? It was a medium-hiking boot. Very nice. Wore them for about 15 years. Only one sole change. The leather aged into a beautiful patina, like old saddle leather or a high quality first-base mitt from the 1920s, sort of burgundy. I hiked all over the Angeleus Crest, the San Gabes, the eastern and western Sierras, the SoCal , Arizona and Utah deserts with those. I even took them on the San Fransisco Rip Rap breakwaters looking for salvage. Best boots I ever had. I used to get compliments on those boots. From hippies. From climbers. From hikers. From bikers. From relatives. One young lady in a bikini in Playa Del Rey told me they were, "sexy". Then one day...they wore out, and my foot was also about a half-size bigger. I wanted to buy the same kind but was disappointed they were discontinued. I mean, they had sundowner GTX, but the profile was different. I bought some anyway. My original boots were made in Italy. These new ones were from China. I got them and the leather was different, somewhat cheaper, not prepared correctly. The feel was different too. I called the guy I mail-ordered them from and told him. It was in Minnesota some place, a Red Wing distributor. He sounded all forlorn and said they were getting several returns from buyers because the Sundowners were no longer made in Italy, and the had a "different" feel. I felt sorry for the guy so I said, "I'll keep them...I'll give them a try". Which I did, for about 5 years. The leather was indeed different. It was cheap and it did not age into a nice patina. They became scratched , the leather rubbed off and became super dull, they looked like split leather within a month. The old boots took about 2 days to conform to the exact shape of my foot, the new ones, after 5 years, never did. Within 5 months, the soles started peeling. About a year ago, the sole on the right started flapping, which I fixed with Shoe-Goo. Then yesterday, I went into the Mojave with a prospector friend, and BOTH soles started flapping. Very embarrassing. The prospector, a Yosemite Sam-type, started cackling like Walter Houston in "Treasure Sierra Madre". 5 year old boots! Its a good thing I had some hockey tape in my back pack. Thank God for hockey tape. But you can be sure...I will never ever buy Vasque boots again. Dont get me wrong, I'm no nativist or super-American-China-hater dude. I know you guys have economic problems and are just trying to make a living and keep hundreds of folks employed. But I would have paid up to a hundred bucks more just to get the original quality Italian goods.
