will another leather boot company step up to make Lamilite boots under their label

LEATHER SHOE MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

Friday’s short article brought two readers to send me links to some companies that make leather boots that do not as far as I could find on their web site use goretex.

That said I have written to each of them if they want to look into using the Lamilite and I would not be their customer making boots for me they would be my customer, and I would be a promotor of their boots lined with Lamilite. However, in the meantime I am promoting these companies as a source for leather boots. Yesterday it was Nisolo and today it is Helms boots located in Austin, Texas. The web site is www.helmboots.com.

I also said there is a built-in market because so many have written to me about getting boots in their size which I will not be doing. I’ll let one and all know if I ever hear from them or if I do not hear from them. But I will continue to recommend them and of course they will work better if the buyer of their boots is wearing Lamilite socks.

One of the important points of knowledge I have not fully explained is that leather is a material with wicking capability just like cotton, wool, silk and acetate. Every synthetic material made for use in any clothing product DOES NOT WICK MOISTURE no matter what chemicals are added to the fabric.

Wicking is the movement of moisture through fabric. The moisture meets the fabric at one point and if the fabric has the capability to absorb the moisture the moisture goes into the fabric. The more moisture available that the fabric is exposed to the more of the moisture that moves through the fabric. This action of the moisture moving through the fabric is “wicking action”. This happens with leather just as it does with cotton, wool, silk or acetate.

EVERY synthetic footwear item that is constructed from nylon, polyester fabric or any other synthetic fabric does not have the capability to wick moisture and as we know so many footwear manufacturers eagerly put gortex or some other film in their footwear under the impression that the foot produced moisture will somehow mover through the materials they are made from, but it simply does not happen. Why (?) because these materials in total have no ability to wick the moisture.

What I believe the footwear industry is ignorant of why the use of leather is singularly the most important material to use for the upper part of the footwear. They are not ignorant of the fact that lining the leather with a film such as gortex stifles this wicking action. I believe the major reason they use the goretex is for the advertising benefit. I also believe they know without question that goretex does not work.

That said all of the hiking boots and running shoes that are sold told today are made from synthetic materials so the moisture coming out of your feet when participating in these vigorous activities increases and with the increase in moisture from the pores of your feet the more moisture is trapped in your footwear. When I grew up all we had was Keds sneakers. The tops were made from cotton and at the end of the activity they were soaked. But they did dry out quickly. Why (?) because the heat from our feet was enough to drive the moisture away from our feet and hence the moisture was driven out of the cotton fabric.

Professional basketball players can go through a pair after ever to or three games because they just trap the moisture in the shoes they wear. The moisture in them just breaks them down. They have a good deal when they get them from companies like Nike.

Once again you can understand the importance of wearing clothing and footwear is clothing that will allow the moisture coming out of your body to move away from you. The only way that can happen with footwear is if it is made from materials that allow for wicking action to take place and to the best of my knowledge the only rugged footwear that will allow that to happen is made from leather. Andrew Skurka showed in one of his videos how a synthetic hiking boot he was wearing for 3 days that were goretex lined not only broke down but caused him to develop blisters.

It would certainly be terrific if one of these companies would start using the Lamilite but if not, their customers may very well become my customers.

It may be a new year but it is still only mid-winter so I expect sock sales will continue.

By the way it may be a new year but new people need to learn about the scourge in the industry.