When you get a new pair of boots, they won’t be comfortable straight away. From chaffing to blisters, it can be an uncomfortable and painful process until you can wear your boots properly.
But don’t worry – you don’t have to deal with any more rubbing and tightness. There are several ways to speed up (or even mostly avoid) the breaking-in process, so you can get to wearing your new boots comfortably as quickly as possible.
This handy guide will take you through the best methods of breaking in new boots, going over how to do each method as well as the benefits and possible downsides to each one.
So put your best foot forwards and let’s get right into it!
Why You Should Break In New Boots
Before we look at how to break your boots in, first you should know why it’s important.
Breaking in a pair of boots involves making the material more flexible and soft, so it moves easily with your ankle while keeping it stable. It also means wearing down the soles of your boots to give you a better grip and mold them to the shape of your foot.
Most of the time, boots will start off hard and stiff with a flat sole. Over time, this will loosen and soften to help you walk more comfortably and securely.
But this can take a while to do naturally, and until then you’ll have to deal with the pain and discomfort. Certain materials, such as leather, may take even longer to become flexible. Boots like these are some of the worst to break in, taking more time and effort until they are wearable.
So let’s see how to speed things up and make your boots ready to wear in no time.
The Best Ways To Break Your Boots In
There are several different ways you can break boots in quickly. These range from accelerating the normal process, to simple tricks that break your boots in without wearing them, to altering the boot entirely to skip certain parts that take a lot of time. Here, we’ll look at each method individually.
Speeding Up The Intended Way
The natural way to break in boots is by wearing them. Over time, your boots will shape themselves to your feet and become easier and more comfortable to wear.
As mentioned before, this is due to the material softening and the sole wearing down. While normally this would take a lot of walking to do, you can speed this process up with minimal pain in the meantime.
Walking over rougher terrain is a great way to start wearing down the sole of your boot.
By taking short walks on rough ground (such as gravel or bumpy paths) you’ll have the rubber on your boots ground down to shape much more quickly than on steady ground. You’ll also have to wear your boots less, meaning you won’t feel as much pain in your feet.
Don’t think that you have to break in your boots in one sitting. By wearing your boots for a few hours at a time every day, you’ll be breaking your boots in before they have a chance to hurt your feet. By doing this frequently, you can get your boots ready for walking without having to worry about any discomfort.
If you’re still worried about rubbing, you can put a band-aid on the back of your ankle or heel to keep you safe from blisters and chafing.
Scuffing The Soles
A large part of breaking your boots in is wearing down the soles. As a result, it’s easier to break in your boots if you wear down the soles quickly. That’s where scuffing comes in.
Grinding your feet against rough materials like gravel, asphalt, or rough stone will start wearing down the rubber in no time at all. This ties in with wearing your boots normally – if you’re walking on a rugged path, grinding your feet for a few minutes will make a massive difference when breaking in your boots.
If you want to take scuffing to the extreme, you could even use a file to remove some of the rubber on the sole. Don’t go too far with this, as you could end up ruining your boots. Try to keep the rubbing in line with the arch and shape of your foot – using an old pair of boots as a frame of reference can be really helpful here.
While scuffing your boots is a great way to break in the soles, you should bear in mind that this is directly damaging your boots. If you don’t want to damage or blemish your boots, then this might not be the method for you.
Use A Shoe Stretcher
Doing exactly what the name suggests, a shoe stretcher helps loosen up and soften the material of your boots.
Using a shoe stretcher on your boots will widen the opening and lead to less rubbing and tightness on your ankle. The added looseness will also help your boots adjust to your ankle, with more flex making it easier to form the boot to your foot. Not only that, but you have the added bonus of making it easier to put your boots on.
This is perfect for boots made of tougher materials that don’t want to soften up. By using a shoe stretcher, you’re getting rid of one of the trickier (and more painful) aspects of breaking in new boots. However, this won’t have any impact on the sole of the boots.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it: some of the best methods of breaking in new boots. Whichever method you choose to try (or if you use a combination of several), you’re sure to have a much easier time breaking in a new pair of boots.
While some of these methods have their disadvantages, they are still great ways to get your new boot wearable as soon as possible. The only thing left to do is for you to go and break your new boots in!
