How Often Should You Replace Work Shoes?

How often should you replace work shoes for your personal safety?

Considering that they are work shoes, you would not want to risk personal injuries from slipping and falling at the work place.

Therefore, you should know when to replace the shoes. Well, the best thing to do is to stay aware of the condition of your shoes all the time. This means checking them often for signs of wear and tear. It is also important to know the signs that show it is time to replace your shoes.

So, how often should you replace work shoes? 12 months should be a good time to get a new change of work place safety shoes. This depends on the brand of the shoes. Too cheap work shoes can wear out faster and may need to be replaced in less than 6 months. Therefore, 6 to 12 months should be fine for you to replace your everyday work shoes.

In the first few months, there is no problem with the shoes. They are still new and in great shape. However, with time, the shoes start wearing out. This is understandable because they literally do all the donkey work of carrying all of your weight when you are standing, walking and even sitting down.

So, how do you know that it is time to get a new pair of shoes? Keep reading to find out.

How Often Should I Replace My Work Shoes?

You should replace your work boots as often as the need arises. Thankfully, there are telltale signs of worn out work boots that you should not miss.

Here are the most important tips to help you know when it is time to replace your shoes.

Your Shoes Talk – Listen To Them

How long should boots last? Well, the truth is that when your work boots start failing, you will want to repair them. That is quite fine. You can repair them on DIY basis or you could take them to a cobbler.

In fact, you can even change the sole of your work boots if the manufacturer says you can. However, some like the Danner Mountain Light or Mountain Pass boots do not come with that privilege. So when the sole is worn out, that is the end of the shoes.

Even if the shoes are repairable, once you have repaired them a couple of times, it is time to let them rest. You see, the danger of wearing worn out shoes is that they can hurt your feet badly.

When the shoes are no longer comfortable

How often should you buy new shoes and is comfort a factor? If you will be spending many hours on your feet, you will definitely need the shoes to be very comfortable.

But comfort in shoes means very different things as compared to comfort in clothing or in bed. Here are a few important factors that determine the comfort of your work shoes:

• Support for your foot in the most crucial areas such as arch, heel and ball of foot
• Enough room in the toe area
• No undue pressure from the lace and tongue area
• If it has Gore Tex lining, it should stay intact for a long time
• The boots should still have a supportive outsole with the lugs intact

Now, if any of the above things is compromised, well, it means it is time for you to change the shoes.

While you can repair the upper part of the shoes, comfort is quite hard to bring back once it is gone. Therefore, “listen” to your feet. If you feel that the heel, arch, ball of foot and other parts of the feet are not supported, it is time for the work shoes to go.

When Your Safety Is At Risk

Worn out boots or old work boots can pose a serious risk to your safety at the work place. Therefore, you should keep checking the safety features to see that they are in top shape.

Even the work boots that last a long time eventually get to a point where they wear out and need to be replaced.

Check the lugs of the outsole. If they are broken or worn out in any other way, the shoes or the soles should be replaced. Remember, the lugs give traction, make a pair of work boots slip resistant, oil resistant and they keep you safe on your feet all the time.

Check whether the outsole is perforated. If it has holes, it will let in water, which could cause blistering on your feet.

How long should a good pair of shoes last?

How long do boots last depends on many things, but the main one is how often you wear them. Of course, if you wear yours daily, you will have to replace them sooner than a person who wears their work boots three times a week.

However, as we already mentioned, the average life of work shoes is 12 months. It could be shorter and it could be longer than this, with some boots lasting up to 36 months.

The minute that you feel your boots are not giving you support, are allowing water inside and they are worn out at the heels, it is time to replace them.

For how often to replace insoles, six months should be fine.

Conclusion

How often should you replace work shoes in a year? It could be utmost once. However, some of the high quality work boots that last years on end could go on for even more than 2 years.