I was asked to do a review of the new Ariat Telluride Work Boot to give a not entirely unbiased opinion of how it performed in real world situations. It has to be said that I stock a lot of Ariat product so in one respect could this review ever be unbiased in that I start out with a positive view of the brand, we have stocked Ariat for fifteen years and it has always performed extremely well it’s a kind of “Does what It says on the tin” type of brand and the few problems we have encountered have always been dealt with quickly, efficiently and positively. On the other side of the argument my fundamental loyalty at all times is to my customers, selling a few speciality boots might be good in the short term but if they failed to live up to expectations the reputational damage could be significant. This is the first time I have written a full review so please be patient!

The Style

I’m a size 9, a 43 if you will, so when the boots arrived in their black and orange box they certainly made a statement! The box seemed rather large for a pair of size 9 boots and my heart sank just a little. Historically in my experience safety footwear has always been on the large size, we get a lot of Farriers here at Eland and they always seem to have huge feet, I don’t know what message they’re trying to send but they’d all be a lot taller if they weren’t turned up so much at the bottom! So I was more than a little relieved when they were taken out of the box they weren’t quite as enormous as I feared they would be. In fact they didn’t look like the traditional safety boot at all, quite reasonably proportioned, not overly “Toe’y” and as they were in the distinctive Telluride style they were smart but not overly showy. The other significant thing was the weight, on picking them up they weren’t wrist strain-ingly heavy, they were “Comparatively” light! The use of a composite material instead of steel reduces the weight considerably but the technology maintains the strength. Whilst I didn’t put it to the test the technical specification is very impressive, having one foot run over by the tractor is more than enough frankly and whilst I am all for commitment, I am more than happy to take Ariat’s word on this one. I must say that wearing the boots all day, the lightness is very welcome.

The Sole

The other strong visual cue when looking at the boots is the sole. There is a fair bit to say about this aspect of the boot. The initial impression is that the sole is quite thick, a bit thicker than quite thick its fair to say, the last time I wore soles this thick was in the seventies, so after listening to my vinyl early David Bowie, I tried them on and the first thing to say is they are VERY comfortable! The classic Ariat footbed technology works a treat, I’m sure the thickness of the sole helps here and wearing them all day the comfort is a major plus. The other point to mention in regard to the sole is its resistance to penetration. I did take a chance here and deliberately stood on old fence rails with exposed nails and I’m very pleased to say they resisted extremely well, no more than a millimetre or two and not just on the instep with its protective composite shank, I put the ball of the foot to the test and it came through swimmingly so no trips to A&E for me, for a change! Thinking of the likely use of the boot and those that will probably use it its resistance to heat will also prove desirable, the relatively thick sole will also prove useful here. The other thing to say about the sole is that being Ariat it’s safe to ride in, I’m not sure that I would ever ride in it but the neat spin off advantage of a relatively smooth sole is in not leaving a trail of mud indoors throughout the day as it steadily fell from the cleats of a different style of sole.