Leather boots broken after 6-7 months of use.
I bought these shoes around December 2025 and for me they were pretty pricey. Definitely some of the most expensive boots I've ever bought at around 180 USD. I know you can spend a lot more on shoes, but from my perspective these were pretty expensive.
I used them for 6 months and then the side wall simply let go like you see in the pictures. I admit I should have greased them more often, but in those 6 months I greased them twice and they didn't show any signs of being dry. No cracking or anything like that.
Shoe store blamed me for not greasing them and said leather shoes don't last any longer unless greased at least once every month.
Is this accurate? It seems very odd to me that any shoes would break that fast, with or without regular maintenance.
They also said I could either get half my money back to use in their store or I could get the old shoes back, but not both. They at least let me take these pictures.
As a side note; I got a pair of doc martens in high school which I have used on and off for 20 years with zero maintenance and they're still going strong. They're starting to crack in areas that crease a lot with use, but they're still perfectly wearable. Those were cheaper than the ones that broke after 6 months.