Should we buy a stack of shoes, boots, socks etc?

SoothSayer

What does this even say about us in the west that we can't even fathom making our own during times of scarcity. Instead we say stock up on the chinese stuff now. Sad really.

Oh come on. Imagine sitting in a cold house 5 years from now, with failing electricity and little to eat.

Would you really want to be making underwear by hand?

I would rather stockpile 10 years of underwear for a small amount of money than try to make it by hand.

Sure, the skills would be useful and should be developed .. but why not postpone the evil day that you need to use them?

We don't need to drop back into caveman mode if we can find a more comfortable route ... even if it lasts only a few years.

Just imagine - finding that you had been given a nice NEW pair of socks, underwear & T-shirt ... and maybe even jeans & sneakers ... for Christmas in 2020. You would be SOOO happy!
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ironborne

Thanks for starting this thread SoothSayer. My thougts have been on this subject for awhile, mostly because of the kids.

I was thinking on laying in overalls for everyone. They're sturdier and then the only one that would need a shirt would be the wife.

This brings to mind the need to lay in more deoderant or at least baking soda. Being stinky won't make you friends.

benzoil

Dukat_Reloaded · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 1005

I wouldn't waste your money buying new items to store like clothing and shoes. If you want to stock up on these items, goto a clothing bin and take whatever you want. From what I understand about the clothing bins, charities throw most of the stuff away anyway. There's alot of blankets, gloves, jumpers, tracksuits etc. I used to give unwanted canned food to the church for charity, from what I saw others donate, it's mostly canned corn, peas, evaporated milk, beans etc, stuff poor people would turn their noses upto anyway, you could possibly collect some of this.
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Man's like a candle in a candlestick,
Made up of tallow and a little wick;

Wednesday

My husband wears steel toed boots, we don't throw the old ones away. We get him two pair a year and we don't buy the most expensive ones. He's young and healthy and so are his feets, he has never complained. I think I have about 3 old pair hidden away, in the short couple of years I have been preparing.

I have enough stiletto heels from my former life as a fashion victim to last me a lifetime. I collect wellies and gum boots now. Im also really fond of an embarassingly dorky pair of rubber garden clogs. Since I left the city, all I wear are rubber shoes, I would die if my friends could see me now.

Every native Texan needs a good pair of Justin boots too IMO. Mine have been resoled 4 times. My loafers have been resoled twice and the uppers are still new. For myself I do buy very nice shoes, because I only like to buy them once. My shoe repair guy loves me. I love him too, because he even does Birkenstocks.

Old clothes get recycled into patchwork quilts, I have the added benefit of being able to "swap squares". I'm the newbie at the Quilter's Guild. Believe it or not, I'm not even the youngest one there, but I do have a lot of new "moms". You'd be amazed what you can learn just by sitting quietly with your elders. I'm also building a barter network! Quilters sometimes make 2 of everything, one to use and one to swap. It makes for a patchier, more varied quilt if thats the look you're going for. My first quilt is looking like it might turn out kind of ugly, but it will be warm enough. The next one will be prettier.

I found a nice bolt of black cotton knit, I made 2 skirts and a pair of capris, I still have half a bolt left. The only difference between the ones I made and the one I got from the Gap, is mine is made better.

I have an event coming up that will require me to wear formal wear for 4 evenings. Yikes, I cant afford it.

I am making a black taffeta skirt and I have planned to make 4 tops to wear. A black lace tank, a red satin halter, a gold lace tank with a little matching cardigan and a teal green satin wrap with a tie at the waist. I hope they are all different enough that no one will notice I'm wearing the same black skirt underneath.

I will buy my husband a nice suit, because it's beyond my ability to make one. It will probably be his last so I will spend a little bit more, but with the money I save making my own dresses I hope it won't hurt too much.

Basically, my mantra these days is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". I have sort of moved into a new phase, I'm much less frantic and worried about aquiring a stockpile than I was before. These days, it's all about learning how to produce and working with the things that are easily available.

My food stocks have shrunk from massive to about 3 months worth. To me that means we were successful because we really ate all that food. Now I want to store food that I made. Canning is a challenge for me because I have a weird phobia about pressure cookers. I just know its going to explode my face off, I'm looking for another way to can.

So basically, I dont hoarde anything I can make. Boots, outerwear, underwear and denim jeans are all things I can't make easily. Well, I could make some underwear, but they would prolly be itchy. Razz

PrairieMule

Excellent topic!

I have a lot of boots but none of them can be resoled. Turns out the only boot that is of high quality and can be resoled are redwing boots. I'll probably drop $100 next month for a pair and never buy another pair in my lifetime. Also I have found that plain colored non camoflaged BDU's that are poly/cotton blend you find at the army/navy surplus are twice as tough as a pair of levis. The most durable t-shirts I have owned are hands down North Face Shirts from REI made of 95% cotton 5% spandex.
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In other words, it's a huge sh*t sandwich, and we're all gonna have to take a bite.-from Full Metal Jacket

magician

yeah when I made alot of money the other year bartending, the Girl and I bought a bunch of stuff. from bug out stuff to extra gore-tex mil-spec cold weather gear (we cycle everywhere, its so worth it). we dont even use most of the gear-head stuff but save it for a rainey day. last christmas it was corcoran boots. they are smooth leather and can be polished/ preserved with a variety of substances. they can also be resoled by any cobler or something could be fashioned at home with a leather needle and tire scraps. vibram soles are a must. we decided it was important that no gore-tex or other bells and wistles should be included because the more high-tech footwear is the faster it seems to break down. not to metion breathable membranes are picky about waterproffing (no lanolyn). we also stock two pairs of wallmart (giant economic sucking sound) low top trail shoes each. if you hear stories about the depression from old people you always hear about the shoe situation being shitty. clothing is robes if nessissary. not hard to make if you dont care about fashon. good shoes that one can walk miles in are hard to make. spend your money there.

--fr. coyote

papalegba · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 22, 2005 Posts: 82

I've thought about this quite a bit. Clothes - shirts, pants, underwear and even socks - aren't that big a deal; we have a lot of accumulated stock, we could fix indefinitely if we had to, or even make something that would work fairly well.

Shoes are another matter. I've made both sandals and moccasins, and it's not that hard to make a fairly good pair - but my soft white-man feet need boots for serious walking, gardening and forest work. In the last 20 years or so, I've pretty much bought into the lightweight - glued - form of hiking boots because they're comfortable and light, but I have to admit they are a bit of a consumerist trap. They don't really last, and don't lend themselves to fixing and resoling. For that you really want a pair of old-fashioned mountaineering or logging boots - the kind of with the sewn welt (sometimes called a Norwegian welt); they can be fixed and resoled pretty much indefinitely. But they are way heavy and you have to get a pair that really fit properly. Pretty hard to find the real deal these days, but they do make them.

I still have my mountain boots from the old days stashed away, and I look at them as insurance that I hope I don't have to use. These days its either a pair of Raichle backpacking boots that have been downgraded to gardening/orchard use, or a pair of resolable Chaco sport sandals.

But what about gloves? I go through piles of those rubber-palmed cloth jobs for gardening/orchard/firewood use, and fewer but still lots of pairs of all-leather ones - I'd hate to have to make my own... but I guess push comes to shove I'd just figure it out, or keep fixing old ones...

papalegba · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 22, 2005 Posts: 82

Oh yeah, and Doc Marten shoes from England - apparently indestructable. I have an 18-year old pair that were worn more or less daily for a decade, and you'd hardly know it. Another more beat-up pair I bought used in a thrift store for five bucks, and I've been using them in the garden for years and they look exactly like they did the day I bought them.

TorrKing

Going barefoot is more healthy and comfortable than using shoes. The period of transition before your harden can be uncomfortable at the very least though. I walk barefoot nearly all of the summer and it increases the strength of my legs as well as bloodflow. I don't get cold on my feet (when wearing shoes) in winter anymore.

This saves on shoes. In winter snow, wear is pretty much non-existant. Simple moccasins will last quite a long time then.

Torjus Gaaren

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4031

eastbay

I've saved up three new pair of police/military-style Danner boots over the past few years. They've been offered free from my soon-to-be former employer. They seem to be quite durable and should last me decades.

I've only used them in dry climate so I'm a bit concerned abourt how the Gore-Tex material making up most of the the sides of these fine boots will last in wet weather, which is where we're heading fairly soon.

Anyone here have experience with these in wet weather?
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Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha

PrairieMule

Jenab6

Here's what I've got at present.

SHOES & BOOTS.

Columbia Wildland Ridge backpacking boots
Earth Spirit strap sandals
GBX light oxfords
GBX heavy oxfords
Lowa mountineering boots
Lowa Jannu Lo trail shoes
Merrell Passage Ventilator Lo light hiking shoes
Merrell Passage Ventilator Mid light hiking shoes
Merrell Orbit Mocs camp shoes
Merrell Alpine Mocs warm camp shoes
Merrell World Mover Mocs lounge shoes
Merrell Mesa Ventilator trail shoes
Montrail Hardrock trail running shoes
Montrail Kalahari trail running shoes
Montrail Torre backpacking boots
Montrail Traverse heavy hiking boots
Montrail TRS Comp Lo rough country hiking shoes
Montrail TRS Comp Mid rough country hiking shoes
New Balance 825 trail running shoes
Ozark Trail snow boots
Resort thong sandals
Vasque Catalyst mid hiking shoes
Vasque Clarion Impact hiking boots
Vasque Clarion GTX hiking boots

SOCKS.

Maybe 100 pairs altogether. Most of them are high wool content. Some are ragg wool (lambs wool blended with nylon, now soft with use and washing). Some are merino wool. Some are alpaca. A few are wool or alpaca blended with angora rabbit fur. And some are a blend of merino wool and acrylic.

Some of my socks are no-see-ums, or barely see ums: short socks. Most are crew sized. I have a half dozen heavy 88% merino wool socks that are of the over-the-calf length.

I reckon that the footwear described above will be most of my lifetime supply.

I'm likewise stocked up on underwear, shirts and pants. Also important: wide-brim hats. You might prefer cowboy hats, but I am partial to cotton fishing hats with three-inch stitched brims. I wear these while hiking or backpacking.

It's important to have a large backpack, too, in case you need to carry 30-40 pounds of stuff for several miles. I have a North Face Perseverance, a large Western Pack, and I've ordered a huge 6400 cubic inch pack from Cuscus, which should arrive soon.

For winter hiking, you'll want tencel undershirts, a silk-cashmere or silk-rayon blend shirts, cashmere sweaters, ragg wool sweaters, ragg wool hunting pants, long flannel underpants, a nylon windbreaker with a hood, and a mad bomber or Russian army type winter wool hat. You might also want to wear a pair of acrylic knit gloves under an outer pair of larger leather gloves. Your feet should stay warm enough in heavy merino wool socks inside snow boots, mountaineering boots or heavy backpacking boots -- treated with either mink oil, if smooth leather, or silicone waterproofing spray, if suede.

For night hiking, you'll want a nice bright LED flashlight that you can wear on a head strap. For persuading hungry bears not to consider you their dinner, you may wish to hook a hunting rifle on your backpack.

Oh, did I mention that I like to dress in blue with usually brown trim? Blue hat, shirt, pants, socks, undershirt... yes, and blue boxer briefs too. Brown belt and usually brown boots. I'm the Blue Hiker of Pocahontas County West Virginia. Accept no substitutes.

Jerry Abbott