I’ve got myself a pair of Solovair chelsea boots about a year ago and the soles are already pretty worn out. Water gets through the sole so I probably have to resole them if possible.
The wear has been surprisingly fast. Most of the boots I’ve had have been cheaper price point and lasted at least few years. Do I walk wrong or are the Solovair’s soles just bad? How long should the soles last?
There’s a pretty big range depending on use and material.
Comments like “x has lasted me y years” don’t really help. If they are being used as hiking boots in an area where the trails are dirt/mud/roots, they will last a while. If worn on rough concrete in a job where you walk around in them every day, they will wear fast.
There’s also a big difference in the type of sole. Some soles have effectively a big stack of foam as the outsole, which gives you some squish, but wears relatively quickly. Those a generally really thick, though, so it will still take a while to wear through. Some soles are softer rubber so you get better grip, but then they wear more easily. Harder rubbers last longer, but then comfort and grip can suffer.
Dr Martens, and i assume solovair, has one piece of rubber that acts as the outsole and the cushioning. If you wear through the outer layer of the outsole, you can expose one of those air chambers and let water in.
If your gait has you grinding through a portion of the sole prematurely, you could potentially talk to a cobbler about swapping to a different type of sole that won’t have that issue.