I have owned the Men’s Gore-Tex Cresta Hiking Boots, Leather for over 4 years. My brother and myself have 3 pairs I absolutely love the boot it needed no break-in. About a year ago the leather split away from the sole at the front side of the boot. It is no longer water proof because of the leather splitting away from the sole. I have not done anything with the boot because it is probably 5 or 6 years old the sole has no wear I just love the boot but I cannot spend money for a new pair knowing this may happen again. I have been dealing with LL Bean for over 40 years I have been to the store in Free port Maine it is a great company and I definitely recommend LL Bean to any one wanting great products. The boots are imported so LL Bean did not make them. I still shop at LL Bean.
Boot with detached sole, held together with extra laces.
The boots initially were great, broke in very nicely and quickly. After about 40 days of use started to notice some separation between sole and body of boot. On a recent trip involving long hikes in remote areas, the boots rapidly deteriorated and the sole on one completely detached (the other boot had a partly detached sole). Fortunately I was only about 2 miles from vehicle so was able to tie the sole to the boot with some extra bootlaces I had, and shuffle slowly back over desert terrain. This could easily have been a safety issue - having your boot fall apart can become quite dangerous in remote areas. I had only worn the boots about 60 days maximum, about half off trail (but not unusually rough) and half on developed trails. Very disappointed in this product by LL Bean.
Response from L.L.BeanBy L.L.Bean Product Team, July 20, 2015
Thank you for sharing your concerns about our Men’s Gore-Tex Cresta Hiking Boots, Leather. We're sorry for the experience you had with the sole separating from the boot. We want to assure you that our product team reads these reviews, and will be researching this concern to ensure our boots continue to meet all of our quality standards.
One of our customer service representatives will be contacting you to follow up, and help you with a replacement or refund. All of us at L.L.Bean are firmly committed to providing our customers with the best products and service. You can always count on our 100% satisfaction guarantee when this is not the case.
Thanks for taking time to share your comments, and we look forward to serving you better in the future.
Overall rating
5/ 5
shiv357
fromStow Creek, nj
awesome boots!
PostedJuly 11, 2015
Great boots--going into my 3rd year---wearing them everyday for work and still have the original laces too! Ready to order another pair and they are no longer available in black?--very disappointed...
O.K., I've only had my present pair of Crestas' for 3 years and so far they're holding up well but I had my first pair for 17 years. I paid $160 for the originals, the most I had ever paid for a pair of shoes at the time, but I have to say they were worth every penny. In all fairness I took good care of them and referred to them as my "urban hikers" but they traveled the globe with me and never let me down. Comfortable, warm, waterproof, great ankle support and they always took a shine. My newer pair appear to be exactly the same with the exception of the place of manufacture, newbees mfg. in Romania and oldbees mfg. in Italy.
