Are you buying new shoes with the imagination of hiking with your friends in mind? Want to enjoy the whole journey and not miss any moment? Don’t you think to enjoy the journey you must be comfortable with your outfits and shoes as the disturbing will irritate you all the time?
Feeling the argument is right? Then you must choose the shoe pair with the accurate size to enjoy the journey.
Try to buy the shoes a month before your journey. Now you will be thinking about the use of buying a long time before. It’s useful of course as breaking in the shoes takes time.
Don’t you think about breaking in shoes? Don’t worry, we will tell you everything about it. Read next to find your answer.
What Does Breaking In Boots Mean For?
Planning for the hiking and everyone is just saying break in your shoes for later comfort? But you don’t even know the meaning of breaking in? Don’t worry, breaking in just means making your shoes exactly the shape of your foot so that you can enjoy hiking without any agony.
Mostly the boots are designed according to the ideal human foot shape and size which means you may find the shoes of your foot size but your foot can’t be the exact shape of the boot. So to mould it to your foot size the process of breaking in is used which is merely composed of walking with the shoes in advance so that the soles become softened.
Is Breaking Necessary For All Shoes?
Have known about what is breaking in and now be confused about whether the shoe stuff you bought needs breaking in or not? Then here is the answer to your confusion: breaking in is done to make yourself comfortable not for any other reason so if you want to enjoy your journey you must follow the procedure.
But what about shoe stuff? Yes, every shoe stuff requires breaking in if you have an important journey ahead. Hiking and trailing are the journeys for which you must be prepared in advance as a little mistake makes it difficult for you to walk.
So whatever the stuff you bought you can easily break in to make yourself comfortable. Now let us see how much time you should require for this process.
How Much Time is Required for Breaking in?
So you have decided to break into your newly bought shoes? Worrying about the time as you have to leave earlier? Breaking is just a simple phenomenon of wearing your new shoes like slippers in the house and walking around. Yes, it is just simple and doesn’t involve any rocket science techniques ever. So, the more time you give to your shoes, the more comfortable they will be during the journey.
But we have other factors connected with timing. It varies with the shoe stuff. If you have to buy the softer sole it will break in very easily and early but the trailing shoes with the hard soles require more time for the process. So before shopping, you must check the sole type of shoes.
How to break in Hiking Shoes?
Decided to break in your shoes and have a feasible time to do so? Then you can easily follow the procedure of breaking in. While searching for tips for breaking in, don’t follow them all with blind eyes but just go for the authentic ones as there are hundreds of tips described but most of them are just a waste of time. We will make you learn how you can easily break into your favourite shoes, for this let’s go ahead.
Wear Out Like Slippers
For the process just take out your favourite new shoes from the box and wear them in the house as you wear slippers. It will make you feel whether you have chosen the right pair size or not. If the shoes are compressing your fingers at the front then you have not chosen the right one and it’s useless to break in the wrong shoe pair.
But if there is no size issue then keep on wearing them around long days in the house. Wearing them in-house will not disturb their new texture and you can easily make them comfortable.
Wearing the shoes in-house for a week or some days, you will feel that they are no longer stiffer and feel more fit than before. If you feel so then let us proceed to the next step.
Wearing Shoes For a Short Walk
If you are reading this point it means that your shoes are comfortable during normal walks in the house or neighbourhood. Now it’s time to test them a little more. Wear your shoes and have a walk outside whether a morning walk or random on the roadside. You will feel that in the house area, all the surface was plain but on the roadside, there are some ups and downs on the road your shoes are facing. It’s necessary because you will be using the same shoes on the rough mountain surfaces having no plain surface at all. This way the shoe shape will be more comfortable for your foot shape.
Increasing the Walk Time
Running on the roadside can increase the walk time for some days to make the shoes more comfortable. Doing it will be useful for walking on bumps in your shoes. If you feel your foot is completely fit in your shoe now then it means your shoes are ready to go hiking with you.
Breaking in Shoes – Do’s And Don’ts
You have read the whole procedure of breaking it which you may follow easily but along with all this procedure, there are some more tips for you which will help you to be more confident.
Use Of Insoles
If you feel the shoe sole stiffer then it can hurt your foot skin, use the insoles to avoid injury. Insoles are shoe soles designed individually to make having a softer texture have a long journey.
Insoles can also be used in the condition if the shoe sole remains stiffer even after a long walk.
Use Of Thick Socks
While wearing hiking shoes even for testing do not use cotton socks ever as the cotton socks retain moisture which makes the foot cosy. Instead, you can use thick socks, the fabric which does not retain moisture and is thus beneficial to use.
Use of Leather Conditioner
Like the hair conditions, there are also leather conditioners present on the shelves in shops. Don’t be confused about the use of leather conditioners. It is just used to make the leather sole more softer but stronger. Using the conditioner you will observe that there will be no cracks on the sole even after a long walk.
Don’t Use Hairdryer
Few from many suggest that drying the leather using the hair dryer or any heating source stretches it and makes it softer for use. But the point is somehow doubtful as more heat can damage your shoe texture with no worth at all.
Don’t Soak Shoes In Water
Shoemakers claim that leather is a porous material which means it becomes softer when wet. Based on this fact some hikers made a myth that soaking the shoes in water helps in breaking in. But it is not so, it’s just a waste of time.
Final Words
If you are reading this paragraph it means you have got skills to break in your hiking shoes step by step. It was all about the breaking-in, hoping that your all queries have been addressed. Follow the procedure and do experiments after which you can feedback on how much the article was helpful to you.
