The new research commissioned by Dr. Martens, in collaboration with On The Tools, has revealed the stress UK trade workers face when breaking in new work boots.
According to the study, 63% also claimed it can take up to one week for work boots to be properly broken in and ready to use, resulting in extremely painful and potentially dangerous consequences – and delaying replacement when worn out.
As a result, the study called on manufacturers of boots to factor in ‘ready to wear’ to reduce risk associated with discomfort and delayed replacement.
The study showed the vast majority of the 560 professionals surveyed (92.5%) said that if a pair of boots had a reduced breaking-in period it would increase their chances of purchasing them.
To illustrate its point, Dr Martens used a series of analogies from other industries: how would an IT professional cope if it took their computer a week to start-up? Or, would an ambulance be allowed to take a week to arrive at a casualty?
Global category director at Dr. Martens, Jon Marchant, said: “Creating greater comfort, reliability and durability without sacrificing the necessary levels of protection is not negotiable when it comes to safety footwear.
“Dr. Martens understands the difficulties our trade customers face when working up to 10 hours a day on their feet and are committed to eliminating the breaking in period and improving workers’ comfort.”
Hilarious – any excuse not to use and replace PPE. What next, a study from Andrex highlighting the stress of using shiny toilet paper in welfare units?
JoJo Obviously you have never worked on site as if you had you would understand the problem with wearing new footwear all day in site conditions. I could not agree more with this being a problem having worked on site for over 45 years