Why does nobody talk about boot snaplink failure on leather work boots?

I burned $180 on a pair of Red Wing boots for the hangar floor, and the top metal snaplink that holds the laces together gave out after 3 months of daily use. That little ring might look tough, but it bends sideways when you kneel down to check a nose gear strut, and once it flexes it never sits right again. I tried replacing just the snaplink with a hardware store keyring, which lasted a week before it snapped clean in half during a pushback. The real kicker is the boot itself is still solid, but the lace hardware is the weak point, so now I'm looking at $40 for a proper brass replacement set. Has anyone else dealt with this on work boots, or am I the only one who learned this the expensive way?

2 comments

2 Comments

xenan644d ago

Did you catch that thread on r/WorkBoots last month about the same issue? Some dude posted photos of his Thorogoods doing the exact same thing, and a few comments said it's a known weak spot across brands since they all use that same thin stamped metal. I read one guy saying he just ditched the snaplink entirely and swapped in a speed lace kit with those little wire hooks, cost him like $8 and he's still rocking it a year later. Honestly for $40 you're probably better off just drilling out the rivets and putting in a proper eyelet system, cause the boots themselves will outlast any factory hardware they slap on there.

jessica_dixon3d ago

Wait so are you saying the replacement brass set is also gonna bend outta shape or is that actually built different? Cause @xenan64 mentioned the ditching and speed lace kit thing but nobody really answered if the $40 fix actually holds up longer than the factory junk. I've seen guys on the ramp just wrap hockey tape around the top eyelets when the snaplink pops, which is ugly but works till the lace frays. The real question is how many hours of kneeling and general abuse did you get before it gave up, cause mine didnt even last a full plane rotation schedule.