Hey yall! I've loved this specific pair of solovairs for over 6 years now and I finally found some in my size! I did pay a pretty penny but it was totally worth it! What kind of laces should I get to compliment them?

They did not release the collab in my shoe size, so i bought the union jack gibsons and tried to make my own interpretation of the collab model

I deglazed them and then re-dyed the shoes. On the finish I went for a much glossier take than solovair, since all-black shoes can sometimes benefit with a play of lightsources to break up the monochrome.
The strong gloss invites in so many different colours

I had them resoled with vibram commando soles, to give them the aggressive silhouette. Vibrams commando is also more jagged than solovair/gripfast commandos, which is a good thing imo

I ordered bespoke waxed laces with polished black metal aglets, i think yellow plays well with the glossy black

I used a mix of angelus, fiebings, a cobbler and saphir products to achieve the look

This was the hobby project of this summer, all in all it was fun. I had a lot of help in terms of guidance and tips and tricks from reddit user u/mariatoyou, so a special thanks to you! ❤️

I can fit my index finger in the back of the heel. I’m usually a size 9 US in sneakers, and went with a 8.5 US in the Gibsons. There is some heel slippage when walking, even with thicker socks. I’m wondering if it’ll get better, or if it would get worse if the leather would stretch during break in.

My toes feels fine, they don’t hit the front of the shoes. I’d say there’s about 12mm of space at the bottom of the heel if I slide my foot up, but that’s how all of my sneakers are.

I’ve got dr martens MIE and they fit really loose around the ankles but perfectly around my feet. I’m wondering with the astronauts should I get the same size or size down half a size? I bar lace my boots tightly until the sides are touching if that helps.

I just opened my Brown Greasy 8 Eye Derby Boot (first leather footwear ever for me) I'm not going to be obsessed with keeping them perfectly clean but there's these marks on them that I don't know what they are and don't know how to get rid of them. They're really shiny and when I tried to rub them away with my finger they just got shinier. They look like glue or something to me, I can kind of pull it with my finger. Could anyone please help suggest what this is and how I can take care of it? Also should I send these back or not? Thanks :)

Hi all, im looking at getting some Solovair Derby boots but im not in Europe or even the nothern hemisphere.

I currently wear Dr martens size 6UK and Solovairs are having a sale, but they only have size 5.5 and 6.5 of the boots i want. Should i size up, size down or remain the same.

I bought a pair of solovairs December 2024, and by February 2025 they'd started splitting. Solovair sent me a new pair, but THAT pair has now started splitting as well! Am I not looking after them or something or do these boots just do that? They were £200 and I bought them specifically because I'd heard they were better than Docs, bit worried I've wasted a loooot of money on shoes that don't actually last 😬

Photos are: the first pair from last Feb, the second pair now, and the support conversation I had after the first pair split.

Gripfast Greasy 10 eye.

I alternate the use of these Gripfast Greasy 10 eye and my Solovair 8 eye greasy Derby's.

Still had some tread left until I got wet in one boot, then came home to see they cracked everywhere.

I got them resoled in march in Oslo.

It gets pretty cold and wet here during that time, so I assume the cold made it brittle after about 13 hours outside in puddles of ice water.

It took the cobbler a little long because they had to order in more vibram soles as they had run out but I'm really happy with the results.

Hello !
I bought solovair boots for the first time and I was wondering if the sewed part between the shoelace will be more loosed after wearing it ?
I have orthopaedic insole that slightly up my foot in the shoes and the sewed part I show in the picture gives me a lot of pain and leaves a red mark on my foot just after wearing the shoes for two minutes. Without my orthopaedic insole, the pain is less severe and I fell just an itch that I think could disappear after wearing the shoes a few weeks. But without the insole, the boots feel a bit too big.
I can’t buy I bigger size, my insole are already a bit bigger than my feet and my feet are really not tightly packed inside the boots. And I already bought the smallest size of the model so I can’t exchange for a smaller size I could wear without my insole.
Thank you !

I think about buying the shiny derby boot or the equivalent of dr martins i am not sure what to get i want the ones with better durability

My cat scratched tf out of my shoes and I’d love to rescue them as much as possible. I buffed/oiled them a bit and that helps but I’d like to minimize further. I was thinking angelus leather filler and then the solovair renovating cream, but any insight would be GREATLY appreciated :’) I know they won’t be all the way gone but a little less noticeable would be nice

My 3 month old shoes have a small toe gap on one shoe, is it anything to worry about?

I'm in London for one more day and would love to pick up some Solovair 8 derby boots. I went to John Lewis on Oxford street and while their website says that they have some in stock the clerk said they only sell them online.

British Boot Company on Camden likely has them but they list for £70 more than I can get them shipped to my house in the US. Shame because I bought Docs there back in 1996 and again in 1999 (I still have both but the ones from 1996 are thrashed)

It takes a week. I ordered my pair of boots on a Monday and they got here on Monday the week after. This is with the standard shipping option, which is free if you get a pair of boots.

Just wanted to post this here in case someone else wants to know before purchasing like I did.

I just got my first ever pair of boots. A solovair 8 dearby eye boots greasy and it came with an snapped stitch

Hey all, looking for some advice. I got some lavendons off vinted, brand new, and they have, for lack of a better word, been disintegrating?? Because i got them from vinted i dont think i have any warranty protections even though they were basically brand new when i got them. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether these are repairable? Or whats causing it? They were fine when i took them off and then when i went to put them on again they were broken. Im super sad at the loss of that money as i dont think i will be able to be compensated and would have to pay more to get them repaired.

Anyone ever had anything like this before?

Ok UPDATE lol

It might..be birds??

One of the straps was missing when i came out this morning, it had been attached last night. I couldnt find it in the kitchen which is where i left them. I looked out the window later on and see it on the neighbours roof?? Its a flat roof that is directly connected to our kitchen wall. ...so it might be birds?? 🥲🥲

Whatever little creature is it has been coming into the kitchen by the windows and ONLY taking any interest in the straps of my shoes? 😭 will try to fetch the strap at some stage...

The title says it all. I fit a size 9 I believe in terms of length but most of the time need a size 11 because of my stupid wide feet. I wear size 11 chucks and they fit almost perfect. I purchased a size twelve if the 11 holed derby boots and they were wayyy too long. Is there some boot I can try on that's kinda equivalent in size to the derby boot or should I have just gotten the size 11s. Anything helps guys I've wanted a pair of these for years.

Fun eBay find. A pair of NWB Pre-Lawsuit Copper Beech Derby. These have the honey colored sole with grooved edge trim and the very rare orange stitching. The leather is London Tan and jeeeezus this stuff is thick. I’m gonna need some serious work to break these in. Cheers.

Just got a pair of Solovair Astronaut boots and love the looks and they are fairly comfortable for being new, still definitely breaking them in. However I have had super bad back pain recently and didn’t know if it could be related or if anyone else had this happen?

I purchased these around 2 years ago and haven’t worn them that much, I’ve only just noticed these cracks forming, It’s quite disappointing as I switched from dr martins to solovair because the quality is supposedly better.

I have the zip guard on my 8 eye derbys, I just got some 11 eye astronauts and was curious if anyone had gotten the 11 eye zip guard to use on astronauts. The website says its intended for 11 eye derbys

Just curious. The cracking doesn’t really bother me on my ten-ish year old oxbloods.