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Repro DDR field boots ???
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These things are being reproduced for the obvious reason that the only sizes that can easily be found nowadays are the 26, 26.5 etc. Have a look here:
http://www.moleskin-militaria.com/in...p?cPath=25_105
Thomas is an excellent chap with whom I have dealt many times in the past and he clearly distinguishes between originals and repros. Notice the sizes of both. Nico too had told me that boots were being reproduced by Sturm (but I forget the details)
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These don't look so much like repro DDR boots but rather more like BRD Feuerwehr boots. What little I can see of the seams looks more like an old BW boot. And the viabrim(sp?) type sole is also commonly seen on some of the west german boots.
I've seen some Chinese army boots which look more like DDR than those..
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It looks like the soles are stolen from your run of the mill work boot/hiking boot. Also there doesn't appear to be stitching for pull up straps. They aren't very good reproductions if they are indeed supposed to be East German.
This confuses me as, as far as I can figure, the biggest thing that would be responsible for so many EG boots drying up would have to be WWII reenactors buying them for their German soldier impressions. Correct me if I'm wrong but while there is a collector base for them amoung us, and perhaps the odd chap who buys them for a Halloween costume or something, this would account for a relatively small portion of the market. This leads me wonder why anyone would bother to make reproductions of rubber sole jackboots. Why not just make better reproductions of leather sole WWII German boots? Unless a lot of people actually buy them for hiking etc. and every day use?
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is the DDR collector base much larger than I think it is?
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Originally posted by KevinH View PostIt looks like the soles are stolen from your run of the mill work boot/hiking boot. Also there doesn't appear to be stitching for pull up straps. They aren't very good reproductions if they are indeed supposed to be East German.
However I think that better reproductions are indeed available. I vaguely remember finding a pair in Berlin that did not feel like it had produced during the DDR at all. The markings inside and the leather just felt odd... But aside from this difficult to explain feeling, they were ostensibly identical to an original pair.
Originally posted by KevinH View PostUnless a lot of people actually buy them for hiking etc. and every day use?
Originally posted by KevinH View PostIs the DDR collector base much larger than I think it is?
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Originally posted by KevinH View PostThis confuses me as, as far as I can figure, the biggest thing that would be responsible for so many EG boots drying up would have to be WWII reenactors buying them for their German soldier impressions. Correct me if I'm wrong but while there is a collector base for them amoung us, and perhaps the odd chap who buys them for a Halloween costume or something, this would account for a relatively small portion of the market. This leads me wonder why anyone would bother to make reproductions of rubber sole jackboots. Why not just make better reproductions of leather sole WWII German boots?
Most WWII reenactors now use repros or BW Wachbataillon boots though I think.
regards
Klaus
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Originally posted by iannima View PostI use them every day ! I fail to understand your surprise... They are easily the most comfortable form of footwear I have worn. Admittedly I mainly use officer ones. The only reproach I have is that after a while they start squeaking ... although there are ways to overcome or limit that.
But for the squeaking, I found that the sole inside usually is the source Made
of cardboard with cloth atop. Try swapping those with some new ones from
a store or other set of shoes.
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Originally posted by Knuckles930 View PostI found that the sole inside usually is the source Made
of cardboard with cloth atop. Try swapping those with some new ones from
a store or other set of shoes.
It was rather entertaining watching the NVA comedy film because they obviously did not know about changing the cardboard insole... so you have a group of officers pompously striding around... and at every step...
squeak, squok, squeak, squok, squeak, squok, squeak, squok, squeak, squok,...
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Originally posted by iannima View PostI use them every day ! I fail to understand your surprise... They are easily the most comfortable form of footwear I have worn.
Originally posted by iannima View PostI too was a bit surprised to learn of reproductions were being made but then if Blumentarn suits are reproduced and have a market (I own two ) then the very same people will also presumably want the boots to go with the suit. It must be a niche market in Germany, comprising mainly NVA veterans...
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Originally posted by Klaus1989 View PostApparently Star Wars costumers (not sure how many of these are out there) also use East German boots. I was looking for a source for NVA boots them one time and keep turning up sites on how to make Star Wars outfits. I finally bought pair from WWII site that got some large sizes in.
Most WWII reenactors now use repros or BW Wachbataillon boots though I think.
regards
Klaus
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Originally posted by iannima View PostGenosse... that carboard insole goes into the archives straight away... But these boots still have a way of developing squeaks... Then obviously the soles have a tendency to come unstuck from the uppers, so occasionally a squeeze of superglue is useful ... But they all have a tendency to 'sing'... Officer's ones less so than EM's...
It was rather entertaining watching the NVA comedy film because they obviously did not know about changing the cardboard insole... so you have a group of officers pompously striding around... and at every step...
squeak, squok, squeak, squok, squeak, squok, squeak, squok, squeak, squok,...
All thought I also favor the officers ones, I tend to wear the EM ones more.
Mainly due to that I have more of those spare and they don't orchestrate each
step.
Also the repairing of the soles is a well know issue. Once had to reglue a whole
sole after the boots got in by mail. But it was well worth it, being officers parade ones.
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Originally posted by KevinH View PostI guess I just can't believe that the supply is drying up.
Next week I am going to Germany, near Magdeburg (indeed a stone throw away from your hometown, Torsten ) at a military vehicle show in Gnadau, Sachsen Anhalt. I have never been but friends who have, inform me that people wear the Blumentarn suits all the time, albeit incorrectly and inaccurately. Some of these chaps, when they came to Beltring, did mention to me the ready availability of bigger sizes as one the factors that prompted them to go for the Blumentarn repros. Because after all MOST veterans would have certainly worn the Strichtarn and not the Blumentarn.
Those who wore the Blumentarn for real must be well in their sixties now and possibly not that keen to rough it in a tent at shows.
The Eastern Block Vehicles (military and not) scene must be substantial in Germany judging by this website:
http://www.reutershagen.de/ostblock/
So there is potentially quite a market, a niche one, but a substantial niche. And perhaps one thing leads to another... having got the suit, some people don't feel right at wearing Bundeswehr laced up boots with it... I know the mechanism all too well... I get one little thing... which then prompts me to buy all sorts of other things... I really did not need... Oh well! as Genosse Viktor says: it is a sweet sickness... We should not assume that we are the only ones who have got the bug! Oh no... far from it!
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