Meet the safety dealer boot that gets stronger with age

V12 Footwear’s ‘Cotswold’ is the dealer boot that’s out-punching and out-performing the market leader.

Safety footwear in Agriculture needs to do more than protect your feet. It needs to deliver top-level comfort and protection long-term.

And that’s why more and more people in the farming sector are stepping away from a best-seller and choosing Cotswold — a safety dealer boot designed by Wiltshire-based brand V12 Footwear that spells a new era in footwear strength.

V12 knew they had something special in the Cotswold, but they didn’t just want to make their own durability and safety claims. They wanted the lab stats to prove it…

They approached global footwear testing authority SATRA to assess the boot’s durability, and while V12 were confident of Cotswold’s performance in any of the toughness tests, even they were amazed by the results…

Going toe to toe…

V12 entered Cotswold into a one-on-one strength test against a certain best-selling dealer boot and industry favourite from Down Under.

If you’re one of the 200,000+ people working in the Agri sector, you’ll likely be familiar – they’ve been around for a while and have been considered the gold standard of work boot by just about everyone in farming.

© V12 Footwear

You know the ones – that dealer all of your mates probably wear. But here’s the thing: big popularity doesn’t always mean big performance. Because this is what happened:

Test 1 – Sole bond peel strength

This assessment measures how firmly the sole stays attached to the boot, and Cotswold passed both upper and outer midsole adhesion tests. The other dealer? It failed the upper midsole tear test. And that’s a serious flaw for an Agri boot.

Test 2 – Stitched seam strength

This test measures how strong the boot’s seams are. When boots break down, it’s often at the seams, but the Cotswold did the opposite: not only did its seam strength hold up, it actually got better over time.

And the lab results prove it: its inner seam strength improved by 75.4%, while its outer seam toughness went up an impressive 109.6%. And this is data from Satra – so that’s fair dinkum.

Its competitor, meanwhile, weakened over time. In fact, the thread in this market leader failed both before and after ageing.

Commenting on the Cotswold’s performance, a representative from SATRA said: “Additional testing was carried out over and above the performance requirements of the EN ISO 20345 standards.

“The Cotswold boot performed strongly in both sole bond strength and stitched seam testing and continued to meet the performance requirements after tests replicating long-term wear.”

© V12 Footwear

Cotswold comfort

So, it would appear this new dealer boot was built to give protection that lasts. But it was also developed to support farmers through long days and unpredictable conditions.

On average, farmers notch up 15,000 steps per day – over 100,000 steps per week – and on tough, trying terrain and in all weathers, so keeping feet comfortable is key.

When asked about the design process for this boot, V12 Managing Director George Turner said: “All our products are designed to have long-term comfort absolutely at the core, but without compromising on protection and durability – and the Cotswold proves that.

“We knew we had a market-leader for durability on our hands, but we didn’t expect this level of test performance from SATRA”.

And weighing in at only 658g thanks to a metal-free construction and lighter-than-rubber TPU sole, Cotswold signals a new era of light, supportive and durable Agri footwear.

Heavy, clunky dealers with poor seam and bond strength? That’s yesterday’s best seller, mate.

© V12 Footwear

Visit v12footwear.com or contact sales@v12footwear to try the boot that’s redefining dealer durability.