Also focusing on materials used to lower foot temperatures, Haix boots feature Sun Reflect leather. “It’s a specially treated leather that reflects sunlight so it keeps the leather, and in turn your feet, cooler,” Longarzo says. Depending on where you live and work, one such simple feature can make a big difference in overall comfort throughout the day.

Danner’s DFA boot comes in a waterproof version, but the company also sells a “hot version” that is unlined and features spacer mesh lining. “It’s not waterproof, but in hot weather environments, it’s significantly more useful for an operator to promote foot health and allow for additional breathability,” Cade says.

Instead of relying on materials to cool feet, other companies have developed systems that literally push air through and out of a boot. Bates developed its cross-channel circulation, or C3, technology.

“It’s quite a challenge to make a boot extremely breathable and still retain the rigidity you need and the level of water repellency a customer needs,” says Fowler. “But we built a system of channels through the sidewall of the midsole of the shoe, so the wearers as they walk and move can almost pump air into and out of the foot cavity.”

To make room for this “portal system,” designers had to use less lining materials behind the boot’s nylon panels, which also significantly increased breathability. In fact, breathability can be measured in the lab with what is called the moisture vapor transfer rate, and a boot with C3 technology has twice the MVTR of the industry qualification standard of a “breathable” shoe.

Along the same lines, Magn
um’s Vent Guard is a one-way valve at the front of the boot near the little toe on the outside and on the back of the big toe on the inside. This allows air heated inside the boot by friction where the boot bends to leave through the vent as the wearer walks, creating what Kaiser jokingly refers to as “whooshing.” Haix boots have a similar feature in the company’s Climate System.

Not Getting Wet
Breathability is a concern for waterproof boots, as well. Many companies use breathable linings such as Gore-tex to create waterproof boots, which is popular and very effective. But Magnum’s ion-mask technology takes the idea of waterproofing one step further, by impregnating the leather itself with hydrophobic ions. The boot is put in a chamber, where air is removed and the ion-mask material is injected into the space, where it adheres to the leather, nylon and rubber at the molecular level and remains there. These ions repel water, keeping the boot lighter.

“Even with the old waterproof boot that keeps your foot dry, it doesn’t do anything about keeping water from being soaked up by the fabric on the outside of the product, which makes it heavier and harder to walk,” Kaiser says. “The ion-mask technology keeps a boot hydrophobic, and so lightweight.”

Another advantage of this technology is that it prevents spilled oil, chemicals or blood-borne pathogens from adhering to treated boots “to a large extent.” Kaiser says Magnum will soon also offer ion-mask in other product categories.

Notable Additions
With all of the improvements footwear manufacturers make to their product lines, the common goal is user satisfaction. Listening to law enforcement officers and considering their concerns and requests helps drive innovation in the industry, and might lead to developing a feature so popular it will please loyal customers and garner new fans.

Alarcon says a key feature of 5.11 Tactical’s new Tactical Trainer 2.0 launching in July is a pull tab on the back of the boot engineered to stay flat. It’s a detail specific to law enforcement that the company felt was important to include. “Often people want to yank on the heel to get shoe on or off quickly. The challenge is if you don’t have some sort of mechanism to keep that tab flat, your pants catch on it, and that’s a big problem with uniform professionalism,” Alarcon says. “This tab will stay flat after you use it to pull on our boots.”

Original S.W.A.T. actually puts customization in the hands of tactical officers with its “SWAT id” Web site. “This way you can create the boot and design it exactly to the specs you want,” says Cynthia Hartwig, marketing assistant for Original S.W.A.T. “You can also have your department logo and name on the tongue.” In addition to individual purchases from officers, Hartwig says an agency in Florida is currently looking to place an order for its team of six people.

Danner also listened to its users and developed a “lace garage” in the top of the tongue of its DFA boot. “In the past, you had to tuck laces in your boot, which would create hot spots [of friction] around the ankle, but now you can tuck them into the tongue,” says Cade.

It can be difficult to make law enforcement boots new while still meeting agencies’ requirements. But companies are finding ways, and will continue to make adjustments to better meet officers’ needs.

“There’s a challenge for the manufacturer to continually bring innovation to the market,” says Fowler of Bates Boots. “That’s why it’s invigorating to bring out patented technology like ICS and C3, measurable comfort stories within the constraints of eight- or six-inch black boots.”

Melanie Basich is the managing editor of POLICE Magazine. An award-winning journalist, she has covered such topics as agency budgets, officer suicide, emerging law enforcement technologies and active shooter tactics.

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