I think I am a FORMER Ariat customer....vent and a question

[Coreene]

No more for me either, after this pair dies. I bought them in October, but didn't begin wearing them until early last month. Within four wearings, all the lace hooks on the right boot broke off, and the front of the right sole is starting to come off. Of course, I didn't have a receipt aftet all these months, so apparently I am S.O.L.

[ThirdCharm]

Ditto on bad ariat experiences.

They used to be great... my first couple pairs of Ariat boots lasted forever.

The last four or five pairs (I'm a slow learner!) have all disintegrated or broken within two months (leather cracking, seams unstitching, zippers breaking) and Ariat will not do a darn thing about it.

Again, being a slow learner, I bought a pair of Tek gloves a few months ago. Several of the seams came undone within a month of wearing about 3x/week for an hour or so (I have a LOT of gloves so no particular pair gets lots of wear). Fortunately I'm handy with a needle and thread, a quick whipstitch fixed em, but that is the LAST thing I need to be doing an hour before a dressage test.....

The last three winters I have bought Mountain Horse paddock boots (the ballistic nylon/kevlar type--not the real bulky ones, the ones that look like regular paddocks) which are half the price, just as comfortable, and almost indestructible. I managed to slice through the toe area of the first pair, somehow.... other than that little gash, they are still perfectly wearable and are living under the bed "in case of emergency". Although they are winter boots, I wear them half the summer b/c I love them.....


Jennifer

[magnolia73]

Ariat is not good. I bought 1/2 chaps on sale and the zipper pull broke after a few wears. I had the zippers replaced and the leather repairman commented that they had used the cheapest quality zippers, and was suprised, given the quality of the leather and craftsmanship.

[PaintTheTown]

My ariat paddock boots "shrunk" too. They used to zip up and feel great. However now they dont zip up at all unless i have NO socks on. I have lost 20lbs since i bought them, so no, my feet havent gotten fatter

I was tempted to order a pair of ariat breeches, but by the looks of my boots not zipped up anymore on my feet and this thread....im scared to!

[myhorsefaith]

ARGH!!!!!! and to think i just bought a pair of those endurance sneaks/ half chaps...at least i got them on clearance.

i was all happy that my feet fit into a 7 1/2...LOL. plus they were the most comfy riding shoes i've ever worn, and i needed new boots for schooling anyway.

and from what you are all telling me, i should expect to have them for about 10 rides or less.

DANG IT.

Ok, i won't get angry until they actually fall apart on me.

[dianad]

Does anyone know where Ariats are made? I have googled it with no luck...

I'd like to find some good American made boots (paddock) if there is such a thing...

[caffeinated]

They mostly make western boots, but do have some regular paddock style boots too (lace ups, mostly): Double H Boots

My farrier swears by them, and the pair he has certainly has stood up to a lot of abuse for several years.

I was going to get a pair but they didn't carry the style I liked in black, and I'm superficial that way.

[Aggie4Bar]

Does anyone know where Ariats are made? I have googled it with no luck...

If I'm not mistaken, quite a few of their products are made in China. I'd have to double check some tags to be certain, but I'm at work right now, so maybe someone else can verify.

[lmlacross]

Poor customer service is a huge pet peeve of mine, and has sent me from many companies I'd formerly been loyal to.

My experience with Ariat has been different, though. While I've never needed anything from them, I have been pleased with the durability of my paddock boots (five years, and a couple hard, snowy New England winters full of bucket schlepping)- they're Cobalt Devon Pros. EDITED TO ADD: well, I guess I've had two pair in five years, but the first pair isn't actually unusable, just unattractive.

Recently, I lost a lot of weight (168 down to 125), and my tall boot size changed. I sold my custom Vogels and bought a pair of the no-zipper Ariat Crowne Pro field boots- I LOVE them. To my taste, they could be a hair taller (I have the tall height), but they still look good. I understand that in a stock boot, market research must dictate sizing charts (I must be a bit atypical). What I've never understood is why their "tall" height boots aren't offered in a "wide" calf-- they max out at "full." Surely, I couldn't have been the only big and tall calved person out there (now I'm, in an 8 tall/regular-- it was the weight loss that made the Crownes an option-- they never were before.

LML

[Dressage Art]

WOW, this thread is suprising to me.

I LOVE my Ariats boots and 3 pairs of clogs, 2 boots and 2 half chaps and 2 pairs of great breeches and hats. I ONLY wear Ariat on my feet, b/c they have such a great sole that it really works for my toes and heel not to be in pain at the end of my day. I even wear Ariat clogs to work! I buy Ariat soles and put them to my other shoes with heels. I had them for 5-4 years and they holding up just great!

I absolutely have no complaints about Ariats - I will concider myself lucky, but I have soo many of their products!

To original OP, I would call them, I have my own business and sometimes my junk mail eats emails from my customers and then I find it in my junk mail filter several months after. It happends with may be 5% of emails that I get. I do not think that you gave a fair chance to Ariat to respond by sending one email to them and bashing them on the public forum now.

[Andalucian]

I figure if everyone else is getting this off their chest, I can take a turn, too.

I bought a pair of the original Crowne field boots a little less than a year ago. I retired them a couple of months ago, so I estimate their lifespan at about 8-9 months. They absolutely fell apart. The heel came off one of the boots about a month after I started wearing them. Had that repaired, at which point the leather started disintegrating. The pieces of leather under the laces have become shredded - and I don't lace them all that tightly. Just tightly enough to offer a smidge of support now that the ankles themselves offer none. The boots dropped nearly three inches and bunched down around my ankles worse than any socks I own. That coupled with the deep cracks around the ball of the foot, also described in a previous post in this thread, forced me to give up on these boots. The kicker? I do most of my schooling in paddock boots and half chaps. These boots were worn very little. For the $500 price tag, 9ish months of light wear shouldn't have caused such a horrible demise. Tried to contact Ariat via phone and e-mail multiple times and never could get in touch with anyone.

I had the same situation with several pairs of Ariat breeches I bought a couple of years ago. At first, I loved them. Then something about the "V" panel on the back caused a very unnattractive bagging in the fanny region, as though I'd felt compelled to drop a golf ball down the back of my pants before zipping. It happened to all four pairs of breeches, which were all different styles and colors (ranging from the $99 "cheapies" to the $225 "show" pants). I'm too embarrassed to wear them with that little defect, so now I have Ariat pants stacked in a hall closet, none of which have been worn more than 3 or 4 times. Again, no response from Ariat via e-mail, and I wasn't ever able to talk to anyone on the phone with the exception of one guy who couldn't help me but assured me "Ariat was aware of the problem and had resolved it in the new pants." Great. I'm happy for them. I just haven't had the guts to buy another pair and see if it happens again. There are too many other pants that hold up better.

Anyway, that sums up my ranting. At this point, my paddocks and half chaps are Danskos, my schooling tall boots are Mountain Horse High Calibres, my schooling breeches are TuffRiders - and I'm much happier. I haven't had to replace a thing in months now.

[StefffiC]

I have two pairs of Ariat Winter gloves that I just Loff! One I've had 6 months and worn 2x a day by both my mother and I, the other pair we've had 3 months (so we'd quit fighting over the ONE pair!). I like them better than my SSGs. I have a pair of 2 year old Tundra (Winter Endurance shoe) that look wonderful. I wear them for all sorts of thigns through winter. I also have two pairs of clogs, and they're still in great shape...

For boots, I'm a HUGE Dansko fan. My knees love them and they hold up very well. Both my pairs are well over a year old and look good when I care for them. I also have Mountain Horse winter boots (2 pairs) that look great and held up well.

Steph

[Delighted]

...

I have two pairs of paddock boots that each died a natural death around 5 years old - each did a tour of duty as full-time barn boots, with cleaning stalls, spreading manure (by pitchfork in the dew - which is about as much fun as it sounds), catching horses, walking through muddy nastiness, oh, and then actually riding. Both pairs held up wonderfully, but eventually gave up around 5 years old. Instead of buying another pair, though, I found myself owner of a few pairs of Dansko paddock boots and looove them for fit - but they're almost too soft, so I don't know about durability.

My tall boots are also Ariats, and I love them as well. They're the old style, with the funky heel - in case anyone has a pair lurking about that they want to unload, you know I could always do with a backup.

Ariat has yet to do me wrong - but I'm hesitant to buy another pair of paddock boots since everyone else seems to have crap luck with them. Hmph.

[Coreene]

They did used to last forever. I would wear a pair of paddock boots daily for three or four years before they gave out. But no more.

[DraftHorsePower]

wow! I am surprised with all the negative ariat comments! I have bunches of their stuff and have never really had any problems. I school in my tall boots every day (for the last 3-4 years) and they haven't had any problems, save for replacing a zipper on one, which was pretty expected with that much use.

I have a pair of the paddocks but i must say i hardly wear them. Though i have heard of quite a few people having problems with them, especially the zip ones (mine lace) so maybe their paddocks aren't up to par? Mine have done fine though.

I have 3 pairs of the breeches, and the very first pair did this "bunching" in the butt that some of you speak of, but that was after schooling in them almost every day for a couple of years. The 2 newer pairs haven't done that yet.

I just bought a pair of Ariat Crowne Pro Zip field boots to replace my others (challenge) since they are a little too short (got the short height) and the crazy guy that replaced the zipper didn't do a good job and now they are tighter on my calf on one side (not ariat related)

I hope they turn out ok! you guys have me scared now!

[actcasual]

I've been on an anti-Ariat rampage for*ever*. Stupid paddock boots crumbled in three months of moderate wear, but they did refund the money when I sent them back with a nasty letter.
Every so often I have a lapse in judgement and buy something else Ariat, even though I saw the Ariat Pro Circuit field boots, or whatever their superexpensive ones are, tear apart the first time a friend of mine ever put them on. And the silly Ariat ratcatcher shriveled up and threads started showing everywhere after one wash.
The halfchaps have held up okay under moderate wear. . . I like the way they look, so I grudgingly stopped ranting every time the brand name was brought up.

One exception: Their flagship model hunter breeches are superfantastic. I haven't had them long enough to know how they hold up, but compared to my TS they look better, feel more comfortable, and don't object to being machine washed.

[BarbB]

I do not think that you gave a fair chance to Ariat to respond by sending one email to them and bashing them on the public forum now.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one. I contacted them twice (the first was to their advertised, posted, on their site email).

If I don't respond to my customer's first contact I lose the customer.
But then I am in a highly competitive business and I can't afford to blow off a customer or make excuses about why I ignored them.

[BarbB]

They did used to last forever. I would wear a pair of paddock boots daily for three or four years before they gave out. But no more.

ditto

[Natalie]

I guess I've been lucky, so far. My first pair of Ariats lasted years, and honestly, I could still wear them...they're just fugly (but still functional). The pair I have now (the cheapie Heritages) are not my favorite things, and they look like they may give out sometime this season, but they have made it for a good two years now. I also have a pair of the winter boots (the cheaper ones new for this year) that I LOVE...super warm and comfy, and now cleaned up and stored in my basement after a winter of wear looking almost new.

I do have a pair of the cheaper ($99) breeches that I've only worn once...now I'm worried they'll give out on me. If they do, I guess I'll raise hell with Dover (where I got them) and Ariat until something happens, b/c even $100 is a lot for my college student budget.

[Smiles]

Ariats when they first started out were great. My first pair lasted for like 3 or 4 years. My second last maybe 6 months. The zipper broke and the leather split from the sole. I won't buy another pair. Even the cloths line is getting cheap. Ariat won't get my business either. For $200 bucks my paddock boots better last longer than 6 months.