Lady tradies, you all know the struggle. For years, you’ve had to squeeze into boots made for blokes—too wide, too stiff, and let’s be real, not built for for the female foot.
By smoko, your feet are aching, and by knock-off, you’re wondering if they were designed by someone who’s never set foot on a job site.
But that’s about to change. Say hello to the latest range of women’s work boots from Uvex—made for women who work hard. Tough enough to handle the job, durable enough to last, and, finally, comfortable enough to wear all day without feeling like you’ve been walking on concrete barefoot.
Whether you’re laying bricks, climbing scaff, or running the site, these boots are designed to fit right, feel right, and keep up with you every step of the way.
It’s about time, right? Well, I sat down with the man behind the boot, director of product Caleb Wegener, to dive into what makes Uvex’s latest work boots the perfect PPE for any lady tradie tackling the tools.
Built from the foot down
My main takeaway from our quick one-on-one? There’s a lot more going into the design behind protecting your downstairs digits than you might think.
As the proud owner of exactly one pair of unused steel toe caps I scored for free from my local mechanic, I never knew there were so many choices behind finding the perfect boot fit.
But from different materials and flexibility options to breathability and insoles – it’s hard yakka choosing the right boot for the job.
It’s so hard in fact, that Caleb said 63 per cent of all workers surveyed by the company are rocking footwear “one to two sizes too big” in an effort to find a breathable fit.
“It’s amazing some of the stories that people would tell you about having to hose out their boots on a Friday afternoon, put them out on the veranda to dry by Monday so that they didn’t stink out the rest of the neighbourhood,” he said.
But after spending more hours than I thought was possible looking at footwear, it sounds like Uvex has done all the hard work for you with the new line seemingly offering up a quick ‘fit fix’.
“We spent a lot of time and effort really designing the footwear to flex and move with the way that people walk, specifically around the geometry of the footwear, the flexibility in the upper of the footwear,” said Caleb.
“So the upper is really designed to flex and move as people squat and work through the day. There’s also really been nice and flexible through the ball of the foot so people can get a nice smooth ride.
“We also spend a lot of time trying to optimize the breathability in the key sweat zones of the foot and really help to try and reduce that internal buildup of moisture and also the heat stress that contributes to workers.”
And it seems the small details add up. Uvex claims their new range was able to reduce perceived worker fatigue on the job by 20 per cent and improve breathability by 15 per cent, with workers even saying the new range was 38 per cent more breathable than their current footwear.
Not just a “pink it and shrink it”
With all those features, it’s clear Uvex has put in the hard yards to find a perfect fit for the tradies on the tools. But when it comes to the new women’s range, Caleb said the product was far beyond a simple “pink it and shrink it” of the men’s work line.
“We spent a lot of time really focusing on women in particularly construction, mining and other industries that wear safety footwear… and we know there’s not just one homogenous women’s foot shape,” he said.
“So that’s why we do multiple fits and have multiple insoles available. We still maintain the certification of the footwear to then allow the women to customise the fit and actually get the right fit for them.”
In fact, women in construction surveyed by the company said they didn’t want a drop of pink at all on their work boots, with the fan favourite surprisingly being a “cement tan”.
“What we wanted to do was actually match it to the colour that a lot of the dust is on site,” said Caleb”
“If you’re working on a construction site, there’s a lot of recycled aggregate, crushed concrete that gets used. So a lot of boots, particularly back boots, get quite dirty.
“But we actually matched the (boot) colour to the colour of cement. So when they get dirty, they actually look the same colour as they were when they were new and actually dirty nicely.
“It actually looks just as nice after it’s got a bit of concrete dust over it or cement dust over it as it does when it’s new.”
Finding your fit
That being said, Uvex hasn’t boiled it down to a ‘one-size-fits-all” either. According to Caleb, finding the right fit was still very much choosing the “right tool for the right job”
“Everyone’s foot is different,” he said.
“Fit is absolutely critical. We can talk about the, you know, really high-energy return foam that we put into our footwear or other technologies. But if the footwear doesn’t actually fit you, then there’s actually no point in getting it right.
“And then when it comes to the actual task at work, footwear really needs to be selected around the hazards that workers are exposed to and the terrain that they’re working on.”
When it comes down to it, Caleb said tradies should think of buying a work boot like buying a set of car tyres – each set having their own different benefits and pitfalls.
“There are certain tyres that are designed for off-road, certain tyres are designed for on-road and you’re going to get different performance benefits,” he said.
“There’s a whole lot of other additional safety features that safety footwear can also provide, that can provide workers specific protection against. For instance, this footwear is electrically insulating, so for potential accidental contact with electricity, which is quite common in the construction trades, that can provide a second line of defence if everything else goes a bit pear-shaped, which unfortunately happens all too often.
“It really is about selecting the right footwear for the individual, selecting it for the hazards that are available in that specific task.”
You can watch the full interview above.
