Steel toe—that’s the first thing most people think of when referring to steel toe shoes, safety toe shoes and steel toe boots.  For decades, these types of shoes and boots have provided substantially greater protection than regular footwear alone.  They help insure that while working around heavy materials and in environments where it’s more likely to become injured due to the requirements of the job.  While they have plenty of upsides, there are some downsides that new composite technology can help with. These include cold toes in the winter, which can become more of an issue than simple discomfort or inconvenience if working outside for long periods of time. There are potential issues with metal detectors when wearing steel toe shoes or steel toe boots in higher security environments as well.

Footwear of this type must meet the ASTM F2413-11 M/I/75 C/75 EH rating for safety.

Composite Options

There are composite toe options that also meet the ASTM F2413-11 M/I/75 C/75 EH rating for safety, though. 

What is this rating?  The ASTM F2413-11 standard specification for toe cap footwear protective performance requirements covers minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing and classification of these types of footwear. The purpose of this standard is to certify that the shoes and boots you are wearing will do their job.

An independent third party laboratory must perform the certification.  Footwear certified as meeting ASTM F2413-11 must first meet the requirements of Section 5.1 Impact Resistant Footwear and Section 5.2 Compression Resistant Footwear. Then the requirements of additional sections such as metatarsal protection, conductive protection, electric hazard resistance, static dissipative protection and protection against punctures can be met. Composite toes meet all the same requirements as the steel toe just in a lighter version.

They won’t make your toes cold in the wintertime.  Some of our composite toes also have a composite shank in the boot, which makes the entire boots nonmetallic for those of you who have to go through a metal detector to get to work. 

For those in even more potentially hazardous environments, we also carry some met guard boots that have the metatarsal bone protection pad in them for the jobs that require that level of protection.

Get the Right Composite / Steel Toe Boots or Shoes for You

Here at Tracie’s Boots & Buckles we have a great selection of boots and shoes that meet the safety toe standards.  There is no reason for you to be walking around in ugly uncomfortable safety toe shoes or boots that don’t fit properly when you could come see Tracie and the gang and get the right stylish comfortable composite or steel toe boots and shoes. 

Don’t have time to come see us? You can order them right here on our website.  If we don’t have what you are looking for come see us or call us—if it is a brand that we carry we will be glad to special order them for you.