Le Chameau Wellies

I bought my second pair of Le Chameau wellies - Women's Chasseur Neoprene Lined Boot Vert Vierzon) at a cost of £290 just over two years ago. Both of the soles have split in exactly the same place albeit the left one more than the other. Having only worn the wellies to walk the dog and in winter months I think it is pretty shoddy workmanship that a pair of boots that cost nearly £300 will need to be thrown away with no more than six months wear at most. I would expect a brand with such a rich heritage and quoted by the @DailyTelegraph as "Famously built to last." to not split in the way they have.

If you want to spend nearly £300 on a pair of boots I would suggest you go elsewhere. I most certainly will.

I have raved about Le Chameau wellies for a decade now. Utterly fantastic boots. We have had several pairs as a family of smallholders. My wife’s pair lasted 9 years of DAILY use (almost all day) on a chicken farm. They were as comfy as slippers (she says) and never once leaked. Finally she stepped on a nail and we thought “well they served us well so lets not repair them lets just get a new pair”. So that’s what we did. In around 1.5 years of use (after leaving our farm) this pair of identical (model) boots have been used VERY lightly, basically just walking dogs in the fields next to our house. They have SPLIT right around the ankle, leaking badly even in wet grass. I contacted Le Chameau, expecting a company charging such big prices to be better than Dunlop or Amazon, I discovered quite the opposite. Not only did they refuse to show any interest, they tried the most devious tactic by quoting their “technical team” (ooh, beware, the scientific preaches are involved, yeah right!) and saying that from the PHOTO I sent them, they could tell the boots have not been “used correctly”. There is NO way they can know this from a photo, and it is not true in the slightest. They also said we should have been spraying with silicon otherwise the rubber will crack. Why didn’t the last pair crack then? (They have not asked IF we sprayed them with silicon) They also said they should be kept in a “bag” (what, is that better than our wooden boot shed which is nice and dark and cool, consistent temperature and no UV rays?!) AND should be “cleaned after use”. So brushing rubber “clean” EVERY DAY rather than just letting the slightest trace of dirty water or grass sit on the rubber overnight, that is supposed to help make them live longer?! Ha, what a farce. That would ABRADE the surface far more and cause a LOT more wear over time!

Funnily enough I contacted a friend of mine who was also a big fan of Le Chameau boots for 15 years or so now. To my (lack of) surprise, he said “Rubbish, never buying again. First pair were brilliant, I wore them out! Second pair cracked in a year, total junk, better off with £10 wellies which last longer”.

Clearly their rubber quality or manufacturing standards (or both) have taken a huge nosedive, taking what was once a fantastic company into a typical modern company who charge insane prices based on a past history of good quality, note “PAST” history, which no longer applies. These boots, compared to the many pairs we have experience of, are worth around £20 in my opinion. My £20 Dunlops lasted 2-3 years before failing, my Hunters lasted around 4-6 years, various others lasted 1-2 years but only cost £10-20.

So for anyone reading this thread, reading all the honest reviews from back when Le Chameau actually cared about making quality products, BE WARNED! Oh, and I notice the boots my wife bought have gone up about £80 since she bought her first pair! What a joke. Go for Aigles or Muckboots, that’s my vote anyway, but I wouldn’t spend more than £25 on a pair or Le Chameau’s and I would buy two, because very soon you will need the second pair when the first pair break up due to contact with the air!

Le Chameau is not what it was, such a shame, but hopefully this will save someone blowing £200+ on a pair of wellies which can’t even compete with £25 wellies.