For these Salomon boots I got to the point of being told by the Christchurch distributer (via the Wellington retailer) that they’d replace them if it happened again. Then I went overseas (not tramping) for a couple of months, and when I got back the retailer had gone out of business after 20 years of trading, which was both sad because it was a great shop, but also complicated things. I still have the boots in any case, but just don’t use them much at all. Maybe 3 or 4 times in the last couple of years.

Just gluing them up is probably the way to do it. I’ve taken boots into a shoe-repair place a couple of times in the past, and they can often just glue them up for a few dollars. For some reason most of my other pairs get eyelets pulling off quite often… maybe I pull my laces at bad angles. The guy was wary about expectations, given how boots sometimes get treated in ways that could affect the glue, plus tramping boots can get treated more roughly than regular shoes. He was fine once I accepted those points, though.

For my Salomon boots, the retailer suggested just sending them to their local guy when I took ‘em back, who may well have been the same shoe repair shop down the road, and he probably would have done a good job too. In those instances though, I asked if they could send them back to the distributor in Christchurch because (without being mad at the distributor specifically) I really wanted to make sure they saw what was happening with them. Otherwise they’d probably never know.

I use Salomon boots, I can’t remember what they are called, bought them in the Uk, they are 3/4 season, I have worn them up to 4000 meteres in the Italian alps, no problems, until I came to live in New Zealand, the rand started to peel away, with no chance of getting them repaired I did a home made job with No Nails glue, it works a treat, the boots have to be dry though, I have found them to be very comfortable with only a slight niggle where the second to top eyelet seems to rub onto my foot if traversing steep slopes, this is on the left foot, I don’t know if I will get Saloman again when ready for a new pair, possibly Sportiva if they fit, my friends swear by them. I would demand a refund with yours, not fit for purpose.
Simon.

I have been wondering if I just had a dud pair, so it’s a shame to hear the seam problem isn’t just me. I guess mine are three years old now, they’ve only been glued back together however many times I mentioned in this post. I think my almost total lack of using them for anything has contributed to their long lastiness, however. I pull them out when I need to use crampons, but in retrospect I don’t really do much alpine stuff. A few months back I bought my second new pair of boots since deciding I didn’t want to use these ones any more. In hindsight they probably weren’t ideally suited to what I wanted to do, even if they hadn’t kept coming apart.

Salomon stuff is distributed out of Christchurch, I think, but I can’t remember who does it. They used to make it clear on their website who distributed in various countries, but now it just loops through to a confusing NZ website that’s nearly impossible to navigate. I tried a search for ‘boot’ and it popped up about a million results, nearly all of which looked like plastic ski boots. Maybe they’re slinking out of the heavy duty tramping/hiking market. After lots of random clicking in strange places, though, I found something that looks like their current range of backpacking boots, and it doesn’t include the Alp-7 GTX.

Have you tried any of the shops listed through the Find a Shop link here? If you get one that deals with the distributor, they’ll sometimes just order stuff in with their next shipment, especially if you know exactly what you want down to the size. (You might need to get the right shop assistant though.) Sometimes the NZ distributors still have bits left in their warehouses, even if it’s been discontinued.

However…
1. Excellent transalpine hybrid – light enough to tramp in, but stiff enough for crampons.
2. Comfiest, softest, warmest boots ever owned.
3. Until the seams busted (which granted was only 2.5 years of moderate use), extraordinarily waterproof – able to nip across multiple streams, plod through snow for hours, and still have essentially dry feet at the end of the day.

Mine are now 3 years old and only good for the great pathway in the sky., but I love them enough to buy another pair. However, I found your post on my so-far fruitless internet search for Salomon Alp 7 stock in New Zealand, so I don’t even know if it’s possible any more!