12" WELLINGTON (STEEL TOE)

A steel toe inside a wellington, which is an unusual pairing and a very practical one. The wellington is the plainest boot in the range — tall shaft, no fastening at all — and putting a safety toe in it produces a work boot you can be into and out of in seconds.

That matters more than it sounds. The people who buy wellingtons are the ones who take boots off at a door several times a day, or who need the shaft tall and smooth so nothing catches on it. A steel toe adds the protection without adding anything to fasten, and steel is still the safety toe the others are measured against.

The fit is the thing to get right, because there is nothing on the boot to adjust. It has to clear the instep on the way in and then hold the heel, and a safety toe will not give at the front however long you wear it. Try them late in the day, in work socks, and take the pair that goes on with one honest pull. Then wear the jean straight over the shaft.