Skip to main content

Bata Hush Puppies: Made to leak

My pair of Bata Hush Puppies, proudly soaked after a walk
on wet roads
When one buys a pair of shoes for Ksh 6,000 (yes, about 60 US Dollars), their sanity should be called into question. This is especially so if  a shoe that costs anywhere from 6 to 3 times the cost of other respectable pairs of shoes is incapable of keeping water out of it's innards.

I am one such insane person, who was lured into Bata by the promise that the price was a fair cost to pay for the quality. A 10% discount at the newly opened Bata shop at Sarit was even more convincing and that evening, I took home my first pair of Bata shoes since my lower primary school days.

Four months later, I happened to finally get caught up in Nairobi rush-hour rain. This is the type of rain that pounds the city conveniently around 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at about the same time that you also plan to rush home. The rain while quite sensitive of Nairobi's need of a reliable piped water supply  and reliable hydroelectricity, is usually quite insensitive of it's timing. This time round, it did not even matter that East Africa was reportedly in the midst of it's greatest drought in 60 years.


My normal evening commute results in me crossing over from the Limuru Road bus stop over at Khoja near the fire station across the lower edge of the Central Business District to the Bus Station just opposite St. Peters Claver. This is quite a challenging route, not only due to the amount of human traffic, but due to the disorder frequently brought in by hawkers occupying pavements and matatus that will drive on the wrong side of the road, or make illegal turns.

When it is raining, navigating downtown becomes a tricky affair. If you are lucky enough to have an umbrella, you have to squeeze in the roads with the matatus and other vehicles. The pavements are usually huddled sheltering from the rain - it would be an insult to drip rain water off your umbrella onto them while poking them with the umbrella spokes.

In such situations, you would thinks that your pair of expensive Bata shoes would be the least of your worries. However, as I came to find out yesterday, that uncomfortable feeling of wet squishy socks on the heels of your shoes are not a result of matatus splashing water on your shoes.

Bata Hush Puppies are intentionally manufactured to allow rain water, and any other form of water including sewage to seep through what they call "comfort gel" right into your shoes. The comfort gel is a badly placed piece of clear plastic that will soon fall of the rest of the rubber sole, providing an unobstructed means for water to seep into your shoes.

I was quite sceptical of the the contraption on the Kshs 6,000 shoes that consisted of what looked like a mixture of clear and blue plastic. However, I was fooled by the price tag, that Bata must have put some work into making sure that it was a solid structure.

So there you have it, the imported pair of expensive Bata Hush Puppies are not worth the price tag they come in.

Previously, I had bought my last pair of shoes from an Ethiopian trader at Amco Plaza in Nairobi's Eastleigh Business District. While the shoe's sole might have been a bit hard for my liking, it costs a third of what Hush Puppies do, and I feel safer walking with them in rainy weather.


Before that, my last pair of shoes were a second hand well worn pair rubber soled leather shoes that I bought for Ksh. 1,000 form a couple of miraa chewing Meru's in Githurai. This pair lasted for 3 years, and was only replaced because of a tear in one shoe , but still, they were quite comfortable and rarely leaked despite the tear.

My next pair of shoes will probably be from Servis, the retailer who has been cunny enough to set shop next to a few Bata outlets in Nairobi. They are probably more affordable and have skills in importing leak proof shoes.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Best and Most Durable Highway SUV Tyres

Buying tyres is a dilemma - how do you get the best tyres without spending much more than is necessary?  If that's your dillema, well, you have come to the right place. We will look at tyres that are at the sweetspot of durability, performance and affordability especially for SUVs.  You'll find that most of my top picks are Asian brands. These tend to last longer and are more affordable. European brands are engineered more for comfort and ride quality. So if comfort is your top concern when buying tyres, I would recommend Pirelli and Michelin.  1. Otani   Otani is a little known tyre brand made in Dubai. It however rates quite highly for durability and hardiness, with most of its tyres coming in 'Extra Load' specification. Extra Load tyres are designed if you carry a lot of weight or if you do a lot of towing. Even if you don't, it means you end up with more hardy tyres than your manufacturer recommends. Propelling Otani to the top of my ranking is th

Twitter? What the hell?

Twitter has been in the news on several occasions in the recent past. It all began with a few celebrities using twitter, then it caught on to CNN and Ashton Kutcher going head to head for who gets a million followers first. Ashton Kutcher beat CNN in what was the first demise of CNN on Twitter. This event was closely by Oprah's grand entry into twitter. It was at this point that many people actually joined twitter. Oprah happened to be a major occasion on twitter, with many geeks anticipating that twitter would be overwhelmed by the interest brought on it by Oprah and her millions (if they haven't hit a billion) of fans worldwide. In fact, we gave a Before Oprah and After Oprah Twitter ages. Twitter has continued growing, with it been claimed to be the fastest growing social network in the world, with a growth rate of about 1300% per month. Ironically , a Harvard research says that only 10% of twitter users contribute to 90 % of the content on twitter; the content is known as t

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of free fries. Their brisket has

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every hangover you get

Counterfeit alcohol hits Nairobi

Counterfeit The Famous Grouse    bought at a shop along Nairobi's Dubois road, note the packaging. Dishonest dealers in Kenya are now repackaging various alcohols and selling them off to unsuspecting buyers. The scam appears to target a broad range of popular spirits, including Smirnoff Vodka and The Famous Grouse Whiskey. Various residents have reported that the drinks are sold in shops in down-town Nairobi and cheap clubs. Popular drinks are either substituted with similar looking forms of alcohol or blended with them. Vodka is substituted with chang'aa , a local moonshine drink while brandies are used to dilute, or wholly sold off as more expensive whiskies. There is suspicion that some of the alcohol used in this drinks is diluted industrial alcohol. Industrial alcohol is normally cleared, with tricks such as food colouring and perfume deployed to have the counterfeit alcohol look like the genuine one. The syndicate appears to be recycling bottles which are colle