Meindl - Shoes For Actives Reviews 644

I bought a pair if meindl caribe gtx trek shoes. They only lasted 8 months before the uppers failed. I returned them via the store and they weee sent to meindl for assessment. Initially they said they would repair them. They then said they would be returning them to me saying that on further assessment they had failed because of wear and tear! I know that but they should last at least one year. This was the second time this happened. The first time they were replaced. The shoes are obviously not fit for purpose . They are marketed as top class and have a £163 price tag. I contacted meindl directly and their staff were rude saying the reason the upper had failed was because I’d tightened the laces too much. When I said that they should give guidance on lacing if this can be a cause of failure the person I spoke to said “ they could give guidance on not walking through fire in them”, that’s a wonderful example of sarcastic customer service. I will never buy meindl again. Avoid, avoid, avoid. All I do is walk in them each day.

My most recent Meindl purchase was a pair of mens Ontario GTX shoes. After only 250 miles a split occurred in the third from front lateral groove in the sole of the left shoe. As the shoes were still under warranty I approached Cotswold Outdoor who retained my shoes for inspection. They denied any responsibility and at my bidding asked for a second opinion from Meindl UK. They came back with the same answer excessive wear. Meindl in Germany were approached and returned the same response. The question I had continually been asking was why the split had occurred in the lateral groove where there was no wear and why was the sole only 1mm thick in this location. Cotswold Outdoor, Meindl UK and Meindl Germany have all avoided responding to these questions.
Meindl have been my walking boot and shoe of choice, owing durability and comfort for a good number of years. My first pair of Ontario GTX shoes have now completed 600 miles in similar walking conditions without any signs of the issues experienced with the second pair.

Brought Meindle Rapide GTX wide fitting walking shoes for C2C walk in July. Wore whilst training (200miles) then whilst on walk a seam started to undo by toes.
Contacted Meindl who said they would exchange if that was the case.
Got them wet with sea water at end of walk and didnt think to rinse off before i returned them.
Meindl refused to honour warrenty as they said i had followed their cleaning regime.

Bought a pair of Meindle Philadelphia GTX. After about 3 months the stitching came undone. No response from seller or company. Never again, Total waste of money!!

My wife & I have just done 178 miles in 12 days on the Portuguese Coastal Camino, we were both wearing Meindl Caribe shoes, they were brilliant, light, grippy & Comfortable, I have worn Meindl boots many times & they are great, but these shoes were perfect, probably the best shoes I have ever worn.

Bought a pair of Meindl as have used these for many years but this pair within a couple of months the stitching was coming away.
Customer service where I bought them from was not good as was told to go and buy another pair.

Meindl sienna - same issue as many others. Super low quality of the sole. Normal use once Per week. They only last around 10-11 months. I have contacted Meindl and Got the same standard answer as many others here. Dont buy.

I shall add to the negative reviews and say do not buy Meindl boots. My boots are less than a year old and the soles on both boots are badly disintegrating. After sending the boots back to Meindl and having to chase them for a response they say they will not honour the warranty as the Meindl care products have not been used on the uppers. This appears to be a common get out for Meindl. This was my first pair of Meindl boots and will definitely be my last! Stay away from Meindl boots if you want good quality and good customer sery

My wife and I both have Meindl boots (Respond Lady Mid and Respond Mid II GTX) and have found them very comfortable but we are disappointed in terms of quality and waterproofing. We've had them for 2-3 years but these issues started a while ago.

The boots let water in right from day one even in the lightest rain or small puddle despite your sales literature saying "the Respond Mid II GTX ensures both waterproofing and breathability".

Both pairs are now starting to fall apart with the stitching coming undone where the toe cap meets the fabric of the boot. This is really disappointing when you expect them to be a quality boot.

The design on my wife's boots regularly causes her to trip over when the lace on one boot catches on the top fastener on the other boot. This seems like a design flaw.

We will not be buying Meindl boots again as boots we've owned prior to this have lasted well over 10 years and only failed due to the soles being work out.

Meindl Pflege II boots. Comfortable and great for a year or so. Then the side stitching fell apart and so in the bin. I’ll look for a different brand next time

This is the second pair of Meindl Journey Ladies GTX boots I've owned, and both have split in exactly the same place — where the leather meets the sole. They were purchased from Cotswold Outdoors, who returned them to Meindl under warranty.

Despite being regularly cared for using products recommended and sold by Cotswold Outdoors, Meindl refused to honour the warranty, claiming I had not used their branded products. I found this deeply frustrating and, frankly, disappointing.

I wish I had read these reviews before buying a second pair — it seems this is not an isolated issue. Based on my experience with both the product and the customer service, I cannot recommend Meindl.

I purchased Meindl Activo GTX Walking Shoes from a reputable Outdoor re-seller in mid-October 2025( whom I might add were absolutely amazing - Hill and Dale Outdoors 5 stars), and they lasted less than 6 months. What can I say, I wanted to post pictures as this would paint a thousand words. These shoes were only used approximately 10 times, and the rubber on them rotted on the heels and sides. If you look at these as shoes checkout the rubber on the outside - I can almost guarantee they will go like mine - I had holes and cracks everywhere and peeling.
What has happened to Meindl....

Same issue as others here, soles on new boots deteriorated with 12 months and absolutely zero response from the company. Will not buy again. Meindl used to be a name to compare all other boots with, no more.

I bought a pair of Portland GTX shoes from Cotswold Outdoor in early 2024. Around autumn time, the laces appear to have been shredded by the eyelets. I contacted Meindl and they said this was a known issue for these shoes and that the advice is usually to file the metal eyelets down when initially purchasing them. A rather odd thing to admit to and still sell these for a rather pricey sum. They did send me some different laces as they said they don’t sell the actual laces connected to these shoes.

At the beginning of 2025, I noticed that the soles had worn rather excessively, so much so that one sole had a hole in it. I hadn’t used these in any different way than other shoes I’ve got/ owned and these have worn through rather quickly. The uppers I add were in immaculate condition.

Initially I raised the issue with Meindl and received a response from Bramwell International Ltd. Without assessing the shoes or even contemplating my usage levels, I was told this was normal wear and tear. A snap response with no consideration, it appeared.

I responded back and received a response that due to wearing them regularly (their assumption) this was normal wear and tear. I wear my £20 New Balance shoes when it’s dry and these were used when it was raining. I comfortably wear my cheap New Balance ones at leas twice as much and have had them 5 years with far less wear and tear than these premium Meindls.

A response was sent to Bramwell with a calculation of my usage and an offer to send them my average daily step count. I didn’t receive a response, so chased up a few weeks later. The response shocked me.

I was told that my email breaking down my calculation was ‘rude and abusive’ and they will no longer respond to emails. Having had words and assumptions put in my mouth I thought it was pretty reasonable of me to correct them based on what I know best, ie me, my gait, my usage and condition of the shoes that I’m looking at that they haven’t even offered to look at. Rude and abusive! Operations Manager (name redacted) you should be rather ashamed of yourself.

Cotswold Outdoor, having stated the same copy and paste ‘it’s wear and tear’ without seeing the shoes themselves, eventually refunded my cost after seeing the shoes first hand (and largely due to how much I’ve spent with them in the past).

Needless to say I won’t be purchasing any Meindl products any more and I do hope that Cotswold Outdoor will take note of the many negative reviews and contemplate whether they stock Meindl again.

Such a shame as I’ve heard so many good things about Meindl, but that appears to be well and truly a historic assessment of the company rather than the present.

I have had 3 pairs of Meindls, the first 2 were fantastic, the 3rd were really uncomfortable. I had the second pair re-soled and they are great.

Second pair of Meindl that have split in less than a year.
Used to love Meindl but quality really deteriorated in last 2 years .

I don’t write reviews but I feel so disappointed with my latest 2 pairs of boots I feel I should. I must point out that customer service has been great but unfortunately the boots no longer are. I’ve worn Meindl boots for 20 years and they have generally lasted 4-5 years before they are simply worn out. I wear them pretty much every day in all conditions and clean/treat them weekly as I always have. Unfortunately last year I had to replace my worn out boots and was amazed to find after a couple of weeks the rand on my new boots started coming away badly. They were sent back and repaired under warranty but in the meantime I need another pair of books for work so I bought a different model hoping this was a one off. That proved not to be the case as about a month after wearing them the same thing happened to that pair. When my others returned I sent these for repair and wore the repaired boots but after a months use the rand has started to come away again. Although I can’t confirm this I suspect the glues used have become more “environmentally friendly” and now like so many things that have gone that way it simply doesn’t work. I can’t imagine either pair lasting a year never mind 4 anymore and yet this is deemed better for the environment. It would seem this isn’t just a Meindl problem as the Scarpa boots I occasionally wear when not at work have a problem with the sole coming away after little use. I now no longer have any faith in either brands quality.

Purchased my Meindl walking shoes from Landmark in Marlborough in early 2024. I have resisted putting on a review until I had worn them a while. I wear them almost every day and walk between 5 and 8kms. They were instantly comfortable for my feet. They are wearing extremely well. There are no faults or issues with these shoes. I would absolutely purchase this brand of shoe again.

Twoe pairs of Meindl Caribe. Within 4 months the laces are broken and unrepairable. The service wich Meindl is giving by there Dutch sales agent is SHIT. For me no MEINDL shoes anymore!

I have a pair of Bhutan walking boots that are just 3 years old, they are worn every day and the sole has disintegrated.
It appears it is a common issues, Meindl say it's because the boots are not worn every day but mine are worn every day as I have a dog.
It is the 2nd pain I have had that have done this and Meindl are very aware of the issue but will not fix it.
I have had to pay a lot to get them resoled.
I would just like to warn others before they buy these boots.