Kirk Deeter on the Angling Trade site reports that Simms may well re-introduce felt soled wading boots in their 2012 lineup after famously leading the charge to be environmentally aware and stop using felt. Consumer and dealer pressure are being quoted as the reason.

What do you think? Should waders/wading boots continue to be manufactured using felt soles or not?

Question!

How much damage has the use of felt soled wading boots done to the environment so far?? Does anyone know?

I was under the impression that felt soled boots were being banned/phased out by Governments or other bodies concerned with the welfare of rivers etc not by the manufacturers themselves...as your report indicates

What's the issue with felt?

__________________
Time is a stream I go fishing in.

Felt has the potential to transfer micro organisms accross river systems. In some US States, and in New Zealand, felt is banned completely for this reason, as it is believed to be a contributor to the proliferation of undesirable and invasive algae and spyrogyra species, due to spore transfer.
I think that certain environmental regulations would have to be amended in some places, before they would allow felt wading boots. Also important to know that the places that do not allow felt, are in a vast minority, so a commercial market for felt boots would still be able to sustain production on the scale that Simms would require.
I believe that New Zealand do not even allow waders to be transferred from the different islands, as well as foriegn vistors may not bring waders into the country. If you want to fish in waders in NZ, apperently now, you have to buy them there.

I have too admit to still using Felt (Not found a safe good/safe enough alternative) even though I feel that the spread of invasive species is a problem and at the moment I’m using the fact that I only fishing one river catchment. The issue is that the felt sole has such an enormous surface area that (I THINK FROM MEMORY) 48hrs of soaking in disinfectant would not fully penetrate all the fibres.
At the End of the Day we do need to tackle the issue and not take the Ostrich approach

__________________
Allan
Only dead fish go with the flow.

See;

It's Gooey. It's Gross. It Kills. Beware . . . Rock Snot is Invading New York : TreeHugger

And in particular;

Like allanw, I only use my felt sole waders in two rivers, the Frome and Piddle in Dorset, but am keeping an eye on this one.

__________________
"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

And that folks, in a nutshell, is why many countries environmental agencies want felt banned.
Simms to their credit were the first company to try to introduce alternatives.
We as anglers, should be looking at same alternatives.
Doesnt matter if we only fish one or two rivers in same catchment.
Do you want to be the one that infects your river/pond lake/reservoir/loch et al??

regards
bert

Is there a single reported case of felt soled waders causing any infection of any sort in the UK? I don't know, but I've not heard of any.

I use felt on my wading boots - I've yet to find an alternative sole that provides the same grip. I pretty much fish the one river catchment with them so not unduley worried about the spread of anything....

Norm

__________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0rWxCCHSCM

Killer Shrimp Perhaps!??

Mebbes an exageration, but is the same logic re bio transferal.
regards
bert