The North Face - www.uk.thenorthface.com

Around Christmas time I placed a pretty big order with this company, they have a fairly good reputation from what I'd heard and so I thought I'd give them a try. The website itself is easy to use and they have a good range of products mainly aimed at walkers/hikers and warm clothing for winter sports.

I ordered from them 3 pairs of boots, a coat and a hat which came to around £400. The items arrived quickly, undamaged and nicely packaged so I was pretty pleased. At first I thought the coat I'd ordered would be too thin to keep me warm but in actual fact is just right, warm but not too bulky so you still feel you can move properly!

The boots though were a little hit and miss. The first pair were some black waterproof calf high walking boots and they've lasted the last 6 months really well. They look fantastic and keep my feet very warm. They do seem to have a bit of plastic or something at the ankle with means after wearing them for a while they start to rub and get fairly uncomfortable. The second pair were suede calf high boots which again look fantastic. They too have this weird plastic bit that rubs though and after walking in them for a couple of hours I know I'll have raw skin on the backs of my ankles. I have found though that if I wear 2 pairs of thick socks, this isn't such a problem. This second pair have not been worn as much as the first, but the leather trim around the base of the boot is already starting to peel off which I'm a bit annoyed about as it really ruins the look of them.

Lastly, the third pair of walking boots was for my partner. He loves them, finds them very comfortable, but he has noticed a small hole where some stitching has come undone. We were tempted to return them as he noticed this around the second time he wore them, but in the end we thought we'd just take them somewhere local to get repaired as it's less fuss. He too was a little disappointed though and expected better quality from Northface.

So all in all I would use them again, but just be aware that the products you buy may not last as long as you would hope.