Saturday, February 16, 2008

Botev Shoes

Ivan and I would like to introduce the America's to Stefan Botev Weightlifting shoes. These are fantastic, high quality shoes made in Bugaria, worn by actual Bulgarian lifters using the Bulgarin training system. Even lifters in Romania were seen sporting these shoes (they do over 600 reps per week!).

**See bottom of blog for detailed pictures; we also are offering leather weightlifting straps.**

It is our goal to bring a long needed alternative shoe brand-- a high quality/highly durable brand that can endure over 20,000 repetitions per year. Please look at picture on right hand side of page of Sylvia and Nikolai. They are shown training in Botev shoes which are over 4 years old, over 20000 reps per year. Please also look at my Adidas weightlifting shoes for comparison; my shoes are 3.5 years old and see a meager 10,000 reps per year.

Perhaps, the best aspect of the shoes is Stefan Botev's close involvement of the design and manufacture of the shoes. As multi-time Olympic medalist and World Champion weightlifter, he sought to create shoes from a weightlifter's perspective. Over the years here are some features he incorporated:

1. Above all, made in Bulgaria and European Union to ensure high qulality. (not to mention, associated Euro working conditions)
2. The Textured rubber footing design has eveolved over years of lifter feedback. He even chose to import expensive rubber footing from Spain, as in this case, Spanish rubber has less slippage and longer life.
3. Botev, specifically, eliminated that annoying strap at the top of the shoe.
4. Lots of double stitching. Double stitching enables the leather outer to hold-up to the routine beating associated with training the Bulgarian way.
5. Inside of heal is lined with leather - not synthetic material. The intent is to mold nicely to the lifters heal, preventing heel of foot from sliding out of shoe.

Contact me or Ivan at 207 319 7607 or gsisto@netscape.net
( I'm recommending you please email my netscape email. Many reported problems with the bittume_32@yahoo.com address, perhaps its the "_" between "bittume" and "32").

14 comments:

  1. Gwen;
    Great site, thanks very much for posting shoes, might consider a pair next month or so.
    Straps look great. How much may I ask for shoes, straps.

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  2. They do look great. I just upgraded to Adidas last month!!

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  3. BTW, how did you drop 3 weight classes? I would love to drop 1 class and it doesnt seem to happen, although my nutrition is top notch!!

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  4. Jay,

    With Taxes etc, we are axpecting shoes to be about $120.00 US.

    This is actually about what we paid for our personal pairs in bulgaria (minus flying there ha haha ha).

    We are waiting for pricing on straps and siglets.. should be very reasonable.

    Please send me your size as right-sizing our inventory will keep costs low hence prices affordable.
    gsisto@netscape.net / bittume_32@yahoo.com

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  5. Serena,

    I have to give 99% of the credit to my husband, Ivan, for going down 3 weight classes. He had fitness customers who went down from 340lbs to185lbs- at over 40yrs of age.

    Here's my story:

    1. Had a daughter...I had an iron defieciency, causing me to lose all my muscle
    2. After seeing I was still 69kg, but more fat, I enlisted my husband to try his weight loss program on me.
    3. After about 6 onthsx of combination ofv training and diet...I was down form 150 to 118.

    I am now liftng more than ever almost 40lbs less. The best part is I'm never hungry. Feel free to email Ivan (bittume_32@yahoo.com).

    Thanks for the comments,
    Gwen

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  6. Thanks Matt...I'm always lookign for feedback. There is simply not enough original content on weightlifting on the internet... I hope to help promote the sport!

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  7. Wow thanks for your responses! I sent Ivan an email just before. The price on the shoes sounds great. Its a shame I just bought my adistars but will keep these in mind for the next pair!

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  8. This is one of the main reasons we wanted to bring Botev shoes ... not enough alternatives in high quality/ high durtability/ high performance shoes

    My personal Adistar shoes experience:

    3.5 yrs ago, I bought my Adistars as they appeared to be the best quality shoe available.. I paid around 170.

    With in 1 month the lower strap on my right shoe broke. Soon the silver started scraping off the leather.

    Within 4 months the decoration on the heel peeled off.

    A few months later, the wood heel showed cracks.

    At this point, the stitching on the toes is all but coming out.

    My husband had only worn his for competitions, hence they're in better shape --he rotates 3 old pairs of Adidas in training (perhaps the secret for getting some life out of the shoes). Now , with the Botev's he'll retire his shoe rotation ha haha

    I wish you better success with your shoes. Please Keep us in mind should you ever want a pair to change off =).

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  9. Gwen - will the shoes be available for a while or is it a limited offer?

    I want to order a pair around mid April for my b-day.

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  10. Leonid,

    Please let me know your size as we are placing our next order soon.

    We will be an ongoing business.
    To keep prices down, we need to optimize our inventory size and number of orders per quarter, especially, with inflation and volatitlity of the US dollar.

    At this point, we want to hold at $120 per pair plus shipping (at cost) and $12 per pair of straps.

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  11. Hi, are these still available, and can you post to the uk?

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  12. hi gwen i own a pair of ristos but i was wondering if this offer is still available? i know tihs post is 6 years old (7 in a week) but ive been wanting botev shoes for a while but dont know how to obtain them

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  13. Are you still selling these shoes

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