The old sets were made for Rogue Megawolf in November 2008, and they have been put to the test by this avid fursuiter who has tramped and stamped all over the USA and parts of Europe attending several cons a year.
The old hand paws are just hand sewn and yet not a single seam has popped, the new ones were first hand sewn so they are nice and seamless and then machine sewn for extra strength. The old paw pads were foam soaked in plasti-dip, a short lived method I quit due to my own concerns on durability, and while the old pads are roughed up and beyond saving they held up better than expected (I mean look at the damage to the fur itself, these paws are well used and abused) The new pads are silicone purchased from Dream Vision Creations, these should last longer than the fur itself and when it comes time for a new pair should be reusable
The old feet pads held up rather well but you have to admit the new ones sure look nicer (also purchased from DVC) I love my new feet style, the old ones look blocky... and get this, the old ones have not a stitch on them and yet are still in usable condition with not a single loose seam I now sew 90% of the seams on my feets, only a seam along the top of the middle toes is glued, this is in a no stress area so glue holds fine and the reason it is glued is because I need an opening to get the shoe into the slip cover and glue the cover to the foam (and once the fur is glued down it is too hard to hand sew this seam shut so I carefully glue it shut)
the old claws are plasti-dip coated clay, they held on fine but the color wore off the tips, the new ones (also DVC) are plastic and solid color so if they wear down no color change :3
... I expect Rogue to unleash a whole new wave of photos of him stamping on stuffs when he gets these X3
If these paws are the same construction process as the ones you sent my way, I +1 recommend them. I got mine all sweaty and dirty on the last venture; and I am still not sure how I got them so muddy. However they held up great, and the people (mostly children) who examined them closely thought they felt realistic. The pawpads don't interfere with your hands and they stay put on the bottoms of your fingers with hardly any sliding or rotation.