I have to disagree with your claim about "BS" products.Don't use BS products with ridiculous claims. NOTHING will keep a tick off of you. However, to keep them from biting into you... Use a mix of mostly white vinegar, ~30 drops of geranium oil, and ~50 drops of neem oil. You'll find ticks on you, but they will not bite anywhere this mixture is, and if you put it near your sleeves and pantlegs, you can pretty much guarantee to only find them on your clothing. Geranium oil can be expensive, but it's worth it. You do not want Lymes. It sucks. And it can get worse with each infection that the ticks give you, so you can't just assume you're in the clear if you've already got it.
Keep in mind that the shoe was tested three weeks AFTER it was sprayed with the permethrin product.The Minnesota Insect-Borne Disease Education Council conducted a field test in Jay Cook State Park in northern Minnesota, and found that the permethrin products outperformed the DEET-containing tick repellents. A shoe was sprayed with Duranon (0.5% permethrin). Three weeks later, it was tested against a recently sprayed shoe using Deep Woods Off (35 % DEET). Ticks that made contact with the Duranon-sprayed shoe immediately rolled up and dropped off. Ticks on the soaking-wet DEET saturated shoe continued to crawl unimpaired.
Also, the United States Armed Forces uses permethrin in field combat.
Stay safe folks.