Cowboy boots can be a fashionable accessory but are generally highly functional pieces of footwear. When it comes to purchasing boots, there are several characteristics to consider. The characteristics will affect the functionality of the boots and will also affect the comfort of a person’s feet in the boots. These characteristics are fit, leather, sole and style.
A cowboy boot will fit differently than all other types of shoes. Cowboy boots should slightly slip down a person’s foot when they are walking. While, the normal fitting guidelines such as if a person’s toes touch the end of the boot and whether or not they are comfortably wide should be taken into consideration. Yet, the key to a great fitting boot is if a person bends their foot so they are standing on their toes or slightly behind their toes that the crease formed across their foot goes across the widest part of the boot. This small consideration will help greatly in the sizing of a cowboy boot, because they are not supposed to fit as snuggly as other types of shirts. Additionally, many boot manufactures offer custom boot making services where they make boots that fit a customer’s foot exactly and are made with the leathers, color and style the customer wants.
The leather used in the construction of a cowboy boot is also an important consideration. High-end leathers such as full quill ostrich, alligator, or elephant are commonly used on dress cowboy boots and full quill ostrich is being used on boots more and more commonly. These leathers often add class and style to a boot but need to also be considered for their durability. Boots should also be considered in a cost per wear manner when they are purchased.
Cowboy boots are manufactured with several different styles of soles. Crepe, leather, foam and rubber are the types of soles that are commonly manufactured on cowboy boots. Crepe soles consist of several layers and are extremely comfortable to wear. They can be ridden in and are extremely common. Leather soled boots are ideal to ride in and are becoming harder to find. They are still common on high-end and custom made boots. Tie down ropers and goat tiers most generally compete in these boots because they slide easily out of a stirrup. Foam soles are the most popular soles for the time being. They are the type of soles present on Ariat Fat Baby boots. These boots are extremely comfortable but are often to wide for people to ride in because they will not easily come out of a stirrup if the rider is in a wreck. Lastly, are rubber soles that are on most children’s boots and on other inexpensive pairs of boots. There are not many downfalls to this type of sole on a boot but they are generally not as comfortable to wear as the other styles of soles.
Lastly, a person purchasing a pair of cowboy boots should consider the style of boots that they would like to wear. The differences between lace up boots and pull on boots are obvious. Some people prefer each style but the style that a person purchases should be considered with comparison to what the person plans to wear their boots for. If they are planning on just wearing the boots as a fashion accessory the pull on boots will be way more attractive. Yet, if a person plans to be highly active in the boots then they may want to consider a pair of lace up cowboy boots. Finally, if the person is just starting to ride for safety reasons they should wear pull on cowboy boots.
