Sole Searching - Western boots gaining popularity - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, August, 2001 by Sean O'Neill

CLOTHING | City slickers and suburban commandos are finding WESTERN BOOTS a good fit.

IT DOESN'T RANK with his passion for tax relief, but George W. Bush may also be an advocate for a fashion trend. Bringing a Texas touch to an otherwise conventional wardrobe, the President often wears eelskin boots. Unlike the colorful cowhide, needle-nose boots once worn by Roy Rogers, with their 14-inch shanks and tall, sharply angled heels, the First Footwear is conservatively black, with rounded toe boxes, ten-inch-high shanks and 1 3/4-inch, slightly undershot heels. This understated style is called the roper, and its urbane restraint has made it the industry's biggest seller.

Dress boots with Western touches may soon become a national fad. Michael Atmore, editorial director of the trade journal Footwear News, says Bush's boot scooting on the national stage and Madonna's cowgirl-themed concert tour this summer will likely spur their popularity. Four million Americans--three million men and one million women--already buy Western boots each year, including both rough-riding cowboy boots and fancy dress boots with zippers.

But the most compelling evidence may be that last year the promise of rising sales even lured legendary investor Warren Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, to buy Justin Boots, which makes the famous Justin roper boot and includes Tony Lama as one of its subsidiaries.

Boot basics. So, lest you be stampeded into a possible footwear fad, here's a primer on what to buy in boots.

First, look for rounded toes, which are more comfortable than pointed toes for most feet and, contrary to myth, are more typical of the style that trail drivers wore in the late 1800s, says Don Reeves, a curator at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, in Oklahoma City. Suits-and-boots guys should seek short ropers that tuck under their trousers because urban cowboys don't need high shanks to shield against sagebrush thorns and rattlesnake bites.

Boots should never feel painful, no matter what a store clerk might tell you about "needing to break them in," says Bret Ribotsky, president of the American College of Foot and Ankle Orthopedics and Medicine. Unlike footwear that laces up to hold your foot tight, Western boots rely on a snug fit to hold fast to the widest part of your foot, the ball, while your heel slides up and down about a half-inch as you walk. The crease above your toes should be straight and align crosswise with the ball of your foot. A crease that angles rainbowlike suggests that the boot is loose.

Prices for custom-made boots, fitted precisely to the contours of your feet, typically start at $289 for smooth calfskin leather. Boots made from exotic skins are more expensive. Eelskin boots can cost about $320, while alligator and stingray models typically run about $1,500.

Off the shelf. To find a decent pair, you don't have to fly to El Paso, Tex., the bootmaking capital of the U.S. Several Western-wear specialty stores, such as Boot Town (20 retail outlets in Texas, or www.boottown.com), sell off-the-shelf choices that don't involve mortgaging the ranch. After all, last year the average man paid only $107 for Western boots, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association.

Justin boots come in diverse sizes and skins. Men's ropers in calfskin cost about $90 in Texas and $150 in New York, but the price can rise past $500 for ostrich skin.

Lucchese boots come in an even larger number of ready-made foot shapes, which means they are more likely to match the particularities of your width and arch. Lucchese 2000 ropers start at $170 for smooth calfskin and sport low-cost polyurethane heels and sole cushions. If your foot size is uncommon, you may have to wait two months for a pair to be made. --Reporter: KATHY JONES