Form, Function And Fun
Women’s leather cowboy boots come in many different styles and brands. Some of the less expensive brands are made of synthetic material. The better brands, the ones that are not only longwearing but far more comfortable, are made of leather.
The leather can come from different sources. Most popular and the least expensive is dressed cowhide. The leather is treated, softened and tanned, and the finished hides are sent to the boot maker. Even in large factories, each piece of the western boot is cut out by hand, using large cookie cutter type dies that are positioned on the hide in such as way as to make sure the grain matches and the thickness for the components match. It can take an hour to cut out a dozen pairs of boots. From the cutters, the parts go to the skiving machine, where the edges are shaved down to allow the parts to fit together properly.
Women’s cowboy boots are almost always lined. The lining can be leather, or fabric. Regardless, it is generally glued in place before the parts are sewn together.
Traditionally, women’s cowboy boots are tooled in some way. They may have decorative stitching on the shaft, the part that comes from the foot up the leg. Others are done in what is called hand tooling. The tooling on western boots is both time consuming and labor intensive, as it is done with a small hammer and a metal die that stamps a design into the leather.
Once the pieces are sewn together and the women’s cowboy boots take shape, they are sent to the laster. Lasting puts the soles on the boots, and shapes the western boot over a wooden "foot" and steams the leather into place.
While the actual steaming is done by machine, each boot must be fitted to the appropriate sized last before the sole can be set and stitched into place.
The majority of the boot making process for high quality footwear is labor intensive, and adds to the cost. A nice pair of women’s cowboy boots have many man hours and craftmanship that goes into making a quality item.
Once you have decided on a style, look at the different leathers. Do you want ostrich hide? Boa? Perhaps bull hide? Each of these are considered premium leathers, because they are not only expensive to obtain quality hides, but difficult to work with.
Will you be working in the corral? Then you want a good tough pair of cowhide boots, with a fairly simple design. If you will be wearing western boots to clean horse stalls, perhaps you do not want to be cleaning muck off hand-tooled leather.
Perhaps your women’s cowboy boots will be taking you to the Wild Horse Saloon for line dancing. Then by all means, pull out all the stop. Good leathers, colors that go with your outfit, and a well-shaped western heel. The angle of a true western heel on a boot is the perfect shape for the human foot, and keeps the foot balanced without thrusting the torso forward.
Care for your western boots well, but simply. You can use commercial shoe polish, but if the leather is in shaded tones, it is not advisable. A simple application of hand cream or face cream, followed by rubbing to a sheen with a soft dry cloth both cleans the boot and conditions the leather.
A well-fitted western boot can be worn year round, for work and play. Once you find a style of women’s cowboy boots you favor, why not buy a second pair in a different color or finish?
