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Find your inner Dale Evans with a pair of old school cowboy boots
There are two different kinds of boot people — vintage boot people and new boot people. I fit into the first category, but now my collection of old boots has dwindled to just three pairs: a pair of black Acmes from the 1950s with red and white inlays, which I scored for $30; a pair of caramel square-toed boots with a turquoise eagle inlay, also Acmes from the ’50s, which I found at the Santa Fe, New Mexico, flea market for $100; and a pair of brown shorties with a higher heel for $30.
Like children, I love them all and for different reasons. They are not perfect, and each pair has had to go into the repair shop every now and then for a little upkeep. The black ones have been conditioned, and are otherwise in great shape. The shorty browns needed new heels and some moisturizer and now look fantastic. The eagles have been patched, sewn, and conditioned numerous times, and they’re a little big, so I have thick pads in the soles and wear thick, fuzzy socks with them.
The eagle boots tell the best story. The left boot is more cracked than the right, and I imagine that they were once owned by someone who rode a motorcycle across the country. They have a sense of history, a sense of place. Which is why I love old boots more than new ones. When I slip them on, I feel like I’m wearing the spirit of the former owner. Maybe this is why I love the eagles the best, because to me, at least, they speak of wide-open road adventure.
Like a road trip itself, there aren’t any hard and fast rules that you must follow when starting your own old boot collection, but here are a few guidelines that will help.
If you love them, buy them.
If they fit, that is. A good shoe repair shop (and by that I mean a shop that does its work in-house and knows how to repair boots) can sew up cracked boots, patch holes, and rebuild heels. “I like challenges,” says Francisco Rico at Rico Hillside Shoe Service in Dallas, who’s been repairing boots for more than 25 years. “If you give me a little time, I can do anything.”
Small boots don’t stretch.
Don’t listen to anyone who says that they will. Most old leather is as stretched as it’s gonna get, and if you try to have an old pair of boots stretched to fit your foot, you may just end up with a pair of badly cracked leather boots.
Watch out for lumps and really bad cracks.
Boots left out in the rain or severe heat may develop lumps that can’t be fixed, no matter what. Ditto on really bad cracks. Best to pass on these.
Baby your boots.
Like old cars, they each have a different personality, and you’ve got to play to that. Some are so worn that they need to be worn less; others love to be taken out for a regular walk. Gretchen Bell, owner of the Dallas vintage store Dolly Python and proud possessor of 60 pairs of vintage boots, says, “I have some that look better when I wear them all the time and others that I save for special occasions.”
Condition, don’t polish.
Bell recommends Lexol for old leather; Rico also likes DYO Leather Balm and Fiebings Mink Oil. “Be sure and use saddle soap before conditioning,” Rico says. “It’ll help remove all of the dust and dirt.”
Be warned: Vintage boots are fun to wear, and perhaps even more fun to buy. The thrill of finding that great pair of old boots could be at the next garage sale, Goodwill store, or resale shop near you.
