Brief history of cowboy boots

Historically horsemen have always needed protective footwear and boots with a heel higher preferred. The origin of the cowboy boot that we know today comes from different styles including the Wellington boot boot, which originated from the Duke of Wellington in Britain. At the time it was a straight plain leather boot with one-inch heels and straight tops. Cowboys also wore the Hessian boot, which had a V-cut in the front, and some of these had a silk or leather tassel hanging in V.

The Coffeyville-style cowboy boots originated in Coffeyville, Kansas around 1870 and were normally black leather with low heels and Cuban. The front of the shoe, known as the "transplant" was higher than the back and was usually a different color. Texas cowboys were known to have a lone star inlaid in the graft.

cowboy boots continued to evolve through the end of 1800 and the designs were influenced by European style rider boot, which were characterized by higher heels and leather quality.

The toes of cowboy boots were square or rounded, and this did not change to pointed until 1950.

The lines of dots across the top of the toe of the cowboy is called a toe wrinkle. makers to initiate early 1900s began to add decorative stitching on the fingers in addition to wrinkles and these designs became and have remained until today the signing of custom shoes.

In the 1920s and 1930s cowboy boots became a fashion item, following the films and radio programs on the Wild West.

After 1940 boot designs became more colorful and intricate incorporating images of the West, such as cacti, eagles, horses and horseshoes.

In 1950, when rodeos became a popular form of entertainment and country music began to be heard, the popularity of cowboy boots to the stars and millions of pairs were reportedly made in all shapes, colors and styles.

After that the designs of cowboy boots followed the fashions and styles popular in the movies - if John Travolta or Tom Cruise wore cowboy boots then those styles were immediately in demand.

Since the early 1990s boot makers have become more adventurous and we are now seeing styles incorporating studs, Conchos, rhinestones and precious stones, no doubt partly because of interest in line dancing. Of course you can still buy an attractive plain leather boot disk.

Part of the enduring appeal of cowboy boots is that they can be worn by anyone.

There is an excellent book that covers everything to do with the cowboy boot called appropriately The Cowboy Boot Book, you can get from Amazon.

Copyright © Jakki Francis (UK), 2005