How To Wear Cowboy Boots Ultimate Guide To The Western Boot Roper Stockman Buckaroo Boot
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Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno.
I'm the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be talking about the Western boot.
Yes, the cowboy boot.
I know many of you guys out there, you don’t ride horses.
You've probably never even worn a pair of Western boots or even know anyone that does,
but perhaps it's something you've wanted to bring into your wardrobe.
Today, I'm going to be presenting this video for the guy that's just starting out who doesn’t
maybe know a whole lot.
Some of you guys though, maybe you're already wearing Western boots.
You've got specific questions.
I go into a lot more in the article.
I'm going to link to it over at The Art of Manliness.
In addition, I have an infographic.
If you'd rather just look at the infographic and pick up all of this info in a matter of
seconds, go over to the link that goes to Real Men Real Style and I've got the infographic
right there, talk about the different types, different types of leathers, and all the different
parts.
Now, in today's video, this is geared towards the guy just starting off, so we're going
to focus in on three things.
Those three things are why you should consider wearing Western boots.
The second are the different parts of the Western boot.
Finally, I'm going to talk about the most common styles that you're going to see out
there.
Now, guys, before I get into this video, I'm going to ask you to subscribe to my YouTube
channel.
That way, these videos come right to you.
In addition, if you like this, if you find it useful, like it.
Go down and comment.
Let me know what you found useful in this video.
Guys, you know I love going into the comments here on YouTube, and answering questions,
see what you guys have to say how I can make these videos better.
Okay.
Let's go ahead and let's talk about the three reasons why you should start to wear Western
boots, but let me just start with a story.
My buddy, Ryan Masters -- you guys have heard me talk about him -- we're at a conference
and he saw me wearing a pair of Lou Casey 1883s.
Actually, I've got them right here and I'm going to use these to show about the different
parts.
Ryan looked at the boots and he's like, "You know, those look pretty good.
I should at some point get a pair of boots."
I'm like, "Ryan, you just moved to Colorado.
Of course you should.
You're going to find ways to use them and you're really going to get miles out of them."
So he went out and bought a really nice pair of gator boots.
These things drew attention.
They were a little bit lighter colored.
I don’t know exactly if they were gator or caiman or crocodile, but in any case, they
grabbed attention.
Ryan had to number one have confidence, so that's one of the best things about starting
to wear Western boots especially if you didn’t grow up wearing Western boots, is that you
have to have the confidence and build the confidence to realize when you're wearing
those boots, whether you're just wearing them with a jeans and a t-shirt -- and I've seen
Ryan do that -- still people are drawn.
They look at his feet and they're like, "Wow!
Those things really stand out.
They grab attention.
So number one, when you start to wear Western boots, you've got to build up the confidence.
You've got to be sure of yourself because you are going to get compliments.
You are going to get comments.
You are going to have people ask you about them.
The next part is instant style.
I talked about he's wearing just a t-shirt, jeans.
These boots, because of the design, because of the flair, they instantly grab attention.
Now, he started wearing them -- I know he does a lot of dancing.
They're in Denver and he goes out to country Western bars now, and these things still grab
attention because they are very stylish.
Boots are one of those things that it is perfectly fine to make this almost the centerpiece of
your outfit.
I'm going to get into the -- I've got a book here and it's called "Cowboy Boots", and I'm
going to talk a little bit about a company.
In fact, I'd recommend you go check out their website.
I'll link to it, Rocketbuster.
They are a great example of a company that has taken the art of the boot and they just
ran with it.
It's an amazing company.
I think they're still in El Paso, Texas, but these guys have had people like Arnold Schwarzenegger
and other famous movie stars come in and spend about as much money as they would on a car
on these pair of boots which are handcrafted, designed, just beautiful pieces of art.
Instantly, you can add a piece of style to your wardrobe.
The last part is the history that goes into Western boots.
Now, the cool part about Western boots is that they serve a function and purpose.
I'm going to talk about this here in a second with the parts, but even the style of the
heel, why do you think the heel is there?
The heel is there because when you're riding a horse, it actually would fit right here.
It would go right into the stirrup, hold it right there.
Why do you think they don’t have laces on them?
So if you fell off of your horse, the boot would come off and you wouldn't get dragged
and killed by your horse.
All of the boot has to do with history and function.
And so, let's go ahead and get into the second part of this video.
Let's talk about the parts.
We're going to start with the upper.
Right here, we've got pull straps.
Sometimes, you don’t see pull straps.
You'll see actually holes in the boot.
In any case, you're usually pulling the boot on.
There are no laces on Western boots.
The second part is the stitching.
You'll see a lot of this stitching up now.
This actually served their purpose especially with the early boots.
They didn’t want them to sag or to fall over, so the stitching was there to help provide
support in the boot.
Now, this is called the shaft and this is the upper part of the boot.
Now, let's go down into the bottom part of the boot.
What we've got here are two boxes.
We've got one.
We've got the heel and we've got the toe box.
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Right here, it's called the heel counter specifically and these are both formed to give the boot
the shape.
Now, here we've got the vamp and the vamp is one of the most durable, toughest parts
of the boot because this is where it's going to have a constant bending.
The vamp, oftentimes you've got stitching and design to also strengthen this.
Again, this is probably one of the most durable parts.
If you're going to be conditioning, taking care of your boots, which you should be, this
is where you want to make sure you give special attention because it's constantly bending.
If you don’t take care of it, this is where the leather will start to crack especially
right here on the sides if you're not conditioning it.
Now, let's talk about the outer sole and the heel.
I talked about the heel.
Heels come in all shapes and sizes.
It depends on what you need the boot for and the function of it.
Most Western boots though, we're going to see anywhere from about one inch to about
one and a half to almost two inches on the heel.
Two inches is a bit extreme.
Less than an inch, you're going to start to get into specific types of boots, which are
geared more towards work.
Now, the outer sole right here, this is what basically hits the ground.
These are made to be replaced.
So if you start to wear a hole in it, you'd want to take it to a cobbler, preferably one
that specializes in boots so we can get that replaced.
A lot of companies like Lou Casey, I believe you can actually send it back to the company
and they will actually rebuild that for you.
Okay, so we've talked about why, we've talked about the parts.
Gentlemen, let's dive in to the different styles.
The classic Western boot, that's what I was just showing you right here.
We've got about -- what is that -- 12 inches in the shaft.
We've got a pretty, non-descript, just simple -- this is an all-around, simple boot.
Then we've got the shorty.
The shorty shaft is usually going to be quite a bit shorter, sometimes as short as six inches.
What we're going to see, the next one, let's talk about the Western work boot.
The Western work boot, the big difference is the heel at the bottom of the boot.
Ariat is a great company to look at their Western work boots because what you see is
they've designed them for comfort.
These are men that are up on their feet 12 to 14 to 16 hours a day and they demand comfort.
They're not necessarily getting into a horse, but they want something that's durable that
still has the historic flavor of the Western boot.
Next, let's talk about the roper.
Roper is an earlier version of the Western work boot and something that you'll see a
lot of guys, especially if they're working rodeos down in Pegasus, Texas or something,
you're going to see ropers.
They're more practical when it comes to work and at the same time, you can jump and you
can ride with them, so you'll see a lot of guys especially that work around animals using
ropers.
Now, the buckaroo, this is one that's more for show.
It goes much higher, so the shaft on the buckaroo is going to be much higher than a regular
Western boot.
Finally, the stockman.
The stockman is kind of a hybrid.
Again, it's going to be for a guy that's not necessarily getting into the saddle as much.
It's very similar to the work boot, but it's still going to have a lot of the style of
the classic Western boot.
Okay, guys, I've got a lot more information.
Go over to Real Men Real Style, check out the infographic.
Go to the detailed article at The Art of Manliness and let me know in the comments if you've
got questions, how you've been able to -- maybe what your favorite company is, how you've
enjoyed wearing Western boots and maybe the compliments you've gotten.
Again, guys, go check out the article, a lot more detail.
I'll see you in the next video.
Bye-bye.
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