Giving Sandals The Boot

New York Times: Western boots worn out of season represent “a really strong trend, one that still is gaining momentum,” said Michael Atmore, the editorial director of Footwear News, a trade weekly. And to judge by the number of boot makers who have added Western models to their lineups, Mr. Atmore said, “a lot of companies are banking on the look for spring, summer and fall.”

It is something of a paradox that the Western boot, a classic emblem of Americana, derived much of its latest currency from the streets of London, where style-setting neo-bohemians like Kate Moss and Sienna Miller were snapped earlier this year wearing boots with flounced tunics or peasant skirts. Stateside, early adopters, flaunting boots as counterweight to the summer’s wispy skirts, led to a spike in sales.
The clamor for summer boots prompted the Frye Company to raid its archives and reissue discontinued looks like the Daisy Duke, its onetime signature Western style. The company, which is privately owned, does not release sales figures but forecast that its boot business would more than double this year. Jim McCormick, the president of the company, said that a substantial portion of that growth “is reliant on brisk sales of boots in the traditionally slow months from February through August.”