Winter Boots 2011
This post is long overdue, considering we are already past Thanksgiving here in the States. Under normal weather conditions, the air is hovering near freezing and the ground is hardening. Cold rain falls, sometime turning into ice and sleet. You could wake up to snow on any given day. But this year has been unusually warm, at least out here in mid-Atlantic. Aside from one freak snow storm, this fall has been mild and forgiving. But that doesn’t mean the next few months won’t be nasty, wet and cold. Of course, none of this applies to my friends living in colder climes. You guys have to deal with way more shitty weather than us. So this one is for all yall.
Being an inhabitant of a large city (without access to a personal automobile), one is keenly aware of daily weather conditions. An unforeseen rain storm can leave you drenched, an unexpected cold front will leave you shivering. Needless to say, we city dwellers, who actually have to walk and be exposed to the elements, are hypersensitive to the needs of our feet. When the winter comes, we would like to keep them warm and dry. As a child of the suburbs, I never bought or wore boots. I somehow got away with wearing sneakers always. Maybe that’s because I was a dense child, but when you have a car that can take you right to where you need to go, you don’t have to worry about being exposed for prolonged periods of time.
What I’m trying to get at is that a solid, warm, water-resistant (and of course stylish) boot is essential to any person’s shoe collection. For your average person, getting a pair is as easy as going to your local sporting good store, or clicking a few times on Zappos. For us, who are trying to abstain from leather and other animal products, this proves a more difficult task. Now mind you, when I say difficult I don’t mean impossible, or even frustrating. No, I mean difficult like there are so many great looking leather boots that it’s hard to resist buying a pair!
But do not fear. Before you I present several stylish and functional alternatives to the leather boot paradigm. Some are made by known vegan brands. The others are not in that group but offer up alternative materials in common molds which would commonly use leather.
Click to see the shoes, I mean boots!
