I posted a while back that my boss noticed that I wear boots a lot (te he) and that he expressed interest in getting a pair of boots for himself. I offered to go boot shopping with him.

Yesterday afternoon turned out to be the time for our shopping trip. I had to go to Virginia anyway to get something for my spouse that was out of stock in pharmacies closer to where I live in Maryland, so the timing worked out. My sister came over to stay with my spouse while I…

…got into my truck and drove over to outer Mongolia (i.e., NoVA, where traffic is always backed up and slow regardless of it being the middle of the day on a weekend) to meet the boss at his house, which is only 5 minutes away from a boot store.

The store has a much larger selection on-line, but for its small size, it is impressive to see about 500 pairs of men’s and women’s boots on display in various sizes.

The boss gasped at first and said, “wow… what a lot of boots!”

I asked him to get his feet measured by standing on a Brannock device.

He said, “I know my shoe size, so don’t I just look on the shelf for my size?”

I educated him that a boot sizes is probably not the same as the size that he wears for sneakers. And I was right, his measurement was about 1/2 size larger, size 10.5 length, D width.

So we went to the part of the store with 10.5D boots on display. Fortunately, this is a very common size so the selection was abundant.

After about five minutes looking around, holding some boots up to look at more closely, looking at the price, then putting them down, he turned to me and asked, “why are some of these boots so high (in price) and others seem to be less expensive?”

To give my answer, I picked a random pair of boots that were priced at US$150, and looked at the printing inside the calf. “Leather upper, balance man made” and “Made in China” were printed inside the shaft.

I explained that the words “balance man made” meant that the boot shaft was made of synthetic material, while the foot was the only part of the boot made of leather. That means that it probably cost the company in China that made the boots just a few dollars to make the whole boot. The rest of the $150 price represents lots of profit for the company and its many middle-men.

I also explained that some boots these days are made by cheap, underpaid labor in China, contracted by American companies that source products in the world economy to get the best price (and profit) for the low-end, entry-level market. There are a lot of men in the U.S. who don’t know (or care about) quality from crap. They are happy with the Chinese footwear they buy from Walsucks.

Then I picked up a pair of Lucchese Classic leather boots which were priced at US$770. I pointed out the quality construction and all leather products used, from the strong, durable leather sole to the foot to the shaft, as well as the leather lining. I showed him the lemonwood pegs in the sole and explained how a well-made boot will have a pegged sole.

However, I cautioned, just because Lucchese makes a great boot doesn’t mean that it is worth US$770. Unfortunately, Lucchese significantly hiked their prices earlier this year and in my opinion, their boots aren’t worth it any more.

I put the demonstration boots back on the shelf and then caught the boss looking at a cognac ostrich boot. I asked, “do you like that kind of boot?”

He said, “they seem to be a classic. I see guys, including you, wearing this kind of dress boot more often than others.”

Hmmm… interesting, he referred to ostrich boots as dress boots. Yep, he’s showing promise!

I had him try on a pair of traditional cognac ostrich boots by Tony Lama. He walked toward the mirror (conveniently placed at an upward angle on the floor) and looked at himself in the boots. He smiled.

He said, “they seem to fit okay, but the heel is slipping a little bit.” I explained that it is normal for the heel to slip at first until he breaks the boots in.

He sat down and took the boots off. I then explained that we have to check, so we looked in the shaft and saw “all leather construction. Made in the USA.” Okay, good so far.

I then turned the boot over and showed the boss the pegs in the soles, and examined the construction of the sole stitching and welting (attachment of the sole to the boot foot.) We also looked at the heel — not too high, not flat like a shoe.

Then we looked at the price. I said, “I think you may be able to find this pair on-line for about $100 less.” — loud enough for the store clerk to come running over and to say, “but we have a sale going on — 25% off today for any boots in the store!”

I’m not quite sure we would have been offered that discount unless I said what I said. Nonetheless, the discount brought the price down to being competitive with on-line vendors and accommodated the increase due to sales tax.

Sold!

The boss sat back down, pulled on his new boots, and threw his sneakers into the bag with his boot box and said, “thanks, I knew you knew your boots!”

I replied, “hey, no problem. Glad you got a pair of boots you like,” then begged my leave to complete my mission to find a medical supplement for my spouse.

And notice — I really did well. I held firm to my sales resistance and didn’t buy a new pair of boots for myself. Actually, I didn’t see anything that I did not already have — but I wasn’t going to tell the boss that! LOL!

Life is short: wear boots!