American Made Roper Boots...

M

Murphy Slaw

Joined
Sep 22, 2023
Messages
395
I've got a busy year lined up, even though I'm retired, construction/property maintenance and such. Chinese slip-ons are easy, but not durable, and are stupid expensive. And they're Chinese.

I used to wear Red Wing "Pecos" boots in my younger working days, but we don't have a Red Wing dealer around here anymore. And I remember them being heavy. Not steel toe, just regular boots. I have a pair of beater cowboy boots, but they are pointy toe and not very comfortable.

I'm seeing Tecovas advertised a lot, but have never had a pair.

Any other ideas?
 
Murphy Slaw said:
I've got a busy year lined up, even though I'm retired, construction/property maintenance and such. Chinese slip-ons are easy, but not durable, and are stupid expensive. And they're Chinese.

I used to wear Red Wing "Pecos" boots in my younger working days, but we don't have a Red Wing dealer around here anymore. And I remember them being heavy. Not steel toe, just regular boots. I have a pair of beater cowboy boots, but they are pointy toe and not very comfortable.

I'm seeing Tecovas advertised a lot, but have never had a pair.

Any other ideas?
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Red Wings are hands down the best general work boot made IMO unless you’re a lineman or logger or in some other more specialized occupation.

I like my Anderson Bean boots. American made in Texas. Not exactly “cheap” but are reasonably priced compared to other big names. Square toe is very comfortable.

Chinese boots are junk. Period. They will not hold up to hard manual labor and less than ideal weather conditions (personal experience).

Tecovas may be perfectly fine quality wise (I’ve no personal experience with them) but are not for me.. Their style, stores and business model have an urban cowboy/hipster vibe to me.
 
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I wear Justins - have done so for as long as I can remember.
as far as I know they are still made in the US and have plenty of options for safety toe, toe shape, heel, etc.
 
I just checked mine, they say handcrafted in the USA.
website says "MADE IN THE USA WITH GLOBAL PARTS"

probably tough to find 100% sourced and made in US boots but they may be out there
 
I've got two pair of what you're talking about. A pair of Twisted X here:

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I don't really like riding in this style boot but do often at brandings because I'll be getting down and working the ground too. A regular riding type heel on a boot is tough on the ol back working on the ground.

The second pair are Ariats. Both are made in Mexico and are square toed and very comfortable. Fact I've got the Twisted X pair on right now. I too might suggest Drew's boots if you are looking for a real work boot. Something like a western packer boot. They are lace up but I often wear a pair when I'm standing all day on concrete making knives. Look at a Rancher style with a little lower heel. If ya want to see what goes into making a pair of said boots look up Nick's boots on Youtube. A very complicated make and ya start understanding the price after watching.
 
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Justin’s have been the best I’ve worn for all around and work. Double H isn’t bad either
 
Murphy Slaw said:
Looks like the Tecomas are made in Mexico. I guess that's America....
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yep true. south, north and central is the americas. Mexico being in North america.

a sneaky register manufacturer moved their factory production from China during the heavy buy usa made movement to Mexico and started labeling on their boxes..made in North America. true, but still sneaky.....

I like tecomas. they are okay.

finding only usa made boots is a lot of work and big bucks. I'm all for it, but im also okay with made elsewhere if decent and they hold up.
 
jbmonkey said:
finding only usa made boots is a lot of work and big bucks. I'm all for it, but im also okay with made elsewhere if decent and they hold up.
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There's a decent number of options, but in the sub $300 range most of those options are going to have a lot of substitute materials and often be Made in USA " with global materials ".
Usually that means some components are imported but typically not the leather or the outsole, and most of the work to turn everything into a boot is done here.

A lot of people will try to claim the upper might be sewn elsewhere with only final assembly being done here, just to minimize the legitimacy of " Made in USA " so they can justify whatever less expensive imported boot they're praising.
That's not to say one can't wear / like a boot that's imported, you can get an affordable-ish American made boot that absolutely does have enough domestic manufacturing and materials to matter.

My issue with imported work boots ( not talking cowboy boots, I know Mexico pretty much does those best ) is that the manufacturers really really love to hide a lot of BS inside where you can't see it, while with American made work boots the affordable end will have cost cutting materials but chosen / used wisely and there's kind of an unspoken standard where you pretty much know what you're getting.
Mexico is basically the only other country where a not so terrible affordable work boot might be made, there's just basically no good work boots coming from China Vietnam and the Dominican republic...etc
The places where most sneakers are made, the manufacturers in those countries all hide lots of BS inside and use too many sneaker materials that aren't appropriate for a reliable work boot.
 
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I’ve worn many a pair of Tony Lamas, Justins, Ariats, etc., but what I’m wearing now are Thursday Vanguards. Horween chromexcel, damn comfy, wear like iron.
 
No idea who made em or where they were made. Just kinda a cool shot of some ropers. My son with his best friends daughter. She has her ropers on:

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Maybe not ropers can't tell but roping. With the lil girls older sister coming in for the heel shot while branding:

hdWYM4G.jpg
 
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