tres outlaws

Forbes' Most Expensive Cowboy Boots

Filed under: Shoes

Cowboy boots are great footware. They are comfortable, easy to wear and can be flashy or understated in style. As Forbes magazine points out, they also make noise when you walk in them, which is a nice bonus. Because cowboy boots are typically made of leather - whether suede, alligator or ostrich - a pair will last for a long time, making them worth a sizable investment. The question that the Forbes list of the most expensive cowboy boots attempts to answer is just how sizable that investment can get.

The most expensive boots are never going to be sitting on a shelf at a store or in the back room of a fashion designer. They are going to be custom measured and made, with materials and patterns hand-selected by the boot wearer, at the hands of someone who has been in the business for a lifetime. In some cases, the boot making business will stretch back over multiple generations in one family. The most expensive pair, according to the magazine, was a Tres Outlaws pair, sold for $75,000 - though most of the companies below start their custom lines at below the $1,000 mark.

The Forbes list included Custom Boots by Michael Anthony, Sorrel Custom Boots, Wheeler Boots, Little's Boots, Tex Robin Boots, Rocket Buster, Tres Outlaws, Stallion Boot and Belt Company, Paul Bond Boots, T.O. Stanley Boots. The boots can take more than a year to complete, since makers will track down the perfect materials for every pair. The Wheeler's custom Super Bowl boots, pictured, cost $17,000.