How to Shop for Vintage Cowboy Boots

“What we believe first and foremost with a cowboy boot is that it [must] follow the traditional standards for construction,” Will Ormes tells me, with an accent so strong he has to be a born-and-bred Texan. A few minutes ago, he tipped his black Stetson in greeting and sat down across from me at the hat-room bar at Allens Boots in Austin. The first sign that you’re in a solid boot-shopping establishment: chivalry is alive and well.Ormes, a manager at Allens, has agreed to give me a history lesson on a cowboy or cowgirl’s most prized possession: a pair of trusty, worn-in leather boots. He explains how stacked leather and a stainless steel shank, a thin bar most often found in work boots that adds…

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