The 10 Best Cowboy Boot Brands Prove That Western Style is Here to Stay

I have to thank An American Tail: Fievel Goes West for introducing me to cowboy boots. It was 1992 when I got my hands on VHS of the animated classic, which I would watch daily for the better part of two years. The flick is about a young immigrant mouse from the Bronx (my neighborhood) and his odyssey into the Wild West in the late 1800s, the era when cowboy boots originated.

To say that I was obsessed with the film is putting it lightly. My birthday parties for two years were Western-themed, I made all my friends play gunfight at the OK corral with me every weekend, and I seldom stepped out my front door without my real-deal cowboy boots. I grew out of them fairly quickly, sadly, but I cherished those boots like they were treasure. From then on, all things Western became part of my MO. I would experiment with other looks throughout the decades, of course, adding a touch of this and a bit of that, but it’s hard to miss the indelible impact that Fievel and cowboy culture had on my personal style. Read more at Esquire.