Australian Sheepskin Boots -
Australia's gift to the World!
Parallel Worlds: The Boots of Another
Wild West
Ranching and Western
settlements . . . gold rushes and boom towns – these things are as
central to the story of Australia’s frontier days as they are to the
lore of America’s Wild West. And the Sheepskin Boot is as much a part of that
Australian history as the cowboy boot is to America's Western heritage.
In both countries the early
settlers who moved out West, raised what their land would support. In the
U.S., that was mostly cattle ranching: in the Aussie outback, it was
sheep. The rugged frontier people of both countries made their own boots
and shoes out of the materials that were available to them. In the
American West, that material was cowhide, but on the vast sheep ranches of
Australia, which are called "stations," it was sheepskin. And
not just any sheepskin either.
Merino: The Golden Fleece
The
Aussie ranchers made their boots from the skins of Merino sheep, which are
renown for producing the finest wool in the world. From the 1820s on, this
highly valued wool was Australia’s primary export product. The Merino
sheepskin is perhaps nature’s most perfect material for footwear, strong, yet extremely supple and lightweight, it creates a boot that has a
buttery suede texture on the outside and the plush, cushy fleece lining of
the world’s most coveted wool on the inside.
The Boots That Feet Dream Of
The softness of the Australian Merino
sheepskin produces a boot with a snug, cozy, form-fitting feel that’s
more like a sock than a shoe, yet it’s rugged enough for outdoor wear.
The fleece lining has the astonishing property of providing year-round
comfort. In cold weather, the plush fleece provides an insulating layer
of warmth by trapping your body heat, much like goose down does. But in
the heat of summer, the natural fibers of the fleece actually cool your
feet by wicking away perspiration.
Growing Up in
Sheepskin Boots
By the 1970s, in Perth, the largest city
on Australia’s West Coast, Sheepskin Boots were being manufactured by several
small companies in the area. Perth has much the same climate as Southern
California and is also a haven for surfers, whom Aussies call
"surfies." And it was the community of surfies at the great
surfing beaches at Margaret River near Perth in the 1960s who first adopted Sheepskin
Boots
as their footwear of choice and made them a symbol of the Aussie surfing
lifestyle.
Aussie
Sheepskin Boot Fever Spreads
From the beaches of Western Australia,
Sheepskin Boots were soon seen on the feet of East Coast surfers from Brisbane to
Sydney. And it wasn’t long before some of these surfers, the ones
who traded their surfboards for skis in the winter, found that their
Sheepskin Boots were just as at home in the ski resort areas of the Snowy
Mountains as they were on the warm sands of Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
It
was Aussie surfers, traveling the world in search of the perfect wave,
who first introduced their mates in Southern California to the pleasures
of the Australian Sheepskin Boot. Sheepskin Boots soon became a cult fashion among those L.A. surfers
who could depend on a buddy "down under" to send them a pair of
boots.
Sheepskin
Boot Essentials
Today the
Aussie Sheepskin Boot "secret" is out.
You’ll find these versatile boots to be in fashion on beaches from San
Diego to Santa Cruz and in ski resorts from Tahoe to Vail. And today,
you don’t have to "know someone" in Australia who will send
you a pair, since there are now many companies manufacturing boots of
this type. But, if you want the genuine article, you do have to know
what you’re looking for because, no matter where you buy them, there are several importers with look-alike products that
fall short of being the real thing.
If you want genuine
Sheepskin Boots, well-made
boots with all the qualities that made the original so desirable, you’ll
want to make sure of two things:
-
Make sure the boots are
actually " Twin Faced or double faced Sheepskin",
meaning they are made from the actual sheepskin with the wool
still on the skin.
-
Make sure the boots are
Made of
Genuine
Australian merino sheepskin, because no other fleece comes close to the
quality and comfort of Australian Merino.
We made these two guidelines our own when
we are choosing a brand whose products we would be proud to offer
to our customers. When you compare our Sheepskin Boots to others for quality and
value, we are confident you will choose our boots, too. And, more
importantly, when you slip them on and experience their comfort, we
believe you will know you made the right choice.
In
fact, we guarantee it!
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