Harness Boots

One style of footwear that has spilled over from being worn by mostly one segment of the population to being worn by diverse groups of people is harness boots. Once worn almost exclusively by motorcyclists, these boots started becoming popular with other groups of people as fashion statements. It didn’t take long after that for the designers to catch on, and suddenly harness boots started being sold in a lot of different styles and designs-some that barely resembled the original biker boots. The basic design is simple; a boot with a “harness” or strap around the front and back of the ankle. What can be fashioned around this basic design, however, is limited only by the imagination.

Harness boots can be made for men or women, with women probably making up the fastest growing customer base for this type of footwear. The footwear manufacture Frye makes a women’s boot called the 12R, which is like the original type of this boot, but tapered for a woman’s shape. It’s made of leather and has a rubber sole for good traction, and the harness part is leather held together on either side with metal rings. This retails for about $175, give or take. Sage makes a woman’s suede slouch harness style boot that incorporates two popular fashions beautifully. It includes a buckskin-style fringe in the harness, and retails for around $95.

Mens’ harness boots tend to stay with the basic design. Durango makes one for men that is made of thick leather, has the basic wide toe, is the height of a standard motorcycle boot, and has a wide harness strap held together with metal rings and reinforced with rivets. These retail for around $100. With slight variations in such things as material and height, most manufacturers make roughly the same type of harness boots for men, because the basic style is what is most in demand.

Harness boots for men or women are fairly easy to find, because it is a time-tested style. Any of the major shoe stores such as Payless or United States Shoe Corp will probably carry them, as well as many of the major department stores like Sears or Macy’s. For both men and women, stores that sell motorcycle accessories and apparel are great places to look for these boots. Online, you can find great deals on these boots at places like Zappos.com and Onlineshoes.com.