Saturday, September 21, 2013

Boot season is back!

Thanks to all of you who sent emails asking me to continue the blog this year-- your messages were sweet and much appreciated :) I wish I hadn't stopped blogging during the summer, because it seems like boots were being released throughout the year. I'm trying to catch up quickly and recently ordered 3 boots that I hope to receive and review in the next week (more on them below). 

One of the first stops in my boot research was Shoes.com, which until recently, allowed for searching by calf circumference (like Zappos and Nordstrom). However, it seems like they got rid of this option :( I wrote to customer service asking them to reinstate it and I hope some of you readers will too. I also suggested that they define a narrow calf as less than 14" (their previous option was <15"). I haven't seen the narrow calf search option reappear but maybe (hopefully) they'll take it more seriously if some of you write as well.

Another stop was this narrow calf boot page on Squidoo, which I think I mentioned last year. It seems to be a pretty active site, with lots of readers leaving suggestions and reviews in the comments. What frustrates me is that it seems like there are tons of great options on this page, so I get excited. But when I click on the boots, read the reviews, and spend a little more time on Google, I realize that most actually aren't suitable for narrow calves. So I'm thinking of keeping a running list of boots that are advertised incorrectly as having narrow calves. I'm hoping that will prevent all of us from ordering and returning the same pairs of boots, which can waste both time and money. I'm not sure what the best way is to do this, but maybe I'll do it in a series of posts for now.

After my own searching, I ordered the following 3 boots that seemed promising based on their descriptions and reviews. I hope to review the first within the next week.

Unisa "Terena" Riding Boot ($60, review)
One reviewer said these fit her 13" calf perfectly but didn't provide her shoe size. Many, many other reviewers also recommended these for skinny calves. The downside is that they aren't leather and may look a bit cheap. Only sizes 5.5-6.5 remain at DSW. I didn't see them anywhere else. 


Aldo "Floria" ($100, review)
The listed circumference of 12" seems unlikely but I'm hoping the built in sock will make calves look smaller. These remind me of a Corso Como style I coveted a couple of years ago.

Mercanti Fiorentini "Lazio" Riding Boot ($200, review
I don't usually like boots with lots of straps, but reviews were positive and the buckles appear to be adjustable. I only saw these at DSW.

Here's to hoping that this boot season will be a successful one for skinny calves! (Especially the highly coveted but elusive narrow calf riding boots :)

~ Little Contessa