Cowboy boots & Carhartt: The revitalization of cowboy couture

I bought my first pair of cowboy boots when I was in the first grade. I wanted to be like Jesse from Toy Story, I told my parents. Fast forward to my freshman year of high school, I found myself buying a new pair from Ariat when we went to visit my grandparents in Houston, Texas. I wore them proudly to country concerts at the Shoreline Amphitheatre and “ironically” to Outside Lands music festival in Golden Gate Park. 

My infatuation with “cowboy couture” took a hiatus until college. During my sophomore year, I came home for break one year wearing a green Carhartt hoodie. My dad, born and raised in Houston, asked me why I was dressed like my cousins who go hunting, fishing, and mudding on the weekends. I told him it’s what everyone was wearing, but I had no idea why. 

To this day, cowboy boots and Carhartt hoodies are back and bigger than ever. From the streets of Copenhagen to Gen Z on TikTok, it is now socially acceptable to wear cowboy boots to a night out with friends or a camo hat to the farmers market. Camo hats have also taken over, most recently seen during Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign. MSNBC said it best when reporting on Vice President Harris’s choice to make camo hats her main piece of campaign merch: 

While camouflage never truly exits the general fashion milieu, it’s enjoying a real moment. This is especially true for men’s fashion, so-called Carhartt-core, in its embrace of ‘90s-era military trends and a subversion of traditionally masculine pieces that perpetually exist outside of high-end fashion.

How did cowboy boots and so-called “workwear” go from a necessity to a fashion statement? American cowboy boots date back to the late 1800s—right around the end of the civil war. According to Buffalo Jackson Trading Co., cowboy boots were made of “thick leather to protect the cowboy’s ankles from bruising against his wooden stirrups, as well as to keep his legs from rubbing against the stirrup leathers.” In short, cowboy boots were made for practical reasons. 

After the rise of cowboy-themed television shows and movies like Big Valley (my personal favorite) and the influence of John Wayne during the 20th century, cowboy boots and camo print have somehow found their way into mainstream media. Gen Z TikTok influencers like Annie Paventy have described wearing cowboy boots as “effortless and chic.” But why is Gen Z’s obsession with cowboy couture a problem? 

The answer is (somewhat) clear: Cowboy boots were built for cowboys. Cowboy boots were, and are, considered a “survival tool." They were made to keep a person’s feet secure while they are riding a horse. Dixie’s perfectly outlines the purpose of cowboy boots here: 

The boot’s iconic heel helped a cowboy keep his feet in the stirrups; the height of the leather protected sensitive parts of the leg from chafing or other hazards while riding. 

Although some may not have a problem with more people wearing traditionally “working class” brands and articles of clothing, some see this as “class appropriation,” a lesser-defined form of cultural appropriation where the wealthy dress like the working class. It seems like cowboy boots, and other clothing associated with the working class, used to serve a purpose. The “appropriation of working class attire” like Carhartt highlights how certain brands used to signify a “working class, blue collar identity” and now signify a kind of “stylish streetwear.” 

Wearing cowboy boots could also be seen as another example of “rural cosplay.” Most recently, newly-elected Vice President J.D. Vance was called an “Appalachian Pretender” by Newsweek, for playing into Appalachian stereotypes in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. 

This “rural cosplay” perpetuates the differences between urbanites and ruralites. By wearing clothing that they see as “rural,” urbanites may pretend that they live more simply than they actually do. For example, Isha Nicole, creative director and vice president of marketing at Boot Barn, stated in a Footwear News article from March of 2024: 

“As technology, overstimulation and skepticism continue to spike, a yearning for simplicity and purpose will continue to permeate through self-expression,” she explained. “Western fashion is symbolic of the iconic American cowboy’s spirit — channeling untamed freedom, tenacity and rebellion.”

A counter to the idea of “class appropriation” may be that wearing workwear is appealing simply because of the quality of the clothing, and more people are becoming aware of this. Personally, my Carhartt hoodie’s quality has remained the same since 2018, except for a couple bleach stains. Still, the growing number of celebrities and urbanites wearing brands like Carhartt has increased the prices of workwear which undoubtedly makes it more difficult for people in rural areas and those who earn lower wages to afford the clothes that they wear every day. 

Gen Z probably doesn’t intend to appropriate workwear, but this still might not mean that it’s okay. Perhaps we should all think a little more before we buy a pair of cowboy boots or a Carhartt jacket.