11 Best American Made Boots | Are USA Boots Better? (2022)

these are the 11 best American-made boots I'm gonna go in order from least expensive to most expensive and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about each of these 11 boots and also let you know which ones are my favorite number one on my list is the Thorogood mocto this is 250 so it is the lowest priced boot on my list this is Union made made in the United States it's even got this tiny little nylon flag on it so that way you know they're not lying but the thorough good mocto this is a surprisingly good boot for 250 for its price there are some issues I think it's got like a plastic welt so there are some aspects about it that aren't fantastic but I did do a huge mock toe comparison this had the best grip of any Soul this is comparing to Red Wing Thursday and also Danner so I did compare all these together this performed really really well this is a great work boot if you're just gonna beat the heck out of your boots and you don't really mind getting you're gonna have to get a new pair of boots in about a year or two anyway they're a good mock toe is a great American-made boot that you can absolutely destroy you can take a beating it'll hold up for enough time to get your value out of it and then you know maybe get another one so the thorough good mocto fantastic work boot Great Soul has some issues to it but that's what you get for 250 bucks number two on my list is the Thursday Vanguard this is one of Thursday's only American-made boots uh they also have the lager which is also made in the United States but this doesn't make my list for best American-made boots purely because the heel cap right here is very very thin so that actually wears out a little bit too quickly for this one to make my list but the Vanguard is a totally different story it's got the half inch heel cap there it's got this awesome leather stacked heel this uses horween chromic cell leather so it's really really high quality leather this looks a lot like the captain people say maybe the fit is a little bit different but honestly in my experience the fit between the Vanguard and Captain isn't all that different so if you like the look of Thursday boots but you want something that's made in the United States definitely check out the Thursday Vanguard this is a little bit pricier than the thoroughgood about 265 at the time of filming this and yeah you get whoring Chrome Excel that's an American leather too American Construction I believe they make this in Arkansas and overall it is a fantastic cap toe boot clocking in at number three on my list and 300 is the Red Wing classic mocto so this is an icon I have this in slate mule Skinner leather and you get the wedge sole 360 degree Goodyear welt and the Puritan triple stitching along the upper this is the original mocto Boot and there are so many guys who basically where this boot religiously this is like their main go-to Boot and it's super comfortable if you're ever struggling with knee pain or back pain definitely try a wedge sole boot I've heard of some guys in the past where they have struggle with knee pain they put on a wedge sole Boot and it goes away within a few weeks I know that that can help that extra arch support one of the things that characterizes Red Wing is that they have a leather insole with cork filler so basically those natural materials they take a little while to break in maybe your boots aren't so comfortable right off the bat but as you start to break in that footbed it becomes super comfortable and these boots I know last several years so if you are going if you're hard wearing on your boots then a red wing is going to serve you well one variant on the Red Wing mocto is the Red Wing Sawmill that I want to shout out here I actually prefer the Sawmill through the classic mocto it's also a mock toe boot but it's got this really cool heavy tread Sole and it's got some padding some insulation and it's got d-ring eyelets on the outside so I think those extra little details there it's also got a storm welt so it's a little beefier a little more winter ready so I'm really excited to bust this out when the weather cools down number four on my list this is also from Red Wing at 350 it is the Red Wing Iron Ranger obviously you knew the Red Wing Iron Ranger was going to be on this list of best American-made boots this is probably the most iconic boot I have in my whole collection it is a cap toe service boot it's got the speed hooks the four nickel eyelets so that's a nice contrast there the Puritan triple stitching 270 degree Goodyear welt and of course it's got the Vibram 430 mini lug sole I've had the Red Wing Iron Ranger for two years now and I gotta say it keeps growing on me it's still one of my favorite boots after two years and I absolutely love this thing and it's become so comfortable to wear now we're taking a jump from 350 up to 450 dollars number five the Oak Street trench boot so Oak Street they make all their boots in Chicago they use horween leather that is also from Chicago and one of the things that's really interesting about them is everything that they Source even down to the eyelets is from the United States so they make a concerted effort to Source everything from the United States there is one exception that is the day night Soul day night is based in the UK so the soul is is English but other than that everything on this boot is American through and through this right here is natural rough out Leather So This is super durable a Funny Story one of the first times I wore this I actually trudged through a river and you know up above the ankle too so this whole boot got soaked inside and out and still it fits really well it's super comfortable it lasted that's a really bad thing to do to a boot is completely submerge it in water you should never purposefully do that I just ended up doing that with this boot but even then because it's all natural materials you have the the leather midsole the leather insole a little bit of cork filler and then of course the rubber it doesn't break down so with too much fiberboard or something like that that can break apart make the insole very uncomfortable but with the Oak Street trench boot you're not getting that you're getting a fantastic Quality Boot one thing I can foresee being an issue with the transpute and you can watch my review if you want to learn more about this but the toe box is pretty wide guys with wide feet that could be a blessing that could be a great thing for you personally I'm not a huge fan of that style I like it I think it looks cool but when it comes to the Grand schema boots when you got a thousand boots to choose from I like a slightly more narrow toe box but in terms of quality the Oak Street trench boot definitely belongs on this list of the best American-made boots just above the trench Boot and price at 475 is the Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill the Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill is a classic boot that's another very iconic boot a lot of guys know about it a lot of guys want it and that's because it is a fantastic plain toe service Boot made with Horan chromic cell leather it's got some interesting stitching and details along the side and overall if you were kind of hearing what I was saying with the Oak Street trench where you're like oh I don't you know maybe that is a little bit too stubby for me to toe then I would look towards the Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill because that is that more Sleek more narrow plain toe service boot it's not quite as narrow as the Thursday Vanguard or the Thursday Captain but it does have a little bit more of a mature look to it without being so wide so bulky more like maybe say like a Red Wing Iron Ranger or Oak Street trench that I was talking about earlier at 480 is the Truman p79 cap toe boot this is their 79 last uh they have a bunch of different Leathers so the price does vary on that this one in particular is 480 there are some that are more expensive and there are some that are less expensive than that really depends on the leather you get this is Halloween Brown waxed flesh leather it is quite stiff out of the box but as I've been breaking it in but getting more comfortable but this is one of the most impressive boots that I've seen this year Truman they're based out of Oregon so they make all their boots in what I consider the Pacific Northwest region along with Nick's whites and some other brands you're going to see in a little bit but what originally turned me on to Truman boots and how I learned about them is I was going to a cobbler well-known cobbler in my area I was gonna resole a pair of Thursday boots and I went in I was wearing my Red Wing Iron Rangers the Cobblers I saw what they were wearing they were all wearing Truman boots I was like what the heck's that they told me about it Truman they're basically a leather lovers boot company so if you want a boot with a unique interesting leather something with a lot of character in The Grain then Truman would definitely be the boo brand for you we're taking another leap up to six hundred dollars with the Alden Indy and if this boot is good enough for Indiana Jones then I certainly hope it's good enough for you this is another American classic mock toe boot now it's not a true mocto like the Red Wing mocta we saw earlier because this Stitch is just decorative but it keeps a very low profile it's pretty narrow throughout the uh the waist here of the foot and it also has a 270 degree Goodyear weld now one thing that's interesting about the Alden Indie that I really appreciate is that it has a really long heel counter so the heel counter on most boots would maybe go about this far but the heel counter here actually goes all the way back here it's built on a combination last so the heel is going to be a little bit more narrow and the forefoot is going to be a little bit wider basically what that means is when you put this boot on it almost feels like it locks your heel into place and you can kind of see the shape of this boot as well it's very unique this this heel kind of curvature in is very pronounced much more pronounced than you'd see on other boots my impression of this boot after wearing it is that the subtle details in the fit and sizing make this one of the most comfortable American-made boots you can get it now Alden has had some issues in the past and you can see this in reviews they have had some issues with QC maybe some stitches loose and stuff like that here and there I haven't noticed that on my pair of Indies all I've noticed is that they're extremely comfortable I don't know if they're 600 worth of value at this point because there are so many American-made boot brands out there that are doing fantastic work but still I gotta hand it to Alden this is a fantastic boot even if you spent 600 on it I don't think you'd be disappointed because it's so comfortable and it comes in such a wide variety of sizes too now if you're about to burn 600 on a pair of boots and you're thinking okay am I gonna do the Indie well you could also do the Nyx Americana for that same price the Nyx Americana this is probably the toughest boot I've ever worn in my entire life and it was also the most difficult break-in I've had this is that Halloween waxed Brown flesh and it's got a stitch down construction I put a Vibram v-bar outsole on this bad boy but you could also do the 430 mini lug one thing about this boot is you can get this fully customized so if you wanted a different leather if you want the leather around that the midsole and the heel stack there if you wanted that to be different you can have that painted differently you can put whatever outsole you want on this thing you could choose how many rows of stitching you get along the toe cap so I love that it's fully customizable another thing about NYX is that you can get fully customized fitting as well so it takes about a full year if you're going to go through the whole fitting process get a sample boot measure your size send it back to them and then get a custom boot that would take you 12 months to get this boot or if you want you can do the made to order like ready-made type boot I got a size 10 my foot is pretty similar across all brands so I didn't really have to worry so much about getting something special I got the ready made and it took me about six months to get this boot at 630 the next boot on this list is another Pacific Northwest classic it is the whites Packer boots so it has this Packer heel that's got a very very sharp angle to it Stitch down construction I added the kilty on there and it is an eight inch boot this thing is super super tough one thing about these Pacific Northwest boots that I didn't expect and especially it's way different than when you're talking about like Red Wing or some of these other American-made boots is you get an insane insane amount of arch support in these boots they actually have a p like a wedge of leather in the arch and the reason why they use that little wedge of leather in the arch is because whites and Nyx they fully expect their boots to last like seven eight nine ten years certainly to over 10 years for me but you know some of these guys like firefighters are doing some legit crazy stuff in their boots so when you're breaking in a pair of boots and it has a leather shank or has a piece of leather in that for the arch support basically that's gonna break in as well with the rest of the insole and midsole and that basically means that if you had a steel shank the steel shank would start to kind of bother the middle of your foot over time as the whole boot broke in but if it's leather the whole thing's gonna break in as like one smooth strip and so the boots just become more comfortable there's not a point like three four years down the road where that steel shank starts to poke in your foot it just stays comfortable it continues to break in the whites Packer this is a phenomenal American-made boot it's definitely close to the top of the list in terms of terms of price but there's still one more that's a little bit more expensive the last boot on my list at 670 is the Wesco Mr Lou and I gotta be honest this is probably my favorite boot it's not just because it's the most expensive but there's something super special super unique about this boot this is a double row Stitch down construction like Nicks and whites but it's a lot more it seems a lot more refined maybe that's just because the Wesco Mr Lou it doesn't need to be as rugged I think with the Packer and Americana that double row Stitch down is more built with like work purpose in mind it's got a little more wiggle room the Mr Lou not that you couldn't work in these but these are more like you know motorcycle boots or I just wear them for style I don't ride a motorcycle maybe I'll ride a bike or a best person like that and one thing I really like about this particular Halloween Chrome Excel I mean I know we had at the bottom of our list this is the Thursday Vanguard with horowin chromic cell and then we have something that costs three times more the Wesco Mr Lou with horween chronic cell but there's also differences in the type of horoween chromic sound the whole Wing Chrome Excel that West Coast selects is got a little more character to it it's less corrected not that the whoring Chrome XL on the Vanguard is bad I've seen horween chronic cell on tons of different boots and and honestly it's always an impressive leather but there's something about the selection that Wesco did for their Mr Lew that is it blows me away wesco's been around for over 100 years they've been pumping out amazing boots they have such an amazing reputation and I finally see why one thing that is really cool about this pair of engineer boots is that the shaft is like a pretty slim fit it doesn't add a bunch of bulk around the bottom of your pants it slides under a slim straight pant leg or a straight leg pant leg and you wouldn't even notice that there was extra leather popping out it doesn't like a cowboy boot that can kind of imprint on the inside of your jeans this does not do that one of my favorite things about this boot is it's got a little bit of taper here on that heel so it's got a little bit of that logger heel and it's got a one inch heel cap so this is basically going to take so long for this to wear out so it's a super sturdy boot beautiful materials and honestly probably my top boot on this list if you found my list of best American-made boots helpful please give me a thumbs up and also hit that subscribe button down below you can check out some of my favorite boots in 2022 right over here thank you so much and I'll see you in the next video until then put your best boot forward

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