Atrocities of the 1980s: Cat Leather Cowboy Boots

As discussed before in this blog, John Travolta’s URBAN COWBOY from 1980 started a Western clothing frenzy throughout the entire US and also in other parts of the Western world. For years to come, cowboy boot makers had a heyday, with sales going through the roof.

One of the more questionable aspects of this hype was that pretty much everything that could be skinned would be turned into cowboy boots at the time, including crocodiles, alligators, lizards, pangolins, elephants, frogs, and turkeys. Among the most questionable efforts was the cat leather boot, giving the term ‘Puss in Boots’ an entirely new meaning.

Fortunately, while many exotic leathers are still very popular today, the cat leather trend was rather shortlived. Also, initial rumors that immigrants would steal housecats to turn them into cowboy boots eventually turned out to be entirely pointless.

Here’s one especially uncomforting example:

The pair women’s boots shown here must’ve been any crazy cat ladies dream come true: They were made of hair-on cat skins, with ‘cute’ plush cat heads on the vamps. Looking back, it’s hard to imagine that someone would actually wear these. Then again, if there is one thing that can be said of the 1980s, there were no short-comings on fashion aberrations…