Item of the Week: Patent Leather Boots

While perusing the Compass shoe trade show at the Puck Building in SoHo, we spotted an odd mini-trend: practical footwear in decidedly un-practical patent leather.

The first sighting was this boot by Creative Recreation ($160 retail), a strange combination of boat shoe and hiking boot in glossy black patent leather. Boat shoes have seen a big resurgence in popularity lately, and Creative Rec has many variations on the theme. Patent leather isn’t new to the brand, and neither is the hiking boot variation. The fall 2009 collection features a number of boots offered in black patent leather.

The next patent leather oddity was just a couple booths away at Dr. Martens. These sleek hiking boots for $140 retail—almost shaped like old cross country ski boots—will be offered for fall 2010 in red and black (a color scheme that international sales manager Doug Segal tells us is a heritage theme for the brand’s 50th anniversary, which is April this year). There are, of course, non-patent leather versions of this hiking boot design as well, but they aren’t nearly as fun.

DrMartens.com and Cr8Rec.com.

Each week, MR’s editors will comment on a product we’ve seen in the market. It could be an emerging trend, a novel take on a classic or something that just caught our eyes.

Previous Items of the Week:

Trafalgar Braces

Frye Shoes

Watches at MAGIC and Pool

Canvas Sneakers

Courvoisier Men’s Cologne

Ichiban Sweats

Dion Ties to Fight Prostate Cancer

Copper Bracelets

PF Flyers classic baseball shoes

Sportshirts from Arbitrage

T-Box Compressed T-shirts