Some combinations were never meant to be, like cucumbers and peanut butter or Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett. And then, some odd combinations work surprisingly well together, like peanut butter on hamburgers or Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart.
This is one of the latter — a combo that, on the surface, really shouldn’t work. But then, oddly enough, it does.
If you’ve ever dreamed of wearing cowboy boots that let your feet breathe, you don’t need to pinch yourself because these babies are real.
Yup, cowboy boot sandals are here, and they’re exactly what they sound like: cowboy boots, but with the feet cut out like sandals.
You wouldn’t be a redneck without some interesting tan lines, and it’s hard to imagine more interesting tan lines than you’d get from cowboy boot sandals.
But you also get some relief from the toe jam-inducing claustrophobic heat of cowboy boots, so that’s something. And hey, you might be able to give some new life to some scuffed up, torn old boots, too.
Okay, they’re pretty ridiculous, right? But not to worry, their creator knows it.
Scott Franklin, the Missouri native behind Redneck Boot Sandals , made his first pair as a joke.
One sunny day in Alabama, Scott noticed a man walking down the beach in cowboy boots and thought that was a silly thing to do, compared with his own flip-flops.
When he got home, Scott decided to combine the flip-flop and cowboy boot worlds.
He took a knife to an old pair of boots and wore them to a party, where one of the other guests pestered him all night to buy them. Then other folks started asking him to make some.
And it might have stayed like that, just a few odd pairs here and there, but then pics started spreading on social media.
Suddenly, Scott had thousands of people around the world — well, mostly Texas, but some from Australia, too — asking if he’d customize their boots for them. The former sheriff’s deputy had a full-time gig on his hands.
Even then, Scott still thought of it as a lark.
“We got some negativity, you know, people … calling it like an abomination to boots,” he told CNBC . “[But] the way we look at it is, it’s something fun and silly and something for people to laugh at and enjoy.”
Still, even if it’s a fun thing, folks aren’t getting just Scott’s knife work for their money.
Basically, what happens is people will send Redneck Boot Sandals the boots they want made into sandals along with $150.
The company will notify them when the boots are received, then send them along to a local cobbler they work with, and four-to-six weeks later, the boots head back, for another $25 in shipping — possibly more if shipping internationally.
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Scott still says that he can’t wear his cowboy boot sandals out without someone offering to buy them right off his feet.
So will he start making his own, mass produced cowboy boot sandals? Who knows? But it’s worth keeping an eye on!
h/t: Redneck Boot Sandals
