A long time ago, when I was a poor college student, a friend and mentor told me that if I splurged on anything, it should be on high-quality shoes. She wasn’t talking about safety boots for women per se, but I wondered – what’s the big deal about shoes?
Fast forward ten years. I’m a runner with bad knees, and I totally understand the necessity of quality footwear. Without it, injuries happen.
Below, we’ll discuss the best and the brightest of a specific type of shoe – safety footwear for women. We’ve established that good shoes are important, but why safety shoes in particular? And what activities require safety shoes?
Why You Need Safety Boots
You may not think you need safety boots. I didn’t. But the following circumstances changed my mind:
- Interacting with horses. They’re big. They weigh 1,500 pounds – nearly a ton. They have small, hard feet called hooves that concentrate that weight into four points of contact. When they step on you – and if you spend enough time with them, they will – it hurts. Unless you have the right shoes.
- Volunteer work that requires safety boots. Volunteerism is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have. But if you’re doing disaster relief (say, following a hurricane) or working on other construction sites, you need shoes that are crush resistant, slip-resistant, won’t easily be punctured by a stray nail, and won’t readily conduct electricity.
- Volunteer work that doesn’t require safety boots. Many times, I’ve enjoyed “kitchen duty” at volunteer projects, preparing much-needed meals for fellow volunteers and/or victims of a natural disaster. A kitchen isn’t a construction zone, and I often wore tennis shoes. Then, my hand slipped while carrying one end of a metal food prep table. The corner of the table crushed my foot, fracturing a bone. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d been wearing safety toe.
- While working in construction or with heavy equipment. I’ve worked in lawn care, trim carpentry, and painting. If you’re using a zero-turn mower, string trimmer, chainsaw, ladder, and any number of other tools, you need to protect your feet from crush hazards, debris, and other obstacles. And these are just a few examples.
These are just my reasons for wearing safety boots. You may have other reasons of your own.
Now that we’ve established the why, let’s talk about the what.
Best Ladies’ Safety Footwear
When I first started looking for women’s safety-toe boots, there weren’t many options. In fact, I found myself trying on the smallest sizes of men’s boots, trying to figure out what would fit me.
Today, however, there are many more options. Niche companies have filled the need by catering specifically to the needs of women in STEM and construction careers. I’ve tried a lot of boots over the years, and these three remain my favorites.
Most Girly: SafetyGirl
I’ve always enjoyed being “one of the guys.” But that doesn’t mean I want to look like one of the guys.
So, I’m usually the gal in the pink hardhat. Pink work gloves, check. Pink-rimmed safety glasses, check. High-vis safety vest with pink pockets – check, check, check.
So you can imagine my Barbie girl delight when I got my first pair of pink workboots.
SafteyGirl‘s boots are comfortable and perform well. The height of the boot provides ankle support. They are also extremely affordable, starting in the $50 to $60 range (many comparable boots are $150+).
I was worried about the sued exterior, however. After all, workboots get dirty. Would the pink soon be a dull gray? Actually, these boots surprised me by coming clean with the gentle use of a suede brush.
If you’re not into pink, Safety Girl also makes boots in black and brown. Learn more about cute workwear for women.
Most Stylish: Xena Workwear
When it comes to workboots that don’t look like workboots, no one beats Xena Workwear. I recently tried out the Omega Vegan EH Safety Boot on the construction site – and I can’t help but wear it as a dressy casual boot, too!
So I have to say, I had my doubts that something so not-constructiony could perform on a construction site – but it did.
The company recommends wearing the boots for at least a day before using them on a job site (this is so you can return them unharmed if they’re not a perfect fit). I sort of did this – they came just hours before I was leaving for a volunteer project. So, I wore them for the afternoon and a two-hour drive.
Then I put my Xenas through their paces, first with drywall and then with tree trimming. They were comfortable. I wore them for two days straight with no problem, climbing up and down ladders all day with no foot fatigue (On the third day, I switched to an already broken-in pair of boots to change the pressure points and prevent blisters).
They also performed well during the work itself. The soles did not slip on the metal ladder rungs.
They also got dirty, plastered with drywall mud. But the vegan leather cleaned up remarkably well. Most of the caked-on matter was worked away through normal use. The remainder was wiped away with a damp cloth.
Cowgirl Up: Ariat
My first real need for sturdy safety footwear came from working with horses. I was 15, and my parents had fulfilled my childhood dream of having a horse of my own.
Needless to say, western-style cowgirl boots were the option of choice. I went with the Ariat Fat Baby. Though these boots don’t have a reinforced toe, the thick leather was enough to protect my feet from horse hooves.
What I truly love about these boots is that I’m still wearing them 17 years later. They have a bit of wear and tear, but they are still comfortable and look relatively good.
After wearing them – I cut the grass in these bad boys – I rinse them in the sink or wipe them with a damp cloth to remove grass, dust, etc. Then, I spray them down with leather cleaner/conditioner, let it set for a few minutes, and wipe off the excess.
Every now and then, I apply a bit of brown shoe polish and they look as good as new.
Ariat also makes a women’s boot with safety toe included. It comes in brown leather with pink stitching!
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One part Lois Lane, one part Jimmy Olsen, one part Johnboy Walton, and a bit of that Clark Kent secret identity thing thrown in for good measure.
Cara Siera is a freelance writer and photographer with a passion for travel and exotic cuisine. Join Cara, her husband Marc, and one very spoiled German Shepherd on their next great adventure.
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