Soto Boots · History

History

Soto Boots is a Chicago boot store that became a brand. The company says its owners had been selling name-brand western boots in their stores since 1991. In 2001 they started their own label to give customers more for their money. They design the boots themselves and sell them directly, without a wholesaler or outside retailer in between. It started selling its boots in 2001 out of its Chicago store, then added a mail-order business and finally sotoboots.com.

The store is at 4136 West 26th Street in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, and is listed with the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. The company also sells through Amazon. It has not published the names of its founders or a fuller history. Soto Boots should not be confused with other bootmakers or western stores that share the Soto family name.

The boots

The company says every pair is handmade in León, Guanajuato, which it calls “the bootmaking capital of the world,” by partner workshops using genuine cowhide and exotic leathers. Some of its product descriptions mention Goodyear welt construction, leather linings and leather soles. Many styles are sold as gator, ostrich, lizard or python “print” boots, which means printed leather made to look like the exotic skin, not the real thing. The company says many of its boots sell for under $150. A 2022 owner’s review of the Soto Odessa described a Mexican-made boot in full-grain crazy-horse leather with a leather sole.