Lucchese is one of the top names when it comes to western-style cowboy boots. This Texas-based brand builds handmade boots using time-honored techniques, which result in well-crafted cowboy boots that have a signature design and fit.
If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on a pair of Lucchese boots, we recommend buying them on the official Lucchese website, Zappos, or Amazon.
Lucchese’s official store in Fort Worth, Texas
If you’re thinking about shopping secondhand or buying from an unauthorized online shop, make sure to spend some time inspecting the product first.
Follow our simple seven-step guideline below to make sure you are purchasing authentic Lucchese cowboy boots.
1. Check the quality of the leather
As one of the best boot brands on the market, Lucchese uses the highest grades of leather in all of its styles.
The first thing to check when you get your hands on a pair of Lucchese boots is the quality of the leather. Genuine leather should display imperfections and surface pores.
Lucchese has employed the finest bootmakers in the world since 1883 (Credit: Lucchese)
Real leather will have some scratches and creases, unlike fake leather, which will often look too perfect and even. Real leather also has a natural, musty smell, while faux will smell like plastic.
2. Check the stitching details
Pay close attention to the stitching details of a Lucchese boot.
Lucchese artisans carefully guide the needle through the leather by hand, creating the beautiful stitch patterns that Lucchese cowboy boots are known for
These boots usually feature an elaborate stitching pattern, so check the pattern for inconsistencies in the design and loose threads.
3. Check the vamp
The soles of the boot should be stitched onto the leather uppers and not glued.
You should be able to see the heavy stitching visible on the welt, and the thread should be the same color as the soles.
4. Check the boot construction and seams
Genuine Lucchese boots have lemon wood pegs in the construction, which hold the insole and outsole together. All of the seams are double-sewn for extra durability. It is first done by machine and then sewn by hand.
5. Check the hardware
Some Lucchese boot styles have zippers. For those that do, the zippers should be branded as either YKK or Riri.
Make sure that the zippers are able to glide up and down smoothly.
Cheap hardware, which is often used in fake merchandise, is usually defective, even in new shoes.
6. Know the styles
Many counterfeiters create new boot styles which are not included in the real lineup of Lucchese boots.
Cow Horse Boots at Lucchese
Familiarize yourself with the styles — both new releases and classics —on the brand’s website to avoid being duped by scammers.
7. Check the Lucchese signature on the outsoles
Lucchese boots are finished with the brand’s signature stamped on the soles. This can be seen either on the outsole or on the heel, depending on the boot’s style. Inspect the stamp and compare it with the Lucchese image on the brand’s website.
Check for proper spacing and font usage. A lot of imitations will have irregularities with the stamp or won’t even have the stamp at all.
How do you say Lucchese?
It is pronounced loo-case-see or loo-kay-zee.
Where are Lucchese boots made?
While some shoes are produced outside the United States, many boots are made by hand at a factory in El Paso, Texas, that employs approximately 300 employees.
“El Paso had a tremendous amount of textile labor, people who knew how to sew and work with leather and other garment-like materials,” Mario Vega, the company’s director of marketing, told a reporter from KENS in 2017.
In virtually every step of our bootmaking process, Lucchese relies on human hands to complete centuries-old tasks to perfection (Credit: Lucchese)
“We source leather from all over the world,” Vega said. “We make sure it’s the best leather that you can get your hands on.”
“No machine can replace that understanding of how leather works, and it contributes to why our product is valued the way it is, and it’s lasted so long,” he added about their boots made in the USA.
What is the oldest cowboy boot company?
Lucchese was founded in 1883 in San Antonio, Texas, by Salvatore Lucchese, an Italian immigrant from Sicily, and his brothers.
20 years earlier, The Frye Company became the world’s first cowboy company when John A. Frye opened the first Frye shop on Elm Street in Marlboro, Massachusetts.
While Lucchese is not the oldest maker of cowboy boots, it is still American-owned and manufactures boots in the United States.
The craftsmen at Lucchese have been making boots by hand since 1883 (Credit: Lucchese)
“Really, at the end of the day, we’ve been building the same type of boots since 1883,” Lucchese’s director of product development Trey Gilmore told Forbes.
“Other brands that have been in the business close to or longer than we have now do very little in the U.S.”
What is the best brand of cowboy boots?
Southerners claim Lucchese makes the best cowboy boots in the world.
“I don’t wear it like a costume,” George Hamilton, a proud Texan and founder of Hamilton Aerospace, said in the same interview with Forbes.
“I wear it because it’s a part of me and my natural evolution. My philosophy is, let the product speak for you. And that’s what Lucchese has done.”
What does Lucchese mean?
It is an Italian surname that can be traced back to Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy.
Watch the video below to learn more about the detailed process that goes on in making a pair of Lucchese boots.