10 Best Leathers for Boots & Shoes

When you step into the world of high-quality footwear, you’ll likely find that brands have several leather options for each model they have. Sometimes, they’re well-known leathers with easily searchable names (like “Chromexcel”); other times, it might be something exclusive to the brand you’re looking at.

Even if you’re looking at the exact same model, like one of Thursday’s Captains or Red Wing’s Iron Rangers, the experience of owning a boot can change significantly depending on the leather used for the upper. Is one leather better than the other?

No, that’s overly simplistic.

But different leathers have different pros and cons and we’re going to cover the best known leathers for different use cases. You’ll also learn about how tanneries make different types of leather and how they can differ not just with regard to aesthetics but also water resistance, comfort, longevity, and more.

Three Main Ways Tanneries Make Leather

First, it’s important to note that there are three main methods for transforming animal skin into leather, which significantly affect the leather’s characteristics.

There are less common methods, like wet white and tawing, but the vast majority that you encounter will be one of these three. Actually, at least 90 percent of all leather is chrome-tanned, but first, you should learn what came before it…

Vegetable Tanned Leather

Vegetable tanning is the oldest way to make leather. In fact, it’s prehistoric: there’s evidence of it as far back as 6,000 BC, and prehistory ends when writing was developed around 3,600 BC.

This kind of tanning uses tannins — you might know of them in your tea or your wine — found in vegetable matter like mimosa, quebracho, and oak bark. The word tannin is actually derived from a Medieval Latin term for oak bark, and they bind to and coat proteins in the hide to make them more resistant to rotting and bacteria and more flexible.

The process takes more time and skill than chrome tanning, often months. In footwear, it’s much more commonly used underfoot in insoles and outsoles than in uppers. This is because, besides being more expensive to produce, “veg-tanned” leather tends to be stiffer and harder to dye. If you want some cool white or pink boots, they’ll be made with…

Chrome Tanned Leather

After thousands of years of slow-cooked veggie tanning, chrome tanning was invented in the mid-19th century (dates vary), changing the game forever. Dramatically simplifying and speeding the tanning process, it became possible to tan hides in just one or two days. It made leather softer, more water-resistant, and easier to dye. Any time you see leather that’s a bright shade of, well, anything, it’s chrome-tanned.

Oil Tanned Leather

You may have also heard of oil tanning, but that’s just a kind of chrome tanning. For this process, certain oils (like white mineral oil) are added to further enhance the leather’s water resistance and durability.

Because it’s such a moist leather, it’s hardwearing and requires less conditioning than other chrome-tanned leathers. Red Wing Heritage is known for its wide range of oil-tanned leathers.

Combination Tanned Leather

As the name suggests, combination tanning employs vegetable and chrome tanning methods.

Sometimes combination-tanned leather gets chrome-tanned first, sometimes the other way around, and sometimes there are multiple stages — seriously, it’s very complicated chemistry that we don’t want to oversimplify.

But with combination-tanned leather, usually, the early stages utilize chrome tanning, shortening production time, then it’s re-tanned using vegetable tanning to add some of its desirable traits. A combination-tanned leather is first on the list below.

Now, on to that list! These are the best types of leather used in boots. Here, you’ll also learn about some of the best-known tanneries and examples of boots made with each kind of leather.

[Related: The 10 Best Tanneries on Earth]

Best Boot Leather Overall: Chromexcel

There’s a reason Chromexcel is the most widespread leather used on casual boots. Every company uses it, and practically every popular boot at every price point has a Chromexcel model that tends to be the bestseller, from $199 Thursday Boots to $1,000 Viberg boots.

Why do people love Chromexcel? It just combines as many desirable traits as possible into a leather: it’s tough, supple, stretchy, needs little care, and ages beautifully all at the same time.

During production in Chicago, Horween Leather Company “hot stuffs” the hides with a huge variety of oils and waxes, including food-grade beef tallow and cosmetic-grade beeswax, which give it a great depth of color and excellent weather resistance. It takes over 28 working days to complete this process.

Many call Chromexcel “full grain,” meaning that the pattern of the animal’s skin remains and hasn’t been sanded or buffed away. But Chromexcel is actually slightly “corrected,” meaning the grain has been rubbed off just enough to give it a more uniform appearance without really sacrificing durability.

[Learn more in our complete guide to Chromexcel]

Pros

• Durable leather
• Easy to care for
• Decently stretchy, so the break-in isn’t too bad
• Famous for aging beautifully
• Not too expensive (partly because it’s easy for bootmakers to work with)
• Pretty water resistant since it’s chrome-tanned

Cons

• Scratches easily, though they can be easily buffed out due to all the oils and waxes
• It can crease easily. Chromexcel is likely to pick up creases, as you can see in the picture above.

Find great Chromexcel on Viberg, Alden, Allen Edmonds, Grant Stone, Oak Street, Wolverine, Thursday Boots, and many others.

Best Oil Tanned Leather: S.B. Foot’s Red Wing Leathers

S.B. Foot Tanning Company is a tannery owned by the beloved institution in American footwear, Red Wing. While most of Red Wing’s “Work” line is made overseas, all of the Red Wing Heritage boots, which are more casual, are made with S.B. Foot leather, which is located down the street from the factory in Minnesota.

Some of their best-known leathers include Amber Harness (above), Oro Legacy (on their famous moc toe), and Copper Rough and Tough (below). They’re top-of-the-line and can be found in Red Wing models like the Classic Moc, Blacksmith, Iron Ranger, Weekender Chelsea, and others. 

Red Wing’s boots are relatively inexpensive — roughly $300 for an American-made boot is a good price — and the fact that they’re oil-tanned makes them very durable and easy to take care of. There’s a reason that Red Wing is the go-to first boot for American guys: they live up to the hype.

Pros

• Easy to take care of
• Rugged aesthetic, ages well
• Some (but not all) are full grain; the animal’s skin pattern is visible
• Inexpensive
• Water-resistant

Cons

• Sometimes, it results in a tough break-in
• Not dressy

Find this leather on any Red Wing Heritage boots, except the roughout ones like Hawthorne Muleskinner.

Best Leather for Dressy Footwear: Box Calf

Calfskin leather comes from the hide of calves under a year old and is known for its pliability, durability, and its fine grain: the fibers are more compact because of the animal’s young age, so it has a smoother finish and is less likely to crease a bunch. This makes it great for dressier boots and shoes that you don’t want to look too “rugged.”

Despite being thinner than cowhide, its tensile strength is pound for pound, actually higher.

Generally, box calf is considered the best of the best if you’re looking for dressy footwear. It’s a kind of chrome tanning with an aniline finish that allows it to hold dye well while preserving the natural surface of the skin and exhibiting a lot of vibrance and smoothness.

The best tanneries producing boxcalf are France’s Tannerie D’annonay and Germany’s Weinheimer tannery; you tend to get black from the latter and others from the former. If you see these names on boxcalf boots, you know you’re in for a treat.

Pros

• Its vibrance and smooth surface make it ideal for dressier boots
• Little to no break in is required

Cons

• Pricier than most leathers
• On the thin side, so might not have the look you want for harder-wearing boots

Find great boxcalf on the Chelseas from Carmina and J. FitzPatrick. 

[Related: Calfskin vs Cow Leather – Which Is Best for You?]

Best Vegetable Tanned Leather: Badalassi

As you learned earlier, vegetable-tanned leather is very tough and has great patina potential. Guys who want a tough-looking boot or are somewhat traditionalist and prefer wearing leather that’s made the way we were doing it thousands of years ago tend to go for vegetable-tanned boots.

Another upside is that you can pretty much be guaranteed that it’s high quality even if you don’t know the tannery it’s from, whereas chrome-tanned leather comes in every level of quality.

The downsides are that vegetable-tanned leather is a lot stiffer than other leathers, so it’s more likely to have a tough break, it’s less water resistant, and it’s more expensive because it’s more time-consuming to create. For these reasons, it’s very uncommon: something like less than 5 percent of all leather on Earth is vegetable-tanned.

But boot enthusiasts love it and are more than happy to put up with the tough break-in. (After which it’s perfectly comfy.)

Pros

• Durable
• This traditional method is thousands of years old. All others are less than 200 years old
• Many find the patina more desirable

Cons

• Stiff
• Pricy
• Not that waterproof
• Hard to find

I think the best value veg tan boots are from Grant Stone, who sells a range of models in leather from the celebrated tannery Badalassi Carlo.

Another good tannery is Wickett and Craig, America’s only tannery that just does veg tanning. You can find their leather on Bordon’s boots and some Nicks boots.

You can also look around for Horween’s Dublin leather, which you’ll sometimes find on boots from Oak Street. Lastly, for real enthusiasts, Maryam in Italy is famous for their vegetable-tanned horse and kangaroo leathers.

Best Suede: C.F. Stead

The fuzz on suede is flesh, or flesh fibers: it’s made when you split a piece of leather down the middle and pull off the skin.

Split suede is usually thinner and more pliable than full-grain leather, but it’s possible to have thick suede and thin full-grain leather. For instance, dress shoes will usually use thin leather that might be full grain, while Rambler is a famous waxed suede that’s much thicker and tougher than dress shoes. You’ll often find waxed suede on harder wearing boots because the wax makes it more waterproof and stainproof.

The best suede, waxed or otherwise, comes from C.F. Stead, a world-famous tannery located in Leeds, England. You can see Stridewise’s visit there in the video above. Founded in the 1890s, C.F. Stead has maintained a towering presence in the footwear industry and makes everything from the cheap suede on Clarks Desert Boots to what’s typically thought of as the world’s best suede: Janus Calf.

Pros

• Thin and pliable
• Feels broken in right out of the box
• More resistant to scratches than smooth leather
• Versatile; good balance of casual and dressy

Cons

• Easier to stain and harder to clean than regular leather

You can even find okay C.F. Stead suede on  Clarks Desert Boots and really nice suede on Bridlen and Blkbrd: both are the best value. For real hardy suede, look for Rambler leather, found on Truman Boots and Thursday’s Black Label Collection. All of these are from C.F. Stead.

Best Roughout: Horween

Roughout leather is essentially full-grain leather flipped inside out. When you wear an unlined boot, you’ll notice it’s fuzzy on the inside, like suede. Roughout boots will be fuzzy on the outside and smooth on the inside.

It’s not quite the same thing as suede, which is fuzzy on both sides because it’s been split from the grain side. Roughout is easier to make and tends to be thicker than suede, though, as we mentioned in the last section, you can get suede that’s thicker than full-grain leather — it’s just more likely to be thinner.

Still, roughout is what folks tend to prefer for harder-wearing boots, perhaps in part because it was the leather of choice for boondockers, the boots worn by soldiers in World War 2. While fuzzy footwear has a reputation for being delicate, and it’s true that it might stain a little more easily, it’s very scratchproof and basically needs no conditioning — which is why it was a favorite for soldiers in the field.

Pros

• Very tough
• Functionally scratchproof
• Low maintenance: you basically never need to condition it

Cons

• Can’t dress up, always on casual boots
• Less dramatic patina than smooth leathers

What was the roughout used on those boondockers, the most famous roughout boots ever? Actually, it was Chromexcel, the leather we already picked as the best boot leather. It was flipped inside out, and boom: you’ve got the best roughout leather, and you can get it right here on Oak Street’s Field Boot. (Although sometimes the recipe was adjusted a little for roughout boots.)

Horween also makes Java Waxed Flesh, which is another extremely popular roughout leather you can find on Truman and Thursday boots.

Best Shell Cordovan: Shinki Hikaku

Cordovan might not even be a leather, depending on who you ask: it’s a membrane, not skin. But it’s vegetable-tanned and comes from an animal, so plenty of guys insist it counts.

In any event, you can already tell Cordovan is unique. It’s a membrane, it can take over a year to produce, and you can only make it from a small part of a horse: the butt. It’s the toughest bit of a very tough animal, the collagen fibers are really tight, it’s super hardwearing and it’s generally seen as uncreaseable. It’s wholly vegetable tanned too, making it virtually indestructible and aesthetically intriguing.

When asked what the best cordovan is, enthusiasts are split right down the middle (like suede!) between Chicago’s Horween and Japan’s Shinki Hikaku. Since Japanese artisans are known for their supernatural dedication, and because we’ve already talked about Horween a lot, we’re naming Shinki as the best. But, y’know, Horween is perfectly amazing, and we visited them to see how they make theirs in the video below.

Pros

• Stronger and more abrasion resistant than full grain cowhide
• Shell cordovan doesn’t crease
• Horsehide is visually interesting

Cons

• Expensive
• Not fantastic in the rain. It should get brushed after getting wet

The best value place to get cordovan from Shinki or Horween is from two Indian brands we love, Bridlen and Blkbrd. If you don’t mind a long wait, Indonesian brands will make you anything in Shinki, but Horween’s is just as great and much more widespread. Here’s our list of the best cordovan boots: Alden and Carmina are great choices.

Best Horsehide: Maryam Tannery

I’m starting to feel a little silly saying one tannery makes the best leather when there are lots of options out there. Horween and Shinki, in particular, make terrific horsehide because they have specialized knowledge of making great cordovan.

But we had to give Maryam a shoutout here, and for the record, they also make the best kangaroo leather. Despite being nestled right between Florence and Pisa in Italy, their logo prominent displays the two animals they’re best known for: kangaroo and horse.

Whether you want horsehide or horsebutt, which is right by the part of the animal you get cordovan from and can share some of its characteristics, you can be confident knowing that if Maryam’s the supplier, you’re in good hands.

Last year, I visited Bandung, Indonesia, a city renowned for its high-end, old-world bootmaking that’s supported by the most fanatical of American boot enthusiasts. One thing that struck me is that all three of the workshops I saw told me that over half of the boots they sell are made with Maryam’s horsebutt. It’s incredibly thick, and it ages very quickly — in all the ways boot fans love.

Pros

• Thicker than any other leather you’re likely to find
• Ages quickly and beautifully

Cons

• Tough break in
• Pricy

As I said, the best-known producers of Maryam horsebutt boots can be found in Indonesia; here’s a list of solid brands that’ll do it for you if you’re patient. Plenty of these Japanese brands sell equally good, pricy, and hard-to-obtain boots made of horsebutt from Shinki, but you’re just unlikely to find it from cheaper or more convenient brands. If you really want boots with a more reasonable price and wait time, Oak Street and Truman will put some on sale.

Best Kudu: C.F. Stead

I know we just said Stead makes the best suede, but it’s simply true that they’re also the number one place to get kudu from.

Kudu is an African antelope whose leather is known for being lightweight yet tough. It’s a little like calfskin in that regard, but unlike calfskin, it needs very little conditioning because of the way the animal manages moisture and sweat.

It’s also unusual because it exhibits prominent scarring from its life in the wild: most of the scratches are probably from thorny branches, but we’re sure some of them are from predators’ attempts on their lives.

Mostly vegetable-tanned and finished with a couple of hours of chrome tanning to lock in the color, this leather makes for an indisputably rugged look — even when on dressier lasts like Parkhurst’s, above.

Pros

• Lightweight
• Very tough
• Needs little care
• Not expensive for an exotic leather

Cons

• Full of scratches and scars, which you just have to decide you like if you’re getting kudu.

You can find C.F. Stead’s kudu just about everywhere: Parkhurst and Grant Stone for subtle boots, Truman for workhorses, but Meermin is best known for making kudu a core part of their brand.

Best Bison Leather: Law Tanning Company

Bison leather is another one of those leathers with an eye-catching grain. Its crackled surface adds another dimension to the look of the boots. Predictably, it’s tougher than cowhide because it isn’t stretched after tanning, having 40% more tensile strength than its cow-nterpart.

While you can find shrunken grain bison, which is what it sounds like — shrunken, so the scaliness of the grain is smaller — it’s known for its prominent grain from spread out skin fibers, which actually makes it more flexible and more breathable than you might think. It also gives it a dramatically outdoorsy look that you can’t dress up. But who likes dressing up?

Horween makes its fair share of bison, but our favorite tannery is Law Tanning Company in Wisconsin. Founded in 1936, this company makes an unusually diverse range of leathers from uncommon animals: bison, pig, deer, elk, and even kangaroo. 

Pros

• Durable and breathable
• Visually interesting

Cons

• Dries faster than other leathers and needs more frequent conditioning
• Difficult to dress up

You can find Law Tanning’s bison at Truman Boot Company. Truman’s boots are pretty beefy so if you want a boot that’s a little more subtle, Seidel is another terrific source that you can find on Grant Stone.

Wrapping Up

There are a lot of leathers that are very good for boots, and each has its own pros and cons depending on the look and/or function you’re going for. There are also several tanneries that, when you see their name specified by the bootmaker, you know that it’s gonna be good. If you’ve read this far, you’ve got a good grasp of which names will get you the best leather for your next pair of boots.