Women’s Moon Boots Review: The Icon’s Modern Art for Frigid Feet

I’ve wanted a pair of Moon Boots since high school when a cool girl from New York City moved to my town and had a mid-calf, furry pair that was the envy of the entire 9th grade.

But I didn’t get a pair of Moon Boots in high school, so instead, I wore this kind of sad pair of indoor slippers that had a similarly bulbous shape but literally no rubber or waterproof material to speak of, even on the soles. Unsurprisingly, those turned into mush under my feet after just a few weeks of Boston winter wear. Undeterred, I kept wearing them until the bottoms literally disintegrated beneath me. And it was gross and kind of tragic, and I’m not really sure why I’m admitting any of this to you. 

Anyway, fast-forward a decade or two to this past January, when I was skiing in Austria (oh, how the tables hath turned!) and was once again reminded of how much I wanted a pair of these bizarre yet stylish and comfy-looking boots, which all the cool girls of the Austrian ski slopes seemed to possess.

Ah-ha! I said to myself. I am no longer a 9th-grade trendwhore with no personal funds to speak of. Now I am a professional boot-reviewing trendwhore, and if I desire a Moon Boot, I shall have a Moon Boot.

And have a Moon Boot I did.

Moon Boot Icon Pros & Cons

Pros

• Fun, retro-futuristic style and logo, tons of colors and materials
• Comfortable soles that mold to your feet and stay warm
• Suction pads on the bottom for extra grip
• Very warm and insulated

Cons

• Somewhat ridiculous aesthetic
• Water-resistant, not waterproof uppers
• No external indicators of right vs. left

The Brand: Moon Boots

Moon Boot, the brand, arrived on the scene the same year we allegedly landed on the moon — 1969 — and, unlike American optimism, lives on to this day. An Italian guy named Giancarlo Zanatta built the company out of his father’s shoe factory and billed it as a futuristic fashion revolution: the first ambidextrous, unisex boot brand inspired by Apollo 11 astronaut footwear. 

a futuristic fashion revolution: the first ambidextrous, unisex boot brand, inspired by Apollo 11 astronaut footwear. 

By the early ’70s and through the 1980s, it was THE apres-ski boot, a must-have for well-heeled mountain types in Europe and America alike. It lost a little footing in the ’90s but then experienced a retro-futuristic resurgence stateside in the early 2000s — around the time my own obsession began, inspired by both the aforementioned cool girl from NYC and celebrities like Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham. Apparently, this continued through the aughts in Europe thanks to influential adopters like Austrian skier-turned-popstar Hansi Hinterseer, whom I only know about because of my Austrian boyfriend.

Anyway, Moon Boots are currently experiencing another stateside renaissance thanks to the return of Y2K fashion and the influence of a whole new generation of celebrities (Billie Eilish! Rihanna! Dua Lipa!).

Their storied history is now part of their iconic style: Moon Boots have been displayed at the Louvre in an exhibition featuring the 100 symbols of 20th-century design and remain today part of a permanent exhibition at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art.

So here we are. We haven’t managed to land on the moon again since 1972, but Moon Boots are going strong.

The Aesthetic: Moon Boots

• Love-it-or-hate-it, somewhat ridiculous aesthetic
• Multiple heights
• Ornamental lacing
• Iconic logo

Like Uggs, Moon Boots have a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it aesthetic, except I believe that their colorful palette and the fact that they remain significantly less ubiquitous here in the States than Ugg boots make them far less hateable. 

Retro-futuristic astronaut boots meet European apres-ski is very much the aesthetic here.

Retro-futuristic astronaut boots meet European apres-ski is very much the aesthetic here. Moon Boots come in a variety of styles (they even have mules), though all have the same oval footprint and ambidextrous, foam-molded fit. I went with the iconic, gender-neutral original: the Icon nylon boots in classic black. 

These boots, unlike the ankle-height low option, hit mid-calf for maximal snow protection.

The aesthetic-only, criss-cross, tubular laces will not tighten your boots, so don’t bother trying. But they do look cool and blend in nicely with the drawstring at the top (which you can tighten to prevent snow from getting inside). The MOON BOOT logo, which stretches across the shaft about two-thirds of the way up, is huge. But the ’60s-style font is iconic and adorable, so you must embrace it. 

Ridiculousness is a key facet of these boots, so your sense of personal style must be aligned with that. Mine is, so they’re perfect. My friend commented that I looked like a Lego character while wearing them (probably due to the hilariously oval-shaped soles, which also leave very hilarious oval-shaped footprints in snow), and I took this as a compliment.

The Construction: Moon Boots

• Comfortable soles that mold to your feet and stay warm.
• Suction pads on the bottom for extra grip
• Water-resistant, not waterproof uppers

Riffing on astronaut boot technology, Moon Boots has a thin rubber outsole and a cellular rubber midsole covered by water-resistant (not waterproof!) nylon fabrics. They’re insulated with polyurethane foam, which molds to your foot upon first wear, creating a custom footbed for each boot that feels a bit like a Tempurpedic mattress but keeps its shape once molded.

So even though they’re ambidextrous at first buy, they won’t be once you wear them once. 

Thanks to this foam, Moon Boots are extremely and unexpectedly lightweight when you put them on, and the rubber tread soles feature suction pads for maximal grippiness. Yes, suction pads! I still slipped a bit on actual ice but felt mostly quite secure trekking through snow. And, of course, the foam insulation will also keep your feet pretty toasty, even when it’s cold. 

Moon Boots Sizing

Moon Boots run in a unisex range of sizes, and the company recommends sizing up if you find yourself somewhere in between. I’m a US women’s size 9, so I went with the 39/41, which fit well. They’re also ambidextrous, meaning when you first take them out of the box there’s no designated right or left. You just pop your feet in and let them create their own mold. After the first hour or so of wear, there will be a personalized food imprint in each boot and thus decides which is right and which is left. 

This is cool. Though I’ll admit, I find it slightly annoying to have to put my foot in and see if it settles before determining whether I’m wearing the right one since there are no external indicators of right vs. left. (I suppose you could leave a little duct tape on the bottom of the right boot or something, to remind you.)

When I first tried on my Moon Boots, they felt a little weird: kind of small length-wise and overly roomy width-wise. But once you break them in, this feeling largely goes away. Your toes settle down into the moldable padding inside, and the groove keeps your feet from moving around too much when you walk.

These are admittedly very wide shoes—the footprints you’ll leave are a straight-up oval so not exactly something I’d wear on an hours-long hike, but perfect for snowy situations. And honestly, there’s probably no better feeling than slipping your achy ski-boot feet into a squishy and warm pair of Moon Boots, so I understand why they’re so popular among the apres-ski crowd.

Wrapping Up: Moon Boot Review

At $240, these boots certainly aren’t cheap, but the price doesn’t feel insane for an iconic and sturdy snow boot inspired by 1960s-era astronauts.

Ridiculousness is a key facet of these boots, so your sense of personal style must be aligned with that. Mine is, so they’re perfect.

These babies stand up surprisingly well to winter weather. I wore mine for a snowy hour-long hike in the woods, and they came away without a scratch or a scuff. That said, these boots are water-resistant, not waterproof, so don’t expect to stay dry if you’re tromping through wet slush.

So yes, these are functional snow boots, but what you’re really paying for is style.