In the spring of 2015 I found myself looking for a pair of casual winter boots for my mother and I (especially for her, since she has an old spine injury and has difficulty finding boots that don’t cause her discomfort in walking). Looking, of course, as I usually do, in the “Made in Spain” orbit, I came across a Zaragoza-area company called AGARE. They had a nice website, with a good selection of boots, which, the time being spring, were on sale. I bought two pairs, the “Alameda” and “Nevada” models and got very good prices on both (all in all, with shipping both pairs cost around $150CAN).
All throughout the process the company representative, Angeles, patiently and kindly responded to all my questions, doubts, concerns, etc. She asked for exact measurements of both mine and my mom’s feet, explained some of the terms she used, and before long, the order was done, shipped, and received. You can see my initial post about AGARE here.
The real boots looked exactly as those on the website, but, of course, the winter was on the outs, so they had to wait for their hour. Well, now the winter has arrived, with quite dramatic jumps in temperature, from -27 C with snow to 2 C with rain. It was time to put the AGARE boots into action.
I started wearing my “Alameda” model in late fall, when the temps started getting nippy.
They proved not only cute, but EXTREMELY comfortable. I emphasize the word “extremely” for a reason: overall the booties hold the feet very firmly, yet somehow at no point in time do they rub them the wrong way. No constriction of movement whatsoever, no unpleasant feelings anywhere. A big believer in Made in Spain as I am, still, I was surprised. The slight elevation of the wedge was just right. What I liked most, thought, was the fact that the leather was pliable. It yielded to every bend, but then fixed itself again with only a few fine lines visible after the fact.
Then the cold temperatures set in and my mom put her “Nevadas” (translated as “Snowy”, by the way) on and went for a good walk in the park. We all held our breath.
The reports that came in were very encouraging. The boots passed the test of comfort, warmth, and aesthetics with flying colors at the temperature of -27 C. This coming from my mom who has always been very picky with shoes (I wonder where I got the thing for shoes from?), even before she got that injury, which, thankfully, did not result in any serious damage.
Finally, yesterday, with rain and temperatures hovering above zero, I confidently put on my “Alamedas“, to see how they would behave in the dirt and melting snow on the streets of central Toronto.
Also, note how well the boots look with denim. The strip of artificial fleece on the top makes for a nice visual transition.
Of course, it is still relatively early in the season. We’ll see how the boots stand the rest of the Canadian winter. But for now, I can definitely say one thing: these boots are made to play!
