There Are More Options Than Ever for Women’s Work Boots — Here’s Why
For six seasons, Emily Soloby has been hosting the podcast “Hazard Girls,” interviewing women who are succeeding in traditionally male-dominated fields. Her guests represent diverse industries — an arborist, NASCAR crew member, construction professional, a mining engineer and more. What they share is a desire to break down barriers. And they represent a growing movement in the U.S. of more women entering the trades and other blue-collar roles.
“There’s such a gap in the workforce right now, and women are the untapped resource for filling all of these jobs that are needed,” Soloby told FN. She knows a thing of two on the subject. After starting her career as an attorney specializing in women’s and children’s rights, Soloby left the legal field to help her husband take over the family’s trucking and safety training school in Philadelphia. And in 2020, after hearing complaints from other women in trucking about a lack of footwear options, she launched Juno Jones, a safety boot brand that caters to women.
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Other companies are responding as well to the growing need for gear made specifically for female workers.
For instance, in August, Timberland Pro introduced its first women’s workwear apparel collection, designed with same intention and craftsmanship as its footwear. The line consists of 12 styles, including utility pants, denim, overalls, hoodies, jackets and more, crafted with Timberland Pro’s patent Flex and WorkVent technologies for extra breathability and ease of movement.
Crysti Howser, director of business development at Zappos at Work, said the women’s work category is expanding rapidly.
“The macro trends in the U.S. are that jobs in these fields, whether it’s drivers or warehouse workers, are continually going more and more female,” Howser said. “As a result, all of our brand partners have responded and continue to create new styles and more styles for women.”
Scott Schoessel, VP of global marketing at Wolverine, said women’s work boots have been in the brand’s collection for over 10 years, but the category recently has been a bigger focus. In fact, he noted that over the next year, Wolverine’s SKU count of women’s offerings will increase about 60 percent.
In large part, Schoessel said, that’s fueled by a desire to build awareness among the next generation of workers. “If you talk to high school kids, there’s almost as much interest in the trades among women as there is among men, so we see that as a great opportunity for the future of our business,” he said.
As a female-founded boot brand, Ariat has a long-standing presence in the women’s work business as well, though senior product manager Soyala Breen admitted that 20 years ago Ariat only offered three safety boot options. Now, it has 37 styles in its fall ’23 collection. “We have everything from a clog with the safety toe to Western pull-on boots with [metatarsal] guards and puncture resistance,” she said. “The benefit of having a lot of women in the company is we focused on making something that we would want to wear to the workplace — in addition to safety features.”
Ariat builds those shoes specifically for the female customer. “We’ve always invested in women’s specific lasts and outsole tooling, so very few of our programs are actually across genders,” said Breen. “Even when a collection might be called the same thing, the men’s and women’s styles look different.”
When it comes to the shoes that women want, executives said it depends on the nature of their work.
Howser said athletic silhouettes are popular on the Zappos at Work platform, especially among customers in the warehouse and distribution industries. She pointed to Reebok and Puma as two standout newcomers in the space.
Schoessel said Wolverine’s safety range includes sneakers and outdoor-inspired hikers, but its most popular women’s style is the Piper, a 6-inch waterproof boot with a composite toe.
For Ariat, its female customers have traditionally come from the agricultural industry, which requires rugged constructions.
But with the growth of distribution centers, it has invested more in lightweight, slip-resistant options. “We definitely are expanding the athletic work section of our line,” Breen said. “We’re hearing as a general trend that consumers — both ladies and men — are looking for things that are not quite as boot-like.”
Overall, Howser said, these initiatives have a vital benefit for female customers. “It honestly helps them stay safer at work if they’re happy with what they get to wear every day and they want to be wearing their safety-toe shoes.”
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