freepeople knock off cowboy boots

I saw these boots on freepeople.com...

...and totally fell in love.

But not with the price tag ($438). Are you getting the idea that I'm cheap yet? Or that I like to shop for things I can't afford? Good. We'll be besties before you know it.

There's one more thing you should know about me before things get too serious--I am an eBay addict. Which is how I ended up with a pair of vintage cowboy boots in my closet.

See the problem with eBay is that the pictures aren't always perfect representations of the product...so I have these men's vintage cowboy boots that really aren't cute enough to wear with skirts and jeans (they're a little too industrial) but I paid $18 for them and wasn't quite ready to give up on them.

And then I saw the magical boots above. Perfect.

In addition to the $18 boots, I bought 4 kind of matching leather belts from my favorite thrift shop.  Total cost for my version: $20.

I cut the boots down the back (no special tools necessary, I just used kitchen scissors, and these were way thicker than any of my other cowboy boots).

I apologize in advance for the photo quality...I am currently without a digital camera, so these are off my phone.

Then folded the tops over.  This took some serious manuevering because of the super thick leather, but I figured it could also count for my daily workout.

Then I wrapped the belts around (and through the pulltabs) until they cinched the tops.  I lucked out, because the belts I bought were punched where I needed, but otherwise I would have just added a hole where I needed it.

Overall, I love the look of these, they're really different, and I got a lot of compliments on them their first time out.  However, there are a couple of things I would do differently:

1. I secured the loose ends of the belts with hot glue in the hope that if I wanted, I could switch them out.  That held for maybe half a day.  I would definitely use a stronger glue, or maybe make a leather belt loop to hold it.
2. The boots I used were way too heavy duty...it was sort of like wearing cement blocks for shoes. But no one said beauty was comfort, so I'm still wearing them.  That is, until I find a new eBay love.