Cougar Boots Will NEVER EVER EVER Get Your Feet Wet EVER

$180, Cougarboots.com

 

I say this because the folks at Canadian boot company Cougar Boots kindly sent me a pair of their snow boots, and these things are LEGIT. But if these boots weren't the best damn thing (yes, I quoted Avril -- so what?? I'm celebrating Canada, okay?), I would not be sitting here singing typing their praises. After going through about four crappy, inferior pairs of snow boots last year, I wore Cougar's Ringo Star (HEE!) snow boots all winter, trudging through Brooklyn's most obscene, grotesque snow piles. (Snow in New York is beautiful for approximately 14 seconds until it turns into frozen sculptures of sludge, garbage, and dog waste the color of the bottom of a used ash tray.) Not so much as the tippy-tip of the toe of my sock got wet, and zero percent cold got inside. Ever. They're engineered to withstand something like 1 billion degrees below zero. Okay, that's dramatic, but, like a Thermos, they magically keep everything hot and toasty. And they're deceptively light-weight. I'd wear these boots to bed if that weren't a bad idea.

Why Buy: Cougar Snow Boots

($200, CougarBoots.com)

Welcome back to Why Buy, people! Why Buy is where we try something awesome and tell you why you should buy it. Today's thing you should DEFINITELY buy is a pair of Cougar Boots. (Disclosure: I was sent a pair to review by the kindly people at Matchstick).

Okay, you know that sigh of relief you either think in your head or actually audibly emit when you collapse into a comfy couch (Side note: Is there ANYTHING better than a comfy couch to come home to? Well, besides a comfy bed. But the comfy couch is your first stop before a comfy bed. You really need both. As usual, it appears I have digressed greatly)? Well that is EXACTLY what happened, both literally and figuratively, when I stepped into my new pair of Cougar Ringo Star boots when I unboxed them.

I got my Ringo Star boots in black, and they're nylon (with suede trim) and lined with what must be heaven-sent baby lamb's wool but is actually synthetic fur that just FEELS like baby lamb's wool. These things are like wearing a warm blanket. Oh, and since they're Canadian, they're built to withstand serious chill, severe weather, and they say "house," it sounds like "moose." (Just joking on that last part, but I WISH these boots talked.)

More selling points! They lace all the way up to just below my knee, and you can fold them down so they make this great faux-fur cuff effect. And they're quietly rugged (like a fancy lumberjack), and I'd even go so far as to say that you could wear them as "cute boots" and not just snow boots. Or both! Julie Christie as Lara in "Dr. Zhivago" would've worn these as they would've matched her babushka perfectly. Sigh... Russia.

Cougar also makes tons of rain boots, like these Regal rain boots, which are a cool take on motorcycle boots:

... as well as this particularly intriguing, though not necessarily Russian, pair I also like.

($124, Cougar Boots, Zappos.com)