A Pair Of Vintage Boots From 1981 Are Worth More Than $500 Today

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Vivienne Westwood was a trailblazer in the fashion world who could lay claim to designing hundreds of shoes, not including the other clothing or accessories she's known for. Perhaps one of her most coveted feats of footwear design goes back to 1981, with the launch of the pirate boot. You may happen to have a pair of these passed down, having sourced them second hand thanks to an unaware ex-owner who sold or traded them for something newer, or bought a pair in the 1980s and have been holding onto them since. The original 1981 pirate boot has a definite punk rock aesthetic, with pronounced and numerous buckles, straps, and an overlapping shaft, as a vintage trademark. Inspired by Indigenous Americans and 18th-century dandies, the boots have reached dizzying price points in recent years, and can be found online in vintage or second hand luxury shops for over $600 today.

Coveted by the wealthy and fashionable alike, many of the over 200 shoes designed by the late British designer likely rank among the most expensive celebrity purchases, with no less than Harry Styles and Bella Hadid seen wearing some iteration of Westwood's designs. In August 2010, her footwear rose to the level of wearable art thanks to an exhibition at Selfridges Ultralounge, which celebrated almost 40 years of Westwood's fashion influence from 1973 up to 2010.

A pair of brand new pirate boots in pristine condition are currently selling online at Reversible for $1,459. Meanwhile, the Vivienne Westwood online store shows two pairs of pirate boots for $1,065. On Etsy, a third pair of vintage, pre-2000 boots are being sold by its owner for just over $1,221. From this, you can get a sense of how valued Westwood's designs were, with a price point in the range of $1,000 to just under $1,500 for a single pair of newer versions.

An authentic pair from the original 1981 series is extremely rare, but thanks to 1stDibs, not impossible to find. As per the 1stDibs listing, a pair of brown pirate boots was listed and sold by an owner in San Francisco, CA for $549. This seems to be not too far off from another pair of vintage pirate boots discovered on eBay. According to the seller's honest description, the boots are pre-worn, with minor scuffs that make it appear lightly used. These boots are being offered by the seller for $649.88, or about $100 difference from the latter 1stDibs pirate boots. High quality materials like leather and suede likely help Westwood's boots retain their value, unlike the cheaply made clothing offered by online vendors like Shein. 

Vivienne Westwood is a luxury clothing brand worth your money because it will not only retain much of its retail value — even after 40 years — and not just because of the lavish quality of materials used in their creation. Much of the value comes from the respect and reputation for the designer. In the Harper's Bazaar podcast series, "The Good Buy," actress and model Tracee Ellis Ross points to Westwood's pirate boot as her first big high fashion purchase after landing her seminal role in the television series "Girlfriends." In 2002, the purchase came out to $780. Although $780 at the time was expensive, "a boot like that today would be about $4,000," Ellis said. Describing the process for obtaining a pirate boot, Ellis recalled having to have her feet measured, and then waiting months for them to arrive. In British Vogue, Westwood's pattern-cutter recalled Westwood's genius as a designer "was that her cut fitted anybody, any size, any sex, and made them look incredible."

All of this brand reputation leads to a feeling of timelessness, which helps to make the boots more desirable on the part of fashionistas new and old. That's proven by the new generation like Harry Styles and Bella Hadid who still covet the pirate boots for their craftsmanship and historical connection to cool, helping to do their bit to keep them in the public's pop culture consciousness.