The Black Beauty is Back. Limited Pre-Order. Reserve now.
We get it. Nobody needs a handcrafted full-grain leather boot. Thirty dollars of rubber will keep your feet dry. What a Dayton does is change how you walk into a room. The quality is real — Goodyear welted, beautiful full-grain leather, re-soleable, and built to maybe outlast you — we’ve been building boots like this for 80 years, but the quality is not the point.
It is what the quality makes you feel. Confident, Capable, Grounded. A little Swagger. Maybe even dangerous. That’s what she meant when she said, “Ten feet tall and bulletproof”.
Why the Beauty
Charlie Wohlford and his son Wayne founded Dayton Boots in 1946 in East Vancouver. They built a following for their leather ski, logging, and multi-purpose work boots. Then in 1962, Charles “Chunky” Woodward, the owner of Woodward’s Department Stores, came to Wayne for a ranch boot for him and his hands at Douglas Lake, one of the largest cattle ranches in the world. He wanted a real “working” cowboy boot and had three conditions: No embroidery, and a single seam up the outside of the shaft so it would not chafe the rider or the horse, and it had to be black.
That is the whole brief, and it is still the boot. Motorcycle Clubs adopted it next and put a rubber sole under it for better wear on the road. The Beauty became the boot people meant when they said, “my Daytons”.
It was also the boot bar owners across the Pacific Northwest were referring to when they put up “No Daytons Allowed” signs on their doors. Thankfully, those signs are long gone now and we regard their sentiment as a compliment regarding a serious boot worn by serious people.
Reserve Your Beauties
Same Boot. Why Wait?
Made to Order or Custom Beauties built, one at a time, take fourteen to twenty weeks and start at double the price of an off the shelf pair. Built in a standardised batch, to one specification, construction time comes down by about three quarters and the materials cost falls with it.
The upper and soling leather is tanned and finished to our exclusive specifications. The boots are handcrafted in our family run workshop in León, Mexico using the same materials, methods and specifications as our shops in Canada. Although we’ve been making the Beauty since 1962, we’ve made improvements and adjustments along the way. We feel this is the best version so far.
All of the above, establishes our shelf price, but we understand that your time is valuable and waiting is hard. We think compensating you for this is easy.
Reserve Your Beauties
What you get
- 5–6 oz full grain upper leather
- Goodyear welted, re-soleable and re-heelable
- Leather lining, insole and heel counter stiffeners
- Full length quarter-inch cork fill
- Steel shank
- Built on our 8223 western last, in E and EEE
- Free shipping across North America — a $40 value
- A limited edition "No Daytons Allowed" tee — a $46 value
If you change your mind
Cancel any time before we ship, for any reason, deposit back in full. No fee, no restocking charge, no reason required. Change your size or width free of charge.
If we are going to be late, we email you before the window is out, with a new date and the choice to wait or cancel. We do not wait for you to ask. Thirty days to send them back once they reach you — try them on indoors, on carpet, no signs of wear, original packaging, you cover the return postage.
Reserve Your BeautiesTell us your runner size. We do the rest.
Dayton sizes are men's UK, so the number on your trainers is not the number on your boots. You tell us what you run in and whether your foot takes a wider fit, and we convert it.
When your pair is ready we confirm the fit with you before anything is cut, and again on your final invoice. If it is wrong, you change it free of charge, any time before we ship.
Reserve Your Beauties
Here’s Your Deal
- Made to order or custom Beauty (16–20 week wait)Normally from $1946
- Normal price today, off the shelf$995
- Your special pre-order price$790
- Your deposit today — reserves your pair$295
- Your balance, only when they are ready to shipjust $495
- Build time8 to 12 weeks
You pay $295 today. Nothing more until your Beauties are built and ready to ship — and if you change your mind before then, you get all of it back.
Deposit back in full any time before we ship.
Thirty days to exchange for size or return once it arrives.
$295 reserves your pair.
We build in small batches, so the shelf is never full and the popular sizes go first. So, wait 8 to 12 weeks for yours and we’ll essentially pay you $205 for your time.
Fully refundable until the day we ship, with no fee. Change your size or width free of charge, any time before then. Once you’ve received them, you have 30 days to exchange for another size or return them for a refund. No questions asked (even though we’ll be curious). We really want you in a pair!