Sh*t-kickers??? It all started about 10 years ago when I started line dancing...
I wasn't into the line-dancin'-country culture. I didn't wear tight wrangler jeans or cowboy boots. I actually used to wear my hippie-chick Birkenstocks. I would take them off to dance in my socks & mid '90s baggy grunge pants. FYI, that's a good way to wear your socks out fast!!! I tried to dance in my Uggs once... I don't recommend that either. I was doing a dance with a spin and my feet slipped right out from under me and I landed on my butt - right on the dance floor. Ah, right, back to the footwear.
I had been line-dancing a year when I finally broke down and bought a pair of cowboy boots. The first time's a learning experience and I learned that fashion boots are cute but they aren't meant for boot-scootin! My snazzy black boots got me used to how cowboy boots look on my feet - but that's about it. I wore the rubber soles down quickly as well as the little plastic pieces on the heels that were supposed to pass for rubber. Yeah, so the heels slid all over the floor while the soles stuck to the floor (it's supposed to be the other way around:: slide-able soles and heels to stop with :) .
Just break down and get a good pair of leather soled boots from the get-go. You can tell if they have leather soles by the stitching on the bottom... Felt ones are good too - but then you have to carry them in a fancy-shmancy boot bag. Boots are pretty comfortable & they are perfect for dancing on a hard-wood floor. They also make great stomping sounds if you dance with a rowdy bunch like we used to!
If you don't have the luxury of a good hardwood dance floor to absorb some of the shock from stomping and sliding and hopping and shuffling... you're outta luck - bound to achy knees. Ha, just kidding. There is one place I go dancing where the floor is tiled. It's not bad but honestly, I'm getting old (or that's what my body is telling me anyway.) After the first couple of weeks of dancing 3 & 4 nights a week, I noticed my knees & back would ache. I dug out my good old dance sneakers I had bought to teach a children's dance class while in college. They really made it easier to spin & dance while absorbing the pressure that would have otherwise gone right to my knees, lower back & hips. I haven't surrendered my good old dancing boots - and don't plan to anytime soon - but my sneaks come in handy from time to time.
