Emu Boots v Celtic Sheepskin Boots

I first fell in love with sheepskin boots about 9 years ago, when I bought my first pair of black long Celtic Sheepskin boots. Since then I've bought the dark brown long poppers and light brown short poppers, and I've blogged about them before. Living in the country and being hot on comfort, from every mid-October they're pretty much a permanent fixture on my feet, following a summer wearing pretty much only my Electra Gold sequinned Fitflops or last season's Pierre Hardy high-heeled ankle boots from The Gap.

What I've learned about sheepskin boots:

• don't wear them when you're in the kitchen. Suede and olive oil don't mix, and don't stack the dishwasher. Enough said.


• they're like wearing radiators, so great for the outdoors, not so great for causing hot flushes indoors when the heating's pumped up


• you can get annoying "jean stain" on the boots even wearing old jeans, so the dark colours are way more practical


• they do look best on models, with Cameron Diaz' length of leg, the same way most winter chic with all its bulk only suits the similarly blessed

Having been in favour of the Celtic Sheepskin company, a Cornish brand, I was never going to vere to the WAGtastic Ugg brand, being Oz.

But Sylvie at http://www.fuelmyblog.com/ selected me to review a pair of also-Oz Emu boots from Fitness Footwear, so my future brand loyalty is in question. So, Celts or Emus?

Celtic Sheepskin has a wide range of boots, from the trad Celts to poppers, bikers, buckles, bow, ribbon etc in a really wide variety of colours.

Turquoise suede boots anyone? I know the 80's are back but even then - as new romantic 13 year olds - it was black or burgundy all the way, and, for the record, in those days we called them "pixie boots".

Celts are certainly not cheap, with the knee boots (the ones I bought way back when) at £140, calf classics at £103 and regular at £97. Just about the right mid-range price given that they last for years and years. They are "100% sheepskin upper • Lightweight, flexible rubber sole• Built to last with double-stitched seams • Hand finished to the highest standards• Machine washable." Although I have washed my boots (and I forgot to mention I've got through two pairs of the moccasin slippers) they are never quite the same, which might be my failure to be a wonder at laundry.

Emu - on its own website - has a pretty wide range too, although without the colour pop of the Celts. Fitness Footwear's selection has mostly just the two types, Brontes and stingers. I get to choose which ones I'd like sent to me, so to try something different from my Celts, I went for the Bronte Charcoal.

Having had on my new pair of Emus for a few hours, I notice that they have more sock room than the Celts, and are slightly less tight on the leg, which is great as shoving jeans into boots is never a pleasure. They are very comfy, in a new boot way, so it'll be interesting to see how the insoles wear. I'm not sure if they are as warm as the Celts, but I have been sitting still in a cold room.

The main difference to me is the feel of the suede, which although fine is less soft and luxurious than my Celts, but that's probably down to the price, since these come in on Fitness Footwear's website, with a current 10% reduction, at £69.95. I think I'd think they were a bit steep if I was buying them for myself.

The Emu branding on the boots is more obvious, and I imagine for UK consumers this is an Emu v Ugg battle, or at least a pitch to show that Emus are a much better quality and cheaper - but not so much as to be skanky - alternative to annual winter throwaways that stink and fall apart after a few wears.

Last word, though, from my husband, who thinks the Emu's are smarter. But that could be because the thinks grey is edgy...

Next day.... still have them on, wondering whether it's OK to drive in them? I did do yesterday, but husband seems to think that the sole is such that I shouldn't, any thoughts?

Jan 2010 - since then I still wear and like the boots, but I think the sizing is on the large size, my 39 size 6 feels way too big for me. Also, I'm standing on kitchen tiles a lot and the soles don't seem to keep the chill off. But I do like the pattern that the soles make on the snow!