Chukka boots () are ankle-high leather boots with suede or leather uppers, leather or rubber soles, and

open lacing A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture ...

, with two or three pairs of

eyelets Curtain grommets, used among others in shower curtains. A grommet is a ring or edge strip inserted into a hole through thin material, typically a sheet of textile fabric, sheet metal or composite of carbon fiber, wood or honeycomb. Grommets ar ...

. The name ''chukka'' possibly comes from the game of polo, where a chukka is a period of play. Generally, "chukka boot" refers to a form of desert boots originally worn by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

soldiers in the Western Desert Campaign of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Materials and style

Chukkas are usually made from calfskin or

suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...

, although they can be made from other materials. The style first became popular in the late 1940s through the 1960s as casual wear. In the 21st century, chukkas persist as a popular menswear shoe, particularly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. They can be worn with both suits and more casual wear like jeans. According to shoe historian

June Swann June Marion Swann MBE (born 1929) is a British footwear historian, formerly the Keeper of the Boot and Shoe Collection at the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery in England, where she worked for 38 years from 1950 to 1988. In the late 1950s she ...

, the essential chukka boot is ankle-high, open-laced, and unlined, with two to four pairs of eyelets, thin leather soles, calfskin suede uppers in two parts (each from a single piece of leather; quarters sewn on top of

vamp The VaMP driverless car was one of the first truly autonomous cars Dynamic Vision for Perc ...

), and rounded toes. Red Wing chukkas

Desert boot

A desert boot is a chukka boot with

crepe rubber Crepe rubber is coagulated latex that is rolled out in crinkled sheets and commonly used to make soles for shoes and boots but also a raw material for further processed rubber products. Processing Colloidal latex is first mixed with formic acid ...

soles and, typically, suede uppers. Desert boots were popularized in the 1950s by UK shoe company C. & J. Clark. Desert boots were officially introduced to the world with the debut of the Clarks' Desert Boot at the 1949 Chicago Shoe Fair. After feature coverage in '' Esquire'' magazine, their popularity took off. According to Clarks, inspiration came from "the crepe-soled, rough suede boots made in Cairo's Khan el-Khalili bazaar for British Eighth Army officers." These boots were based on the South African

veldskoen Veldskoene ("FELT-skoona") or colloquially Vellies ("FELL-ys"), are South African walking shoes made from vegetable-tanned leather or soft rawhide uppers attached to a leather footbed and rubber sole by a method known as Stitchdown construction a ...

which became a popular footwear item in Southern Africa due to their robust and simple design. Often being bought by soldiers for use in the various bush wars of the region, they have become popular across the world as "desert boots".Velskoen, pronounced 'fell-skoon' and known colloquially as 'vellies,' are the ancestor of the modern-day desert boot. They were first made in the 1600s by members of the Dutch East India Co., inspired by the footwear of the Khoisan tribe. Currently, in South Africa and Namibia, vellies are worn by people from all walks of life especially, laborers, bush rangers, and university students. �
Herbert Schier Velskoen Desert Boots
) and "Relatively unknown outside of Africa, the velskoen—pronounced 'fell-skoon' and known colloquially as 'vellies'—are actually the ancestor of the modern day desert boot. �
Brothere Vellies

References

{{Footwear Boots

Materials and style

Desert boot

See also

References