Jackie O. wore them, as did John Lennon. Icons as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker, wear them today. They are the timeless Frye boots!
 
In 1863, John A. Frye opened the doors of a small shoe shop in Marlboro, Massachusetts. the shoes he made were to ease the everyday life of factory workers in that small New England town. Over a century later, the Frye Company has become the oldest continuously operating footwear brand in America. The boots Frye made weren’t meant to be icons of fashion, yet somewhere along the line, they became just that. FRYE: THE BOOTS THAT MADE HISTORY is a 150-year anniversary album that celebrates the early history of the brand, its cultural takeover in the early 1970s, and the artisanal methods that make its craftsmanship unique.
 
Frye boots are captured in all the ways they are worn: rocked out and urbanized, accessorized and envied, worked and roughed up, flaunting their inimitable style and all-American cool. This book takes the reader through the style and personality of the distinctive designs and handsome detailing of Frye’s most popular products, from its tough, treasured and instantly recognizable Harness Boot to the exclusive line dedicated to the American flag debuting this fall. With the strongest leather–enough to withstand 20 lbs. of pressure–and dozens of designs, the quality of Frye has always remained the same, making the brand not just a business but a way of life.

About The Author

Architecture and design writer Marc Kristal has written, co-authored or contributed to more than a dozen books, notably Immaterial World: Transparency in Architecture and The Great American House (with Gil Schafer III). As a journalist, Kristal has written for the New York Times, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Wallpaper, Interior Design, and Metropolis, among other publications, and was a contributing editor of Dwell. The Frye Company: Each generation of Frye craftsmen dedicated themselves to the art of shoemaking, creating new patterns, discovering new materials, and even inventing shoe-making machinery. The dedication to crafting footwear as functional as it is durable has been the company’s benchmark ever since. The Frye Company’s heritage is told in every stitch of every shoe made over the last 150 years: across cultural shifts and changes in fashion, for generation upon generation. Now, Frye boots are accessorized and envied on city streets, worked and roughed up on country roads, and chosen above all others for their inimitable style and uncompromising quality.