Ariat has announced a collaboration with Milton Menasco. The traditional Western shoe brand and indie clothing designer have joined forces to produce shoes that emulate horse culture and their shared search for authenticity in their brands.
Milton Menasco’s take on an Ariat shoe is playful and aesthetically pleasing to match the brand’s online presence. “Milton Menasco has a great aesthetic on social media and blends the lines between the western cowboy lifestyle and the English equestrian way of life,” Ariat’s Head of Western Footwear Shane Holman told FN, “We love that the two can be combined, mixed and matched.”
The shoes, which are part of a larger collaborative release, combine Ariat’s traditional Western style with Milton Menasco’s eye-catching horse-girl aesthetic. The collaboration has produced two styles based on Ariat’s most popular footwear designs: their Wexford Lug Chelsea boot and Hilo casual shoe. Both shoes feature a trendy black and white color blocking made unique with kitschy “Giddy Up” messaging on the heel of the Chelsea boot and cowboy-hat-wearing emoji on the Hilo shoe.
“Because we share the same values in representing all the horse world has to offer, we were inspired to create pieces that could transition seamlessly from the equestrian space to Western lifestyle and to the streets,” Milton Menasco CEO Alli Addison shared, “the end result is very chic, elegant yet playful, and there’s a nostalgia to it as well.”
Both companies were founded by women who have channeled their Western roots into their love of fashion. Alli Addison added that in her mind, “Ariat is the OG brand of blurring the lines in the horse world. They represent it ALL, equestrian, western and everything in between, and have since day one. When we first began discussing this collaboration, it felt like a true honor to work alongside a brand that played such a pivotal role in my development as a horse lover.”
The Ariat x Milton Menasco collaboration will be released on April 1 via Ariat.com.