New boots inspired by the vinyl on Chili's booths start at $345
The Tex-Mex and American restaurant chain has partnered with Tecovas, a Texas-based cowboy boot and Western-style retailer, to release Booth Boots. The deep red cowboy boots, marketed as being made from the same material as Chili's restaurant booths, are available only on the Tecovas website, starting July 29.
"The limited-edition Chili's x Tecovas collection pays tribute to two American originals, pairing the design and craft of Tecovas with Chili's iconic red booth, where so many good stories begin," Sam Fodrowski, Tecovas' vice president of brand and product marketing, said in a news release. "It's unexpected, fun and crafted with the same care and attention to detail we bring to everything we do."
The Booth Boots are available in men's and women's. The women's boot is based on Tecovas' best-selling Annie design. The 14-inch-tall boot features a forward snip toe and 2-inch heel. The men's boot is based on Tecovas' Garrett design. The 12-inch-tall boot features a snip toe, 1.2-inch leather heel and pull tab. Both boots are adorned with chili pepper stitching.
In addition to the two boots, Tecovas and Chili's are offering a Booth Belt, a handcrafted belt embellished with a chili pepper and brass buckle.
Interested in getting your hands on a pair of the Booth Boots? Here's what we know.
No April Fools': Chili's is opening a 'Scranton Branch' that celebrates 'The Office'
When are the Booth Boots available for purchase?
The Booth Boots will only be available on the Tecovas website, while supplies last, starting at 10 a.m. CT on July 29.
How much are the Booth Boots?
Both the men's and women's Booth Boots are $345. The Booth Belt is $75.
Are Booth Boots really made of Chili's booths?
No, the Booth Boots are not made from old Chili's booths. The boots are though made from red vinyl, the same material used to craft Chili's booths, Jesse Johnson, Chili's vice president of marketing, told USA TODAY.
Select Tecovas offer special Booth Boot events
Several Tecovas locations are celebrating the Booth Boot with free Chili's margaritas, exclusive Chili's pepper branding irons and other giveaways. Here's a look at the schedule:
What are people saying about the boots?
TikTok creator Fernanda Castro described the Chili's and Tecovas collaboration as a "Texas version of a royal wedding," as both brands are based in Texas. Notably, the Chili's at 4420 N. Lamar Boulevard in Austin, Texas – which is where Tecovas is based – has garnered widespread attention online for its plethora of positive online reviews.
Ahead of the widespread release, several content creators were sent their own pairs of Booth Boots, which have been circulating on social media for a few days.
"This reminds me of the time where I'm about to put on my Chili's Booth Boots and go to the booth at Chili's and sit in with my Booth Boots in the booth," content creator Robert Rausch said in a TikTok video.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Naomi unfiltered: How WWE's ultimate heel champion found power in reinvention
Almost simultaneously, two of WWE's most enduring heroes flipped the script this year, choosing to abandon the morals that helped them reach the heights of their chosen field. John Cena, the post-Attitude Era flag-bearer for WWE, turned "Hustle, Loyalty and Respect" on its head, claiming the WWE fans wanted too much too often, and that he'd take it all away from them by retiring as WWE's 'last real world champion.' The results have been mixed. At times, such as with Cena's recent interactions with CM Punk and Randy Orton, there are callbacks to when they all played opposite roles, leaning heavily into a kind of jealousy Cena had for the freedom they were given. But when Cena has been out there trying to rationalize his motivations, it's almost new for the sake of being new. On the flip side, Naomi — who spent the better part of a decade with electric entrances, vibrant colors, a huge smile and gymnastic offense — has successfully transitioned over to the outlandish and unpredictable villain who's ready to fend off all challengers to her newly-won Women's World Championship. In 2017, San Antonio hosted its third Royal Rumble event. As fans poured into the Alamodome, you saw the usual assortment of wrestling attire, from black "Austin 3:16" and nWo shirts, to your colorful John Cena tees and hats. But a few fans stood out from the rest, taking pictures outside of the building in full Bella Twins cosplay. While there'd always been female fans wearing Divas merch, it was the first time I'd seen people fully lose themselves in Divas fandom to the point of imitation. Years later, my suspicions were confirmed that a strong portion of online fandom first discovered wrestling through "Total Divas," WWE's reality show that followed the lives, loves and lariats of various female talents across the company. One of the standouts across the show's nine-season run was Naomi, who fans saw transform from fun-loving Funkadactyl to the rule-breaking Team B.A.D., and finally to The Glow, a tribute to not only Naomi's bubbly personality and psychedelic style, but her days as a professional dancer for the NBA's Orlando Magic. The show also followed her relationship with Jimmy Uso and his extensive extended family, seeing the pair go from friends all the way to marriage and the stops in between. Along with her peers, it was the first time we'd really seen the lives of women in wrestling framed around what they experience on a day-to-day basis. '[At first] it didn't really feel or seem like that big of an impact as it was," Naomi tells Uncrowned. "But as it became more mainstream and more popular, and as the seasons went on, we realized, 'Wow, people really care about what we do. People really understand what we do. People are really inspired and motivated by what we do.' So then at that point, for me, the show became a lot more than just filming a fun show. It became more of something that I needed to do, and not just wanted to do.' Naomi's 'Glow' run kicked off in 2016, with a fresh, EDM entrance theme that began with all of the arena lights turned off. When the 'bring it to the floor' vocals hit, Naomi, dressed entirely in glow-in-the-dark attire, including light-up sneakers, would start dancing to the crowd's applause, handing out glow sticks along the way. Being a real dancer, she changed the moves up week after week, giving live audiences something different every time out. She captured her first world championship, the Smackdown Women's Title, seven months later at 2017's Elimination Chamber. After forfeiting the title due to injury, she recaptured it at WrestleMania that same year and held it for 140 days. Over that time, she wowed crowds with her full offensive arsenal, as of few competitors in the division could pull off Hurricanranas, top-rope blockbusters, springboard clotheslines, and her finisher, the split-legged moonsault. Even now, almost 10 years later, she's still finding ways to innovate, but admits it's not as easy as it used to be. "I do feel that I was one of the more athletic women [at that time]. But now these girls are next level, and I take so much inspiration from that, and I think it definitely gives you way more to create and showcase in the ring," Naomi says. "So, I love it. And it also pushes me to try new things. You have to be able to keep up. And if I ever get to the point where I don't feel like I can, then, you know, mama might be hanging up them boots. "But I love the challenge because I'm older now and I'm later in my career. There's a lot more miles on my body, a lot more bumps on my body, but I definitely look forward to [it] and I embrace that — that challenge of still making sure I still got it and I can keep up.' Naomi found herself in and out of the women's main-event scene over the ensuing few years, as well as the tag-team division. She captured the Women's Tag Team Titles with former Team B.A.D. crew member Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, but walked out of the company a month later after a heavily-publicized creative dispute prior to "WWE Raw." More than a year passed before she returned to a wrestling ring, signing with Impact Wrestling in the spring of 2023. Performing under her given name, Trinity, she debuted in a glowing green fur coat with blue and purple stars flashing across the Impact Zone's LED boards, still very much aglow. Within three months, she captured the Impact Knockouts World Championship, defeating Deonna Purazzo at Slammiversary 2023. Like Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley before her, she found her time in Impact — and later TNA — to be a focal point in helping her career continue along its proper path. 'I just think TNA is such a special and amazing place, and I don't think that I would have been able to find my confidence during that time the way I did anywhere else," she says. "It's just such a great support system there and such incredible talent. "So I think that has a lot to do with it too — the perspectives of those [in charge there], they just get it and really allow that space and that freedom and that time to grow in wrestling.' Naomi made her surprise return to WWE at the 2024 Royal Rumble, getting her full 'Glow' entrance as the match's No. 2 entrant. She lasted more than an hour before being eliminated by one of the new kids on the block — the same talent that would ultimately trigger her new 'caution' character — Jade Cargill. Prior to that heel turn, though, Naomi, Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair formed 'The Big Three' — a kind of past, present and future of Black women's wrestling. But that 'past' exists in experience only, as the team-up served as the catalyst for Naomi to find a new passion, a new focus, and a brand-new style to further her wrestling success. After Belair and Cargill captured the Women's Tag Team Titles for a second time, Cargill was found cratered into the hood of an SUV backstage. Naomi stepped in as Bianca's replacement partner and title co-holder, only for Cargill to expose Naomi as the culprit at the 2025 Elimination Chamber. After an emotional back and forth between the three, Naomi leaned all the way into the brazen act of violence, citing under-appreciation and disrespect as the longest-tenured member of the group as the reason for her misdeed. So while her neon glow dimmed, the sirens and yellow caution tape soon shined a new light on her outlook and desires. '['Glow' Naomi] had done it all when it comes to being this babyface, and now she's at a point to where she's not getting results. She don't feel her friends are there for her," Naomi says. "She kind of ends up being bitter and scorned because she feels like nobody has her [back], like she has others, which led her to kind of snap a little bit and do something unthinkable — which, I think in life, we all know that people can push our buttons, or you can just get to a point where you reach your limit, you get to a breaking point. And I think that's what fans and people can kind of relate to, is understanding that part of emotion, people reaching a limit and a breaking point.' Whereas heel Cena maintained his trademark gear and music (to his credit, he reduced his Titantron to just his name), Naomi had a full-fledged makeover with her music, attitude, actions, and most notably, her look. Leaning into the crime scene aspect of her attack on Cargill, she found the perfect gear to match the random acts of violence she ushered into the women's division, ironically stamping them all to 'proceed with caution.' 'I ran with it," she says. "And I also, once I thought about it, I looked up online to see, from a product standpoint, what was already online that I could find that was 'caution.' And when I saw how much things were available, I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is it.' I actually just went online and looked for a bodysuit, and when I found that, that yellow caution bodysuit, I was like, 'Yeah, I think I'm going to run with this.'' Naomi soon parlayed her harder edge into a ladder match victory at Money in the Bank 2025, giving her the opportunity to challenge for a WWE title whenever she saw fit. After losing to Cargill in a No Holds Barred match at Evolution, she interrupted the instant classic between challenger Rhea Ripley and champion Iyo Sky to insert herself into the Women's World Championship match, making it a triple threat. With both women incapacitated, she stuck Sky with the Money in the Bank briefcase, threw Ripley out of the ring, then hit Sky her signature split-legged moonsault to win her third WWE world title. That eight-year gap between WWE World Title wins is one of the longst of anyone in company history, man or woman, but also a testament to just how far she's been able to go with something brand new. Now, Naomi has to make magic once more as she faces the same two competitors this Sunday on Night 2 of WWE SummerSlam 2025, this time without the advantage of fatigue or opponent surprise. But that's just another challenge for a talent who did what so few others have done: Pivoted away from was comfortable and once more found themselves at the very top of their game. And while she may not be making things easier for the people across from her in the ring, Naomi hopes those around her can build off of what she's been able to do. 'I would hope [I'm remembered] as a good, solid entertainer, someone that fans connected with and someone that was very creative and always evolved," she says. "And definitely as an African American woman and someone they can look at and get inspiration from, just like I do with [former WWE champion] Jazz. "When I came in and everybody was like, 'Watch her. She did it before you. And Jacqueline.' And so yeah, I hope I made it easier for the next generation and group of women.'
San Francisco Chronicle
14 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
American Eagle's 'good jeans' ads with Sydney Sweeney spark a debate on race and beauty standards
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters wanted to make a splash with its new advertising campaign starring 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney. The ad blitz included 'clever, even provocative language' and was 'definitely going to push buttons,' the company's chief marketing officer told trade media outlets. It has. The question now is whether some of the public reaction the fall denim campaign produced is what American Eagle intended. Titled 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,' the campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash to 'woke' American politics and culture. Most of the negative reception focused on videos that used the word 'genes' instead of 'jeans' when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series 'Euphoria' and 'White Lotus.' Some critics saw the wordplay as a nod, either unintentional or deliberate, to eugenics, a discredited theory that held humanity could be improved through selective breeding for certain traits. Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said the criticism for the American Eagle ad could have been avoided if the ads showed models of various races making the 'genes' pun. 'You can either say this was ignorance, or this was laziness, or say that this is intentional,' Collins said. 'Either one of the three aren't good.' Other commenters accused detractors of reading too much into the campaign's message. 'I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her 'good genes,'" former Fox News host Megyn Kelly wrote Tuesday on X. American Eagle didn't respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. The discussion continued after eagle-eyed social media users noticed that Dunkin's promotion for its new summer drink features 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' co-star Gavin Casalengo attributing his suntan to genetics. A snapshot of American Eagle The ad blitz comes as the teen retailer, like many merchants, wrestles with sluggish consumer spending and higher costs from tariffs. American Eagle reported that total sales were down 5% for its February-April quarter compared to a year earlier. A day after Sweeney was announced as the company's latest celebrity collaborator, American Eagle's stock closed more than 4% up. Shares were volatile this week and trading nearly 2% down Wednesday. Like many trendy clothing brands, American Eagle has to differentiate itself from other mid-priced chains with a famous face or by saying something edgy, according to Alan Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce. Adamson said the Sweeney campaign shares a lineage with Calvin Klein jeans ads from 1980 that featured a 15-year-old Brooke Shields saying, 'You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.' Some TV networks declined to air the spots because of its suggestive double entendre and Shields' age. 'It's the same playbook: a very hot model saying provocative things shot in an interesting way,' Adamson said. Billboards, Instagram and Snapchat The campaign features videos of Sweeney wearing slouchy jeans in various settings. She will appear on 3-D billboards in Times Square and elsewhere, speaking to users on Snapchat and Instagram, and in an AI-enabled try-on feature. American Eagle also plans to launch a limited edition Sydney jean to raise awareness of domestic violence, with sales proceeds going to a nonprofit crisis counseling service. In a news release, the company noted 'Sweeney's girl next door charm and main character energy – paired with her ability to not take herself too seriously – is the hallmark of this bold, playful campaign.' Jeans, genes and their many meanings In one video, Sweeney walks toward an American Eagle billboard of her and the tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes.' She crosses out 'genes' and replaces it with 'jeans.' But what critics found the most troubling was a teaser video in which Sweeney says, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.' The video appeared on American Eagle's Facebook page and other social media channels but is not part of the ad campaign. While remarking that someone has good genes is sometimes used as a compliment, the phrase also has sinister connotations. Eugenics gained popularity in early 20th century America, and Nazi Germany embraced it to carry out Adolf Hitler's plan for an Aryan master race. Civil rights activists have noted signs of eugenics regaining a foothold through the far right's promotion of the 'great replacement theory,' a racist ideology that alleges a conspiracy to diminish the influence of white people. Shalini Shankar, a cultural and linguistic anthropologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said she had problems with American Eagle's 'genes' versus 'jeans' because it exacerbates a limited concept of beauty. 'American Eagle, I guess, wants to rebrand itself for a particular kind of white privileged American,' Shankar said. As for Dunkin's social media video, Casalengo's burnished skin comes up in the context of the doughnut chain's Golden Hour Refresher drink. 'This tan? Genetics. I just got my color analysis back and guess what? Golden summer," the actor says, referring to the revived trend of wearing clothing that align with one's natural coloring. A Dunkin' spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. A cultural shift in advertising Many critics compared the American Eagle ad to a misstep by Pepsi in 2017, when it released a TV ad that showed model Kendall Jenner offer a can of soda to a police officer while ostensibly stepping away from a photo shoot to join a crowd of protesters. Viewers mocked the spot for appearing to trivialize protests of police killings of Black people. Pepsi apologized and pulled the ad. The demonstrations that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis pushed many U.S. companies to make their advertising better reflect consumers of all races. Some marketers say they've observed another shift since President Donald Trump returned to office and moved to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Jazmin Burrell, founder of brand consulting agency Lizzie Della Creative Strategies, said she's noticed while shopping with her cousin more ads and signs that prominently feature white models. 'I can see us going back to a world where diversity is not really the standard expectation in advertising,' Burrell said. American Eagle's past and future American Eagle has been praised for diverse marketing in the past, including creating a denim hijab in 2017 and offering its Aerie lingerie brand in a wide range of sizes. A year ago, the company released a limited edition denim collection with tennis star Coco Gauff. Marketing experts offer mixed opinions on whether the attention surrounding 'good jeans' will be good for business. 'They were probably thinking that this is going to be their moment," Myles Worthington, the founder and CEO of marketing and creative agency WORTHI. 'But this is doing the opposite and deeply distorting their brand.' Other experts say the buzz is good even if it's not uniformly positive.
Boston Globe
14 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
How did pianist Emanuel Ax convince 'Star Wars' composer John Williams to write him a concerto? He hand-wrote a letter.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up It was the closest collaboration with Williams to date for Ax, who frequently shares the stage with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, a player who may as well be Williams's muse. Their association stretches as far back as the 1980s when Williams conducted the Pops; the two released an album together in 2022, 'A Gathering of Friends,' featuring the numerous concert works Williams has written for the cellist. This coming Sunday afternoon, Ma and Ax – as well as violinist Leonidas Kavakos and violist Antoine Tamestit – take over the Koussevitzky Music Shed for an all-Beethoven chamber program. Advertisement Ax's outreach wasn't a cold call, either. Because both Ax and Williams have such longstanding Tanglewood ties, the two have crossed paths a handful of times. For 1994's Tanglewood On Parade with then-BSO music director Seiji Ozawa, Ax and Williams joined Italian pianist Maria Tipo for Mozart's Concerto in F for Three Pianos. 'I don't know if [Williams] remembers it, but I certainly remember it very vividly,' Ax said. 'And, of course, I've been to dozens of movie nights.' Advertisement In his program notes for the piece, Williams praised Ax's 'technical brilliance, refined elegance and great artistic sensibilities,' and recounted a time when he'd asked Ax if he'd 'ever encountered a bad piano,' to which Ax replied, 'all pianos are my friends.' The piece itself is inspired by the composer's memories of witnessing performances by three 20th century greats of the jazz piano: Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. He did not intend to mimic their styles, but 'suggest and remember the unique artistic personalities of three men who greatly inspired me,' Williams wrote. Ax is an avid jazz listener – he's especially fond of Peterson as well as the young American pianist Aaron Diehl – but he's 'not a jazz player in the least,' he said. 'I'm hopeless with it!' However, the concerto isn't what anyone would call a jazz piece, Ax clarified. 'You wouldn't know that it's based on these people. It's more an inspiration for [Williams] than anything overt, if that makes sense.' As for Saturday, the composer was present for the preparation as well as the premiere. 'I think he'll tell Andris and me exactly what he wants from the orchestral performance,' Ax said. Advertisement Ax will also perform the new concerto at Symphony Hall in January with Nelsons and the BSO, on an all-John Williams program scheduled to include a mix of the composer's music for silver screen and concert hall. BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Tanglewood, Lenox. July 26 8 p.m. 617-266-1200, A.Z. Madonna can be reached at
