Like a 5-o’clock shadow, a bad-ass scar, or hastily-cut camping bangs, salt stains send a message: Don’t mess with me. A pair of black leather boots with salt-encrusted soles shows no fear. Your boots say, “I know it’s winter. But I can’t be stopped. I know it’s freezing, but I’m going to get drunk. I know there’s a cold warning, but I’m not taking a cab. No no. I am a force reckoning with the force of nature. I AM WOMAN, see me walk.” It’s like when you tear a hole in your tights, and all of a sudden your outfit goes from ho-hum to sexy. Salty boots=salty mouth, saucy remarks, sexy eye-wink. A certain je-ne-sais-quoi winter non-chalance, a sign of going with the flow while those around you tip-toe over snowbanks and stay in because of the weather. Salty boots are party boots: they’re not afraid of uncharted territory or spontaneous adventure. They’re ready for anything, and so is the girl who wears them. As freckles are to California girls, salt-stained boots are to Toronto ladies: an unavoidable hazard of the environment that somehow makes you that much cuter. For some reason, shucking off a pair of salt-stained boots is like unwinding a thick knitted scarf:the winter equivalent of a strip-tease.