Garmont Tactical Increases Focus on LE & Women’s Boots
In 2025 and 2026, Garmont Tactical is increasing its focus on developing its law enforcement line of boots. In addition, Garmont is also focusing on designing boots specifically to fit women.
Earlier this year, Garmont Tactical launched its T8 Defense LE boot for law enforcement.Wayne Parham
Garmont Tactical is well-established as a military boot provider, but in 2025 and into 2026, the bootmaker is heavily focused on growing in two key areas: boots specifically designed for women and law enforcement boots.
“We've had a very long history on the military side. We've been one of the top-tier brands for about 16 years on the military side,” says Kyle Ferdyn, sales manager for Garmont Tactical. “We've seen some trends that have changed our business plan moving forward, not only for more versatile footwear, but also on the LE side. So that's a big focus for us moving from what we've learned on the military side and moving into the LE for 2025 as well into 2026.”
As far as military boots, Garmont has found ongoing success with two key boots, the T8 Bifida and the T8 NFS 670..
“Garment owns about 30% military footwear exposure with no contracts, built from high-quality products and word of mouth,” Ferdyn adds.
The NFS has the same upper as the Bifida but features a more athletic outsole. This is a proprietary outsole for Garmont, and it's really designed for garrison use and training, where a lighter boot is required. The Bifida is designed as a more rugged field-use boot..
“We've built the Garmont Tactical brand with these two models, and knew that we needed to start to expand the collection into other options. So, being that we’ve had a really successful run with the way that these fit and feel, we decided about six years ago to come out with a model called the Extreme that has evolved now into a model called the Extreme, Evo, made in two variations,” he explained. “A GoreTex Waterproof option, or a 200-grm Thinsulate option.”
Other selections in the military lineup include the T8 Falcon, the T8 Athena, and the new T8 Defense.
T8 Defense: Military & LE
Garmont’s T8 Defense LE is designed for foot support and traction during heavy use in the field.Wayne Parham
Earlier this year, Garmont released a new military boot — the T8 Defense, which is also available for law enforcement as the T8 Defense LE.
“Most of the industry is going to extremely lightweight footwear. The problem with that is obviously it wears a lot quicker and doesn’t have as much support above the ankle and in the foot structure of the boot. We’ve decided to move forward in an alternative direction,” he added.
“First of all, the upper is very similar to what we've learned from the Bifida and the NFS. We changed the upper slightly to give it a little bit more structure and less tension above your foot. Above the lace structure of the boot still has the same breathability,” explained Ferdyn.
He added that Garmont worked with Vibram to create the Vibram Atlas outsole, which is an exclusive outsole for Garmont’s T8 Defense and T8 Defense LE. The new outsole was developed based on Vibram’s experience in mountaineering and backpacking.
“Our idea here is not to make the lightest boot in the market. We wanted to build a boot that was going to be structurally sound and something that gave a lot of support underneath your foot while being used, whether in field use or in everyday usage,” Ferdyn said.
Also, Garmont teamed up with a company called D30, which makes an impact-resistant membrane. The D30 membrane is added within three key elements of the boot.
First, it offers protection to the malleolus bones with triangular pads on both sides of the ankle.
“There is a small membrane that we build into each of those. Each area that has this membrane has been added to creates additional protection and impact resistance for the user,” Ferdyn added.
Another other big piece of D30 membrane Garmont added to the boot is basically the entire tongue. From the bottom of the lace all the way to the top of the tongue, there's a D30 membrane built in.
“We have noticed that a lot of times under tension, whether they're packed down with their own equipment or with ruck packs or just natural day-to-day equipment, there's a lot of tension that happens on top of your foot and under the laces,” said Ferdyn.
The other area with D3O is located underneath the footbed.
“So, if you look at this footbed, which will also be sold as an aftermarket footbed for all our boots, we add it to the balls of your feet and then underneath your heel,” Ferdyn said. “So it gives you some impact resistance if you're pushing through a door, going up and over a fence of some sort, but also in long periods where you're just standing.”
Garmont, due to its military exposure, has not focused its efforts on a comprehensive LE business plan. But that has changed, and LE has become a key focus this year.
“We are really trying to evaluate who wears what and what the market needs, and this is one of them,” Ferdyn said as he explained that the T8 Defense LE is the same as the T8 Defense, but with polishable leather.
T8 Defense will also at some point gain a zipper, and Ferdyn explained that this may help expand the line to fire services. The T8 LE 2.0, introduced about five years ago, already features a zipper and is essentially the same design as the T8 NFS, but with a polishable leather finish.
Both the T8 Defense Regular and the T8 Defense Wide, including the LE versions, feature:
Non-Waterproof
1.6-1.8 mm full grain leather upper with polyester inserts and D3O ankle and tongue impact protection
ArnePlant Footbed with D3O shock-absorbing inserts
Vibram Atlas outsole provides traction with Central Vortex lugs and a medial arch texture for support during rope activities
Polishable for uniform-compliance
Weight 665 grain (Half pair size 9 US)
Other Garmont LE Boots
Garmont’s existing line of boots designed for law enforcement includes:
“The idea here is to really focus on what's different about a woman's anatomy versus a man's, and it is very different to the point where they really shouldn't be wearing just a unisex shoe,” Ferdyn explained.
One key difference between men and women, when it comes to designing boots, is the length of the Achilles.Ferdyn said women’s calf muscles are longer and lower on the calf than men’s. The means women have a shorter Achilles tendon than men.
Other differences center around women’s feet and the differences in the arch and instep.
“So, on the instep of their shoe, there needs to be an extra support here. That support is just because of the way the woman's foot is shaped,” he added.
As Ferdyn continued to explain the differences in women’s feet, he explained how toes come into play when it is time to get a proper fit.
“A woman's foot is very different based on the length of their toes. Their toes are actually longer than men's and actually more towards the back. So, if you look at the ball of your foot, it's a little bit further back, and then the toe area and toe boxes is a lot longer,” explained Ferdyn.
“We're the only company doing a true woman's boot. If they're calling it a woman's boot from other competitors, it's just a unisex with a different label on it. This is the only SKU. It is a true woman's design,” Ferdyn proclaimed.
Since the T8 Athena was popular, Garmont made the same boot in the LE version. It is the same design as the T8 Athena, basically, but with a T8 LE designation, with availability in black.
The T8 Athena LE launched earlier in 2025 during Women’s Appreciation Month.
“This has been doing extremely well, to the point where it's much more than we expected,” said Ferdyn. “We're getting a lot of really great feedback from women, obviously, but also from departments and agencies that said they've always had difficulty buying boots and equipment for women.”
Near the end of the year, Garmont will evolve the T8 Athena by adding a zipper and a non-waterproof option non-zipper option.
New Designs Coming for 2026
Continuing on the line of law enforcement boots, Ferdyn detailed that the brand has been lacking in terms of more versatile products. Two years ago, Garmont launched two new boots, the T4 Groove and the 921 Heli.
“The T4 Groove was a 4-inch mid-cut shoe. Worked very well. Was offered in waterproof or non-waterproof. Historically, the design was really good, the fit and feel were amazing, but the aesthetics of the shoe were a little bit off,” he said.
“A lot of people wanted something a little bit more synthetic looking, so we decided that we wanted to reevaluate that and come up with something new for 2026 so the T4 Groove that we had in the line, we're going to take that and basically combine all the fun things that we've learned from all the other the other models, and build something that's really lightweight and the price point is going to be a lot cheaper than what we were selling at before.”
Garmont is expected to showcase that new boot design at Shot Show 2026.
Wayne Parham is Senior Editor at POLICE Magazine and PoliceMag.com and has more than three decades of experience covering public safety and government.
Earlier this year, Garmont Tactical launched its T8 Defense LE boot for law enforcement.Wayne Parham
Garmont’s T8 Defense LE is designed for foot support and traction during heavy use in the field.Wayne Parham
