The boot is in my opinion the most important part of a skate, because it's what determines how much pleasure or displeasure you get out of skating. Here I'll give a brief overview of the types of boots offered on the market. There are a lot of them, and they serve different purposes. But it's possible to give a general description of a typical speed boot. Boots are generally composed of: fibreglass, kevlar, or carbon, these materials forming the shell that holds the foot and gives you control. The interior is made of leather (genuine or not), and is padded in strategic places. The power exerted by the leg, which besides pushing is carrying the weight of the body, should be transferred as effectively as possible down through the frame and the wheels (or in the case of ice, the blade). Thus the boot has to be rigid, unlike shoes, which are made to bend with the foot when you walk or run. The ankle is crucial to movement in the skating position. As a joint, not only does it bend, it enables the transfer of energy from the top of the leg down to the ankle and on to the wheels. The boot must therefore offer some degree of support to the ankle, without however restricting movement during the push to the side. While short-track boots offer extra support to handle the tight fast turns of that sport, long-track boots or those we see for outdoor skating are cut lower at the ankle, in the style of the classic cross-country ski boot. Regarding comfort, there a several factors to be taken together, including the weight of the boot, support, intended use, esthetics, and finally your budget. Note that price isn't necessarily proportional to comfort -- skaters with problem feet will tell you all about that. It isn't rare to see someone suffering in $700 boots, so you have to shop around and know your feet. Boot-designers can't guarantee complete comfort for everyone, since foot-shapes vary so much from individual to individual. This is why sometimes the only solution is to buy boots custom-molded to your feet. There is also, I think, a certain normal apprenticeship period, a step-by-step evolution toward being comfortable in your skates. Nothing about the skating movement is natural to human beings, so you have to count on conditioning and, above all, on gradually assimilating the elements of good technique that you can only pick up through years of skating. Charles Beaudoin