Like other funky fashion flashbacks of the ‘60s and ‘70s, go-go boots are making a comeback.

“Last year go-go boots were totally passé,” says Earle McIntosh, manager of Cacique/Galleria Mall. “Platforms were in, and boots were out. Anyone who wore go-go boots, we laughed.”

But fashion goes in cycles. As McIntosh says, “How many pairs of little strap-on sandals can you wear?”

Now that winter is here, people want something else to wear.

“What would you rather wear: boots or pumps?” McIntosh asks. “Pumps? I don’t think so.”

Go-go boots are popular partly because the boots are more affordable now than they were in the ‘80s, says R. Layton Massengill, program chair for the fashion marketing and fashion design departments at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

To girls in their teens and 20s, go-go boots are a novelty.

“This is a new thing for this generation,” Massengill says. “A lot of the young people have only seen it in movies and read about it.”

This year pop singer Nancy Sinatra donated her spike-heeled, knee-high boots to New York’s Hard Rock Café—30 years after topping the charts with These Boots Are Made for Walkin’. And Gen-X sex goddess Jenny McCarthy, ex-hostess of MTV’s Singled Out, often wore white go-go boots on the dating game show.

“A lot of the young people are willing to try it,” Massengill says. “They weren’t as fashion-involved in the ‘80s. Now they see stars wearing them, and this is a great influence on them.”

Bakers Shoe Store at Broward Mall has been selling about 18 to 30 pairs of go-go boots a week this season, a considerable jump from the six pairs a week the store sold in 1994, says manager Gary Higbee.

Midcalf, knee-high and thigh-high boots are popular not only in the United States but also Europe.

“I just got back from London and Paris, and it was very popular in the streets and in the clubs, especially the clubs,” Massengill says. “They were all different variations.”

Customers who buy go-go boots tend to be social creatures, said Hisham Nafae, store manager at Wild Pair at Broward Mall.

“They usually are very outgoing and expressive people who aren’t afraid to wear something funky,” Nafae said.