A boot company. Not just any boot company, mind you, but one that was established in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in the year Nineteen Hundred and Thirty Two by Charles Danner (the only boot company, to my knowledge,that can claim this). Despite the inherent foolishness of opening any manner of company during the Great Depression, the company flourished. It seems that all of the TVA projects and the Hoover Dam required more than a few pairs of quality work boots. Only four years later, the company moved to Portland, Oregon to supply the burgeoning timber industry with their wondrous footwear. In the years since, the company has expanded and grown with the aforementioned psuedo-hippy metropolis. Oddly, this town that seems to produce great thing with uncanny ease (see Leatherman, AudioSource, and uh, Nike?), not to mention the town of Corvallis, site of Belushi's greatest film to ever, Animal House. At any rate, the company, realizing the relatively limited market available in work and uniform boots, expanded to hiking boots with the growing popularity of the sport in the 70's. The time since has seen the continued growth of the company, as well as their adherence to time honored practices, such as the use of Norwegian Welt construction in their boots. As of the writing of this node, the company still has and exceptional reputation for quality and customer service. While not on par with Limmer, Danner makes boots of quality surpassed by few, offered at prices that make them available to anyone who is willing to invest money in a footware that will last longer than their soles.
Admittedly, my own experiences with Danner have heavily biased this node. For that matter, so has Henri-Louis Pernod. Regardless, they make damn good boots that have served me well in both my world travels and my simple sloshing around in bleak Iowa winters. I recommend you buy a pair, at least if you are in the minority that gives a rat's ass for quality and something that will last longer than the latest pop psycology fad.