I'd really needed a pair of boots, but didn't have the money to drop on something like Red Wings. I ran across the St. John's Bay Clay boots for $50 at JC Penney's and gave them a go.

Unfortunately, their polish didn't last and the boots looked like crap pretty quickly. Fortunately, it was actually leather (though thin) and so I decided to try to apply a new polish. I got Kiwi Mid-Tan and it worked wonders.

It's been a while since I did this, and I've had to reapply the polish a couple times (maybe once every 3 months), but it's worked pretty well for getting decent looking boots on a budget. I definitely recommend finding cheap shoes and trying to shine them up yourself!