Abstract: A protective overboot for wear over the footwear of a user includes a sole member of a one piece construction including shaped toe and heel portions each including overlapping flaps welded together along a central weld line. A tubular body portion joined to the sole member is of a height so as to cover at least a lower leg area of a wearer. A first retainer string or lace is affixed to a lower part of the body portion in the vicinity of the ankle of a wearer and, in use, surrounds that lower part. A first buckle is releasably secured to the retainer string so as to be slidable therealong and to be releasably fixed in position thereon to thereby enable tightening down of the first buckle against the body portion.