I can't help you with that since I am living in Mexico.

But... I suspect that some if not most of that $100 shipping charge may be customs duty. If you don't pay it on your end, then your friend in Texas will have to pay it on his.

Your best bet is to purchase the boots yourself and find someone who is flying to the U.S. and can carry the boots as part of his luggage, not in their original packaging but as an item of his personal apparel.

Then he can mail the boots to Texas relatively inexpensively by US Postal Service, or UPS, or Federal Express etc.

tanstaafl.