In the sixteenth century, bootstraps were leather loops sewn into the top, sides, or back of high-fitting boots.
These boots were so difficult to put on that it required the help of a device with a handle and a hook and the procedure took some time.
The vivid image of people lifting themselves up during the process, although impossible, became a figure of speech for accomplishing what appeared to be unachievable.
So we say that people who have overcome the odds have “pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps”.
