Growing up, Tomasso Arditti, now 47, admired the impeccable alligator shoes worn by his Italian grandfather, an El Paso businessman. So when Arditti’s plans for law school didn’t work out, he asked a local bootmaker to teach him the craft in 1998. Arditti has become known for his high-end custom cowboy boots, making them for the likes of rocker Marilyn Manson, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Pope Francis. He specializes in the “timeless, classic” alligator leather he was drawn to as a boy, but he’s also stretched his creativity to extremes; one $25,000 style features shafts hand-gilded in 23.5-karat gold. “If I had become a lawyer, I wouldn’t get to design, dream, and create every day,” he says. 

Tomasso Arditti
Traditional full alligator belly boots in cognac ($4,950), on top of boot molds used by Arditti.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Tomasso Arditti
Pedro Blanco cuts a hippopotamus hide for a pair of custom boots.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Tomasso Arditti
Arditti’s Landis sole stitching machine is used to lock the boot’s outsole to its insole by sowing the outsole to the welt.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Tomasso Arditti
American alligator boots with hand-tooled and 23.5-karat gold gilt shafts ($25,000; limited production of 25 pairs).
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Tomasso Arditti
Genuine natural python ankle boots ($1,295).
Photograph by Jeff Wilson