The Next 25 Bootmakers

AMARILLO

Beck Cowboy Boots 6666 W. Amarillo Boulevard
806-356-6626
www.beckboots.com
The current father-daughther team carries on the family tradition that twins Earl and Bearl started in 1916.
Specializes in: Working cowboy boots.
Prices start at: $400.
Turnaround time: Ten to twelve weeks (five weeks for express orders).
Has made boots for: Country and western legend Bob Wills.

Cottle’s Boot and Shoe Repair 2803 Wolflin
806-352-8821
Dennis Cottle has been making boots since 1976.
Specializes in: Boots for real cowboys.
Prices start at: $550.
Turnaround time: Ten to twelve months.
Has made boots for: Locals.

AUSTIN

Texas Custom Boots 2525 S. Lamar
512-442-0926
While Noel Escobar runs the business, 37-year-old master bootmaker Alberto “Gordo” Lozano does the lasts and top work. Lozano was taught by the late Carlos Hernandez, Jr., the other celebrated bootmaker at Capitol Saddlery.
Specializes in: Replicating conservative styles and eye-popping tops.
Prices start at: $1,000.
Turnaround time: Twelve to fourteen months.
Has made boots for: Actors Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner; musician Willie Nelson; criminal defense attorney Richard “Racehorse” Haynes; and UT football coach Mack Brown.

BLOSSOM

W. E. Adkins Custom Boots
109 E. Front Street
903-982-6978
Adkins, who has 25 years of experience, is a one-man show.
Specializes in: Cowboy boots.
Prices start at: $395.
Turnaround time: Two to four months.
Has made boots for: Locals.

DALHART

Dalhart Custom Boots
318 Denrock
806-249-8138
In XIT Ranch country Sonny Dawkins is the master bootmaker.
Specializes in: Genuine cowboy boots.
Prices start at: $750.
Turnaround time: Three to six months.
Has made boots for: Locals.

EL PASO

Mingo Boot Company
6966 Alameda Avenue
915-779-7681
George, Mike, Julio, and Mingo, Jr., took over after their father, Domingo Jauregui, passed away. Jauregui founded the company in 1973 after quitting his job as foreman at the Tony Lama Boot Company when Tony Lama, Sr., died.
Specializes in: Vibram rubber bottoms; affordable basic boots; all-leather, side-sewn insoles; orthopedic boots.
Prices start at: $200.
Turnaround time: Three to four weeks.
Has made boots for: Actor Stacy Keach (he orders only classic alligator) and members of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Champion Boots
505 S. Cotton
915-534-7783
www.championboot.com
Bootmaking runs in 62-year-old Jose Luis Sanchez’s blood; his great-great-grandfather came from the Mexican shoe capital of Leon, and his father ran a boot-and-shoe repair shop.
Specializes in: Real boots for working cowboys; double leather soles; a heavy outer vamp; a handmade leather stacked heel.
Prices start at: $250.
Turnaround time: Forty-five days.
Has made boots for: Country and western musicians Glenn Campbell and the Statler Brothers.

Stanley Boots and Belts
4610 Duranzo
915-533-1794
Before Big Spring native T. O. Stanley bought Rios of Mercedes, he studied under masters like A. C. Williams in Dallas and Zeferino Rios in Mercedes. Stanley eventually started his own company, selling to retailers, and he has a crew turning out product. “I quit making boots because I’m a perfectionist and couldn’t please myself,” he explains.
Specializes in: Muted top designs; exquisite side seams or no seams at all; four layers of lining; signature S stitch on the outer vamp.
Prices start at: $550.
Turnaround time: Twelve to fourteen weeks.
Has made boots for: Actors Linda Gray and Nick Nolte; musicians Sammy Davis, Jr., and Eric Clapton; film producer George Lucas; and hockey legend Wayne Gretzsky.

J. B. Hill Boot Company
335 N. Clark Drive
915-599-1551
Veterinarian Jim Hill got into the boot business as an investor after his racehorse, Seattle Slew, the undefeated Triple Crown winner, was syndicated. Hill, who runs the company and oversees design, is backed by 15 makers headed by Luis Gonzales. Hill tests his products riding two Thoroughbreds and two quarterhorses.
Specializes in: Hand-carved mules; a Texas Lone Star is stitched on the side of every vamp.
Prices start at: $500.
Turnaround time: Six to eight weeks.
Has made boots for: Political consultant Karl Rove and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach.

Austin-Hall Boot Company
230 Chelsea Street
915-771-6113
Austin-Hall, originally named the Joe Hall Boot Company, has been making boots for three generations.
Specializes in: Straightforward, basic designs (flashy on request); made-to-measure red flame jobs.
Prices start at: $200.
Turnaround time: Fourteen to sixteen weeks.
Has made boots for: Musician Dwight Yoakam; WWF wrestlers; and NASA astronauts.

ELECTRA

Dew’s Custom Handmade Boots
5467 Santa Rosa Drive
940-552-6423
Working cowboy David “Dew” Westover creates handmade boots for other working cowboys in his spare time.
Specializes in: Solid boots.
Prices start at: $400.
Turnaround time: Two weeks to one year.
Has made boots for: Cowboys.

FORT WORTH

Ponder Boot Company
2358 N. Main
817-626-3523
www.ponderboot.com
This Stockyards retailer makes boots at its Fort Worth location and thirty miles north at the old Ponder Bank Building (100 W. Bailey, 940-479-2611; appointment only).
Specializes in: American born-and-raised ostrich; soft-tanned alligator leathers; butterfly pattern top stitching; one piece tops with a single seam.
Prices start at: $600.
Turnaround time: Five to six weeks.
Has made boots for: Former presidents Ronald Reagan (four pair) and George H. W. Bush and five Texas governors.

Mercedes Boots Company
1009 N.E. 16th Street
800.552.BOOT
www.mercedesbootco.com
Mercedes Boots was founded in Fort Worth in 1975 and was purchased by the Sossamon family in 1989. The company caters to an equestrian clientele; the headquarters are next door to the Pinto Horse Association, just down the road from the stockyards.
Specializes in: High tops for riders; double-stitched welts and heels with Vibram rubber caps.
Prices start at: $479.
Turnaround time: Three to four months.
Has made boots for: Cutters and horse trainers.

Luskey’s/Ryons
2601 N. Main
817-625-2391
www.luskeys.com
Although customers are measured on-site at this fourth-generation family store, the specs are shipped to Raymondville, where the boots are actually made.
Specializes in: Fancy tops with logos.
Prices begin at: $350.
Turnaround time: Three to four months.
Has made boots for: Country and western singer Trisha Yearwood.

FREDRICKSBURG

L. M. Easterling Custom Boot Company
609 W. Main
830-997-8980
Lloyd Easterling, a former Lucchese and Dan Post president, runs this small store in Fredricksburg’s shopping strip, but the boots are actually made at his five-man facility in El Paso.
Specializes in: Decorative tops.
Prices start at: $550.
Turnaround time: Six to eight weeks.
Has made boots for: Country music singers and rodeo queens.

HARPER

Jones Custom Boots
23809 U.S. 290
830-864-4673
Blake Jones runs this one-man shop.
Specializes in: Round toe boots.
Prices start at: $700.
Turnaround time: Six to eight months.
Has made boots for: Cowboys and tourists.

HOUSTON

Custom Boots By Morado
402 Frisco
713-694-7571
James Morado and his son, James, have been producing both fancy and basic boots for twenty years. Specializes in: Western boots.
Prices start at: $595.
Turnaround time: Six to eight months.
Has made boots for: Former Houston mayor Bob Lanier and prominent Houstonians planning ahead for the annual Houston Rodeo.

INGRAM

Don Atkinson Custom Boot and Saddle Shop
229-C Old Ingram Loop
830-367-5400
Seventy-four-year-old Atkinson, who was born in Missouri (where he began learning his craft) and is a former bullrider, turns out old-fashioned show boots with some help from his wife, Virginia. Specializes in: Elaborate tooling; superb finish work.
Prices start at: $900.
Turnaround time: Eight months to one year.
Has made boots for: Musician Bob Wills.

MARFA

Ray’s Boots and Saddle Repair
107 S. Highland
915-729-3465
Weldon Ray has been making boots in Giant country for ten years.
Specializes in: Rugged boots.
Prices start at: $350.
Turnaround time: Two to three months.
Has made boots for: Local ranchers and artists.

RANKIN

Slavko Drazic
311 N. Texas Highway 329
915-693-2202
Drazic came to the United States from Yugoslavia in 1974, and he took on the name of his adopted family, thus going by Shane O’Neil. He perfected his bootmaking skills in his spare time while working as a cowboy at the feet of C. W. Cannon of Dickens. He’s passing on what he knows to his thirteen-year-old son, Shawn, who made his own pair last year.
Specializes in: Boots for hard-to-fit feet.
Prices start at: $750.
Turnaround time: A few months to one year.
Has made boots for: Ranchers and cowboys.

SAN ANTONIO

Rogers Custom Made Boots
1255 Loop 410 SW, Suite 136
210-673-5948
Refugio Perez from Nuevo Laredo currently sits in the chair previously occupied by the late Genero Uribe, the last gran maestro of San Antonio. The shop is run by Roy Rogers.
Specializes in: Tough hides; solid soles; orthopedic boots.
Prices start at: $500.
Turnaround time: Five to six weeks.
Has made boots for: Ranchers; lawyers; and doctors.

WESLACO

Moran’s Leather
1000 E. U.S. 83
956-968-1856
Rafael Moran, a native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, has been in the bootmaking business for 35 years and oversees this five-man shop.
Specializes in: Exotic leathers such as alligator and ostrich.
Prices start at: $150.
Turnaround time: One month.
Has made boots for: Singers Johnny Canales and Los Cadetes de Linares.

WHITESBORO

Mike Allred’s Custom Handmade Boots
102 Third
903-564-7447
Mike Allred has been making boots at this one-man shop since 1976.
Specializes in: Solid boots.
Prices start at: $700.
Turnaround time: Eighteen months.
Has made boots for: Cowboys and bartenders.