The Last Cowboy Boot Masters of El Paso

I ride western and I rope, everything in the world of western tack is like that, be it vaquero, or the mainstream pageantry world. Well established brands like Tony Lama or Lucchese have relatively recently, as in in the past 10-20 years, switched their manufacturing methods to that of modern casual boot, so that their boots are just not quality enough to use for riding. Newcomers to the field, like Tecovas are not much better. obligatory, I have a few pairs of tecovas sitting next to hand me down real cowboy boots of yore and tecovas are already in worse shape from just few years of riding. People just don't know what a well made western boot feels like, nor do they put them through rigorous stress of cowboying, I mean, it's fashion, so if it looks the part but feels like cheap Chinese boot which is what they tend to be, it's good enough. Well it's not good enough under saddle. That is not to say that you don't still have a bunch of cheap Chinese tack from tractor supply, but the difference in quality and feel is stark. People myself included tend to have lists of phones numbers of various last cowboy masters that can braid you a mecate, or a leadline, or work with leather to fix your priceless, because irreplaceable saddle.

This all may seem very quaint. I mean after all how many people on HN need colorful cowboy boots. But these things serve an actual purpose.

I ride motorcycles and recently needed to get a new pair of boots. These are obviously a different kind, but when it comes to boot making there is obviously a lot of crossover, and just low cowboy boots, motorcycle boots are specialized for the purpose. Well what I discovered that despite having lots of companies in this space, most don’t use the Goodyear welt so they are one and done items. It costs on the order of $150 to resole a Goodyear welt boot around d where I live and without it the cost basically doubles, making it not a wise investment vs buying new. Of course there are other manufacturers that do build for longevity but none that actually make motorcycle-specific boots which include the proper armor, etc.

When I lived in Austin I looked at buying a pair a couple of times (I went to the chains, like Cavender's and Tecovas). But I have funny shaped feet so none of them fit quite right. I should have gone to somewhere like Chisos or Texas Traditions which make custom-fit boots... but couldn't swallow the $2k+ price.

https://youtu.be/-IMDJg1nOD8?t=390

As an amateur leatherworker myself, these talented folk are so incredible to read about. Quite reassuring to see the familiar Fiebing's products in their workshops though (dye reducer in this case).