Dedicated to the history of boot making and the artistry of design, these boot makers are true artists in their own right.
Boot making is where design, function and craftsmanship meet.
True practice boot making, according to Jennifer June, author of "Cowboy Boots: The Art & Sole," involves 372 steps, together with measuring, lastmaking, patternmaking, cutting and assembling pieces, lasting, inseaming, bottoming, and finishing.
While factories' cost-cutting measures prompt them to speed through, mechanize and skip all the steps they can, a practice maker's business relies heavily upon particular craftsmanship and the quality to attract repeat customers, says June, a boot maker herself.
According to June, there are approximately 250 boot makers in the nation -- "none of them rich." A handful live right here in Abilene.
Abilene's practice boot makers have a range of experiences -- from the famed James Leddy Boots to the somewhat "new kid on the block," Brian Thomas, whose been making boots since 1975.
Clarence Garrison lives in Abilene and is no longer active in the boot making business, but has hopes that a family member may continue on with the tradition. Garrison preferred to make boots for citizen in the livestock business over celebrities because he wanted to produce boots for "regular working citizen who of course used them."
As with most boot makers, he never advertised his services and said that getting repeat customers was dependent on how well you did your job.
"When they walked out and your name was on that boot -- it was your reputation," he says.
'All about the fit'
For Brian Thomas, "the fit" determines whether someone is going to be a successful practice boot maker or not.
"I don't care how fancy it is -- they'd better fit," he said.
Thomas says the biggest compliment he can get is when he sees "the most wore out boot with patches all over it because somebody loved it."
Thomas retired from the Air Force after a 20-year career and opened up his shop in Abilene in January 2005. While he has been open for a relatively short time, he has fast risen to an award-winning, preponderant boot maker, grabbing the prestigious every year Boot and Saddlemaker's Trade Show Roundup "Professionals Choice" Award three years running, beating out about 30 other professional practice boot makers across the U.S. The judges for this type are scholar boot makers, each with over 20 years caress in the practice boot making business. The award is given annually to the boot maker exhibiting excellence in artistry and craftsmanship.
Thomas firmly believes in upholding the traditional principles of boot making and cites a commitment to quality, fit and using only the best materials possible to his success.
'It's in my Dna'
Thomas apprenticed under the great W.L. "Tex" Robin, owner of Tex Robin Boots in Abilene. Robin is listed as one of the "25 Top practice Boot Makers" by Texas Monthly magazine. He spent the large part of his bookmaking career in Coleman, but is now firmly planted in Abilene. For Robin, making boots is a "kind of obsession."
His father was a boot maker also and passed the skill and tradition on to his son.
"I was raised up in it -- it's in my Dna," he says. "To make a boot, you must have both artistic quality and mechanical ability."
Robin spends most of his days in his workshop placed just face his West Texas home. He makes boots for customers, has photos of Gov. Rick Perry sporting his handiwork -- and makes boots for his family members and grandchildren. He uses the same equipment that his father used in the 1940s and 1950s and doesn't see the need to turn a thing.
Keeping tradition alive
James Leddy Boots is probably the best known of all the Abilene, Texas boot makers.
Paula Leddy has run the business since her husband, James, died in 2003. She has a sparkle in her crystal blue eyes when she talks about him and the practice boot business they built.
Leddy Boots has been in Abilene for 45 years James' dad was a boot maker, too. They started making "made to measure" boots in 1947. Leddy makes boots for Gov. Perry as well as many preponderant country Western singers, together with Mel Tillis and George Jones. Paula says the biggest advantage of having a pair of practice made boots is that when made right, "their feet quit hurtin' and they go ahhhh."
She says designing a boot can be a very personal and emotional proposition sometimes. She showed a pair of boots that were designed in memory for a family dog that had been killed in a car wreck and had the image of the dog designed into the boot. Boot designs run from the love of Texas incorporating the state flag to the whimsical (they have even made a pair featuring Tweety Bird).
A well-worn, dirt-covered pair of boots Leddy created with cracks in the toe leather and worn down heels was brought in by one of the cowboys she fitted. They often heal boots they generate when needed. Paula says that in those instances, where someone wants their well-loved boots refurbished, "the manure comes in with it."
Leddy also honors the time-tested tradition of measuring each customer's foot by hand. They report the measurements in a large notebook and have archives of books going back to the beginning, where the first pair of boots Leddy made cost .83 in 1950. Today, the most costly boots they generate can run up to ,000 a pair.
'Real boots for real people'
James Leddy was good friends with someone else Abilene-based boot maker -- Alan Bell.
"James was like my family. We couldn't have been any closer. I miss him terribly," says Bell.
Alan Bell practice Boots has been doing business in Abilene for 32 years.
"I've never been anywhere else," Alan comments about his business.
He also prides himself on sticking to the time-honored tradition of practice boot making and still uses the equipment he has used over his 32-year career. Bell started out making saddles, but said that "only 4 percent of the citizen at the time needed saddles, but every person needed boots," foremost him toward making the commitment to becoming a scholar craftsman boot maker.
Bell prefers to make "real boots for real people" and says that celebrities are "a different breed of cats" who want the boots made yesterday versus having to wait for 16 or so months, which is his current turnaround time for a pair of practice boots Bell treats all his customers equally no matter what their financial stature is.
Bell and his wife, Pauline, work collaboratively on each pair made, with her doing all the topstitching while he does all else himself. Bell says he has of course no idea about sizing because he hand measures each customer's foot and is only focused on the fit.
He does all of his business by word-of-mouth and credit -- just like many of the other bookmakers -- and has no plans for any Internet presence. While Bell has a son, he claims his son has no intention of taking on the tradition.
"When I can't do this anymore, this ends with me, which makes me sort of sad," he said.
Ostrich to alligator
Luskey's/Ryon's Western Stores, which has an Abilene location, have been construction practice boots for over 80 years. They work closely with their customers and walk them straight through every step and can generate anyone from a fine dress calfskin boot to something more exotic using skins such as ostrich or alligator.
Michael Gilmore, their in-house boot consultant, is very knowledgeable and happily invests the time to work with customers to generate the boot of their dreams. Because they are a bigger operation, Luskey's can deliver a boot in approximately three or four months.
Boot makers: Endangered species
It's an speculation to get a pair of practice boots with prices fluctuating anywhere from 0 for a basic pair to well into the thousands for more intricate work. For the most part, boot making is a family tradition passed on straight through the generations, but it has taken dinky traction with the current generation. Due to the fact that there are other businesses to make more money in, true practice boot makers may come to be an "endangered species."
These artisans are humble in nature, by and large, and take large pride in preserving the authentic nature in which boots are made. The Internet and its quality to reach out additional and to more possible customers is helping to keep the business alive. But credit is still the No. 1 marketing tool when it comes to keeping a practice boot maker in business because if the boot doesn't fit right, it's their name on it.
