After long military career, area man returns to passion: Handmade boots

By Staci Semrad, Abilene Reporter News (May 24, 2005)

After 20 years in the Air Force, Brian Thomas has returned to his beloved craft.

Last November, he opened Brian Thomas Boots at 363 E. S. 11th St., where he makes and repairs boots.

Starting a business for the first time didn’t daunt him. Craftsmen like him have other worries, he said, such as making boots fit.

”That’s our biggest fear, because that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Making boots requires patience, attention to detail and a knack for estimating.

”It’s not an exact science,” he said. ”There’s a tremendous amount of guesswork.”

The custom fit attracts people to handmade boots, he said. He spends about 200 hours on each pair and charges $750 and up.

When a customer orders a pair, he determines what type of boot to make by determining how the customer will use the boot. The customer chooses the type and color of leather, and Thomas takes about 11 measurements on each of the customer’s feet before building the boots.

”The last comes first,” he said, noting that the ”last” – a model of the foot – is the hardest and most important part of the process.

He constructs a last to be the same size and shape as the customer’s foot with layers of leather, using an electric finisher to grind and shape it.

”This is where you sweat blood,” he said.

From that model last, he constructs the boot from the top down and ends with a boot – well -made to last.

Thomas’s interest in boot making formed in his youth. He grew up in Southern California and worked at a shoe repair and leather store through his teenage years. Throughout high school, he had wanted to learn how to make boots.

”When I was a senior, I already knew where I was going,” he said.

Oklahoma State Tech was then regarded as the authority in boot-making education, so he signed up for its two-year program and moved to Okmulgee, Okla. He then worked for two years making and repairing boots at a Western wear store in Oklahoma.

Looking back, he figures he learned more from the latter.

”The best way is to skip the college and go and work for a boot maker,” he said. ”Any time you can get in with a small shop, you’ll get a lot more experience.”

He then became an apprentice boot maker for Tex Robin at his shop in Coleman. Thomas talks about Robin like he’s the big dog of boot making.

”If I had a master’s degree, Tex Robin would be well above a Ph.D.,” Thomas said.

Robin said Thomas does a fine job.

”He does it almost like I do,” Robin said. ”You probably couldn’t tell the difference between our work.”

Thomas worked under Robin’s wing for five years.

”That’s when the big switch came,” Thomas said. ”I was turning 27, and I still wanted to serve my country, so I ran away and joined the Air Force. … I just thought I’d serve four years.”

Twenty years later, on Feb. 1 of this year, he retired from the military.

Before retiring, he got back into boot making and began acquiring the necessary equipment. His shop is as custom-made as his boots, with chairs, worktables and machinery built up to accommodate Thomas, who stands 6-foot-4.

”The little people have to bring stilts at night to work in my shop,” he joked.

Photo Credit: Ronald W. Erdrich / Abilene Reporter-News