Category Archives: Featured Bootshops

Featured Bootshops

Travel Tip

 

I love driving through Texas visiting boot shops, but I know I’m in trouble when I hear…

“Turn at the second dirt road on your right”

“Look for a brown fence with some horses.”

“We’re on the left, down the driveway…back a-ways. The shop’s behind the house.”

Yeah, right. Sure thing.

Here’s my travel tip… forget GPS. At times like this, I find my way with DQ.

What’s “DQ”…you ask?

After you get lost, drive back to town, and park at the Dairy Queen. Then you call the shop with your cel phone. The bootmaker will either give you more detailed directions (usually having to do with the color of the mailbox, the spots on the horses, or maybe the truck parked out front) …OR if you’re lucky, you’ll get to hear these wonderful words…

“Just wait there. I’ll come and get you.” (Yay!)

These are some photos I took when I visited Tom Smith in Aspermont, Texas. Tom makes a beautiful sturdy cowboy boot. Sometimes I think hard working cowboys pick such bright punchy colors, so at least some of the color can manage to fight its way through all the dust and muck.

Tom’s shop looks small on the outside, but feels big on the inside…I’m not sure how that works.

Tom Smith Custom Boots
PO Box 482
Aspermont, TX 79502
(940) 989-3385

Cowboy Boots, Featured Bootshops

Cowboy Boots in Bangkok

When I edited the shop info for Tony’s Leather on my “Outside the U.S. Bootmaker List“… I realized I never posted any of the photos I took (years ago) when I visited Thailand.

Tony makes cowboy boots for tourists. He makes boots for business men. Cowboy boots are strictly a tourist or “farang” (said “falang”) fashion item.

Even I had enough sense not to wear my cowboy boots in Thailand. Why? Good manners demand you take your shoes off at nearly every doorstep, and keep your head lower than a monk’s smile. But then, there’s those public porcelain squat toilets. Boy Howdy! We’re talkin’ slippery!

Any clear-thinkin’ Thai gave up wearing cowboy boots along time ago.

Want to see some fancy stuff? Here are some more photos from one of Tony’s customers.

Cowboy Boots, Featured Bootshops

Tex Robin Boots (Now)

This trip to Texas I retraced some very special steps.

When Tex Robin moved his shop a couple of years ago, I admit I got all sappy and nostalgic over him leaving that old brick building in Coleman.

…but I’ve come to my senses. Welcome to Abilene! Gone are the fire hazards and all the pesky walk-in-and-out traffic. And look! …the walls go straight up and down, and there is my favorite display case…and look over there, there’s even a working electrical socket dedicated to Tex Robin’s guitar and amp.

Tex is doing some beautiful bootmaking. Killer inlays or one-row stitch patterns… doesn’t matter, all good…really good. But be warned, ordering boots from Tex is not for the thin-skinned or the faint of heart. By appointment only. Long wait… and if Tex doesn’t like your design, he’s gonna tell you so. That’ll never change.