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It’s been a while since I posted here but I recently had the pleasure of meeting Joey Sanchez, a fourth-generation custom cowboy boot maker in El Paso, TX. He and wife, Priscilla, own CaBoots, and have garnered the reputation of being the Cowboy Boot Makers to the Stars of Rock n’ Roll, fitting the likes of Guns N Roses, Santana, the Black Crows and more. Celebrities and politicians of all persuasions are known to rock a pair of CaBoots now and then, too.
It got me thinking about my own relationship with cowboy boots and growing up in Texas. Like myself, for many folks, wearing cowboy boots isn’t a fashion choice; it’s a way of life. There’s a feeling of confidence that you get when you put on a pair and you really do feel ten feet tall!
No, I don’t live on a ranch or have my own horse – a typical question I get when sporting my boots outside the state. But I’ve collected several pairs of cowboy boots over the years and it’s not unheard of for me to rock my black felt Resistol just because.
Here in El Paso, we lay claim to being the “Cowboy Boot Capital of the World” – a well-deserved title in the industry. Ask anyone here in town or across the southwest region and most people will tell you they have a pair of cowboy boots. But to be able to say you have “custom-made” cowboy boots – that puts you on another level! You’ve set foot into the realm of being a “collector.”
CaBoots is one of a handful of custom boot shops still operating in El Paso. There's also Tony Lama, Lucchesse, Jose Sanchez Boots, RocketBuster Boots, Mingo Boots, Alex Boots, and several more. Each boot maker has its own unique style and signature that is easily recognizable by longtime customers and industry supporters. For some, it’s making more traditional styles of boots – styles that date back to the early 1800s like the Buckaroo. Others focus on leather tooling techniques to create beautiful intricate designs. And still yet, there are those that use leather inlays to create colorful pictures and graphic designs.
In talking with Sanchez, it’s clear he takes a lot of pride in continuing his family’s legacy in cowboy boot making history. Although the industry has been overrun by mass-produced boots to satisfy the whims of the fashion industry, there are still folks like the Sanchez family who are dedicated to preserving the art of handmade boot making. More so, he’s a self-proclaimed “purist” when it comes to the actual design of each boot that bears the company name.
Located in a historic neighborhood near downtown El Paso, CaBoots displays shelves of colorful cowboy boots with artistically inspired designs – some that pay homage to a way of life rooted in southwest or Texas folklore. Their team of boot makers come from families who have passed down this art form from generation to generation, many who hail from across the border in our sister city, Cd. Juarez, Mexico.
Let’s face it: No one really knows exactly who invented the modern-day cowboy boot. But like everything else in the world, in Texas, our unique style of living has been influenced by our past and a mishmash of cultures, ideas, likes and sometimes even necessity. We can thank the Spaniards for introducing the horse to the Western Hemisphere and with that, their style of riding boot.
Perhaps their boots were the template for what would lead to the modern cowboy boot design. The Spanish and Mexican influence led to the “vaquero” way of life and continued its journey into the U.S. during the early years of colonization, some say as far north as Kansas. We can safely guess the cowboy boot made its way to the northern part of the hemisphere, as Wyoming, Montana and even Canada boast their adaptation of cowboy life.
To be clear, everything about a cowboy boot serves a purpose to assist a rider. The tall boot shaft protects the rider’s leg and the decorative toe stitching prevents the leather from cracking. Ask Sanchez and he’ll tell you there’s a big variety of toe shapes and heels, all designed to help keep a rider’s foot in the stirrups. That beautiful, intricate embroidery around the boot shaft also serves to keep the boot from folding over. The cowboy boot design is nothing short of a modern engineering feat.
Fast forward and these El Paso-based companies have taken this utilitarian craft, turned it into an art form and put El Paso on the map. Recently, I went on a quest to buy my three-year old, New York City-born-and-raised nephew his first pair of cowboy boots. Turns out for kids this young, the way to go is to buy cowboy boots with side zippers to make it easier to put them on. I refused to give in! Either grab ‘em by the bootstraps or don’t wear ‘em at all!
It’s a rite of passage to be able to put on a pair of cowboy boots AND take them off. I remember being a kid in the 70’s trying to wiggle my foot into a pair of Dingo boots! Ha! Talk about fast fashion and mass production but these boots were affordable and for a kid that ran around a nearby irrigation ditch catching crawfish, they were perfect. And they didn’t have zippers!
I finally walked into a Tony Lama Factory Outlet in the hopes of finding the perfect pair of boots for my sweet boy. A side note: Mr. Lama Sr. and Sanchez’ great grandfather, Yldefonso, worked side-by-side at Fort Bliss making boots for soldiers and handling shoe repairs. Later, both men would leave their posts and, along with their family members, start their own boot companies – pivotal moments in El Paso’s (and this country’s!) history of boot making.
But back to the task at hand – finding my nephew’s first pair of cowboy boots. Great news: I found them! There they were: size 8.5 Toddlers, genuine full-grain leather, walking heel, square toe (Sorry Joey!) Even better, there were no side zippers, just two leather loops on the sides of each boot.
Then, there it was: a small tag attached to my hard-found treasure. It said “MADE IN INDIA”. My heart sank. A tear rolled down my cheek and onto the (square) toe of my full quill ostrich Lucchesses.
The young gentleman asked if everything was alright and if I needed any help. Yes! Yes I need help! What is this? Are you kidding me? How can I, a third generation Texan, send these boots, in good conscience, to New York?
“Made in India?” I asked. “What’s up with that? I thought Tony Lama made their boots here in El Paso,” I said.
“Ma’am, we do. We just don’t make children’s boots here anymore,” he said. “It’s cheaper to outsource them overseas.”
I was disappointed. Like many other true American legends, the brand I was looking at that day, had begun to outsource some of its products overseas. Reluctantly, I bought those boots and mailed them off. My nephew loved them so much, my sister had to slip them off in his sleep. A true Texan at heart after all!
In the aftermath, I know I could have had some cowboy boots custom made for my nephew right here in town and maybe spend a small fortune, but the reality is he would outgrow them in months. Instead, I’ll wait and when the time is right, I’ll send my nephew over to the Sanchez family, where he can order his custom-made boots and live in them happily ever after!