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Old-fashioned shop becomes boot maker to the stars
EL PASO, Texas (AP)--Tres Outlaws makes cowboy boots the old-fashioned way and owner Jerry Black isn't modest about the quality.
"I think I make the best boots in the country," said Black, who operates a 10-person shop near the U.S.-Mexico border. "We make them the way they were made 100 years ago. They'll last forever and fit perfect. If you can't wear them all day the first day, then there's something wrong."
Tres Outlaws' reputation for quality and durability is what's earned the company some famous customers.
The shop recently made a custom pair for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with detail work that included the governor's seal, the Golden Gate Bridge, redwood trees and the Hollywood sign.
Celebrities Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Clint Black, Bruce Willis, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, James Gandolfini and Sean Penn also own Tres Outlaws boots, Black said.
Tyler Beard, a leading authority on cowboy boots who's written three books on the subject, called Black and his partners "mad but brilliant wizards." He counts Tres Outlaws among the top three bootmakers in a world where cowboy boots have acquired a "cult following."
"Their work confounds and astounds other bootmakers. They have incredible visions," said Beard, who's books include "Art of the Boot."
The cowboy boot evolved from the first cattle drives in the late 1800s, Black said. Hollywood cowboys Tex Ritter and Tom Mix helped make ornate boots famous.
In 1992, when Beard wrote his first cowboy boot book, there were about 300 bootmakers using old leather working techniques. Now, he said, the number is about 50. "It's definitely a dying art," he said.
The hours of handiwork that go into each pair make Tres Outlaws' boots expensive--the least expensive costing about $600 and the most expensive ranging into the thousands of dollars.
In a workshop filled with tanned leather and radios tuned to different stations, the craftsmen--and one craftswoman--work. The leather is hammered, clipped, stretched, glued and stitched on turn-of-the-century sewing machines. One machine was owned by Black's grandfather.
"They are simple to work, low maintenance, but the parts are almost not available," Black said.
Along with using old machines, the artisans use old techniques.
Small wooden pegs hold the soles to the boots. The pegs, made by only one company in the United States, are lemon wood and swell more than the leather when wet, holding the sole in place.
"It can do that for a lifetime," Black said.
And Tres Outlaws still puts three peg rows on the inside, two on the outside, because, "When you ride a horse, in the stirrup, you put more pressure on the inside than the outside," Black said.
One capitulation to modern technology is the thread used, which is a durable braided nylon instead of the flax-type material used 100 years ago, Black said.
However, patterns remain hand-stitched.
Black said a computer can stitch flawlessly, creating a pattern in minutes that takes hours by hand. However, slight variations in handmade boots make them unique and the rows of stitching can be much closer than those made on a computer-driven machine, he said.
Finding skilled artisans is getting to be as hard as finding necessary materials, Black said. His master bootmaker is 81-year-old Asuncion Campos, who comes from a long line of bootmakers.
"When I have any questions about anything," Black said, "I ask him."
Campos said--"God willing"--he will continue to make boots for another 20 years. He is from Ciudad de Leon in central Mexico, where both his brother and father were bootmakers. He worked for big-name bootmakers Tony Lama and Justin before starting with Tres Outlaws in 1985.
"It feels good," Campos said in Spanish. "It's the work of my life."
It has become a passion for Black as well. So far, the pinnacle of Black's art is a pair of boots depicting the history of Mexico, including the Aztec symbol of the eagle and serpent, Mayan temples, turn-of-the-century revolutionary Pancho Villa, and real coins from five different centuries.
The boots, which Black said took 600 hours to create, are worth between $50,000 and $75,000. They most likely never will touch pavement and are kept in a safe, he said.
"They believe in sweating the small stuff," Beard said. "I just find their work is awe-inspiring."
For more information visit Falconhead Boots, Belts and Buckles, a distributor of Tres Outlaws boots at www.falconhead.com.
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