The cattle industry created Amarillo in the late 1880s, and cowboy boots took the first steps down the city’s earliest dirt roads. They could withstand harsh terrain, unpredictable weather and long hours in the saddle, and it didn’t take long for bootmakers to set up shop in the growing city.
Boot repair shops popped up on Polk Street in the early 1900s. Custom boot orders became big business, and they didn’t just come from cowboys. Boots entered the culture. Customers from across the nation, including Hollywood legends like Clark Gable, were drawn to stitch patterns and other hand-crafted details that became known in the industry as “Amarillo Flare.” Suddenly, it seemed, the bootmaker had become the legend.
Amarillo is still home to an array of talented bootmakers. These artisans weave craftsmanship, fashion and function into every stitch. Amarillo boots find their way onto the feet of hardworking farmers and ranchers across the country. Hollywood has its demands as well. You can see the work of Amarillo makers in nearly every arena of pop culture, and you can literally get your kicks here on Route 66.
From shops with a century of history to startups by young entrepreneurs, Amarillo is rich with creators whose craftsmanship makes feet happy around the world.
From the editors:
We were so impressed by the western style and craftsmanship of these bootmakers that we had to see those beautiful boots on an equally beautiful model. Enter our friend Lauren Pawlowski.
What better setting than The Barfield downtown? Our friends there graciously welcomed us late one Friday afternoon as we explored the hotel’s historic charm—shooting on the preserved history of its 10th floor, relaxing in the private Derringer Room (where Lauren appears on our cover), and turning heads in the elegant lobby (shown here).
Special thanks to Monkee’s of Amarillo for the gorgeous clothing, Aurora Luxe for the stunning furs, Bustamante Boots (seen on the cover), and Beck Boots.
American Boot Company
201 Westgate Parkway West, Suite J | 806.282.3252
It might be surprising to hear that one of the best-known boot shops in West Texas is run by a Chicago-born proprietor named Giovanni within sight of Westgate Mall. But Giovanni Meraz is serious about cowboy boots. “Boots are in my blood,” Giovanni explains, “My grandfather was a lifelong bootmaker and my parents ran a western-wear store for a long time.”
When he was 14, Meraz’s family left Chicago and moved to the Texas Panhandle. He graduated from Highland Park High School and started making boots to help pay for college, where he became a criminal justice major and wanted to be a police officer. “I thought my future was pretty well laid out,” he says. He even went on a few ride-alongs with the Amarillo Police Department. Bootmaking was just a hobby.
Then, in 2016, he walked in to pay his cell phone bill at a wireless provider on Westgate Parkway. “On the way back to my car, I saw this place for rent,” he says. 
Meraz never became a cop, and American Boot Company is almost 10 years old.
“Bootmaking isn’t a job for me,” he says. “I love it.” He learned particulars of the craft from his grandfather, but has developed his own reputation and style. Customers from Tennessee to Arizona have found their way into American Boot Company, and nearly 70 percent of his business comes from outside the Amarillo area.
“The highest compliment I can get is when someone tells me that their boots received compliments out in the world,” Meraz says. Like the Ross Brothers, his work includes making boots for residents of Boys Ranch, thanks to a generous donor. “I want to make sure all the kids out there have what they need.”
His boots may be made for walking, but a lot of them have traveled the world before anyone wears them. “There are animals from three different countries in those boots,” he says, pointing to several pairs on a nearby shelf. “I once made boots and belts for brothers who had actually hunted the alligator I used in construction.”
Beck Cowboy Boots
7200 Canyon Drive | 806.373.1600 | beckboots.com
The history of Beck Boots runs almost exactly parallel to Amarillo history. In 1916, twin brothers Earl and Bearl Beck opened a boot shop in Dalhart. They moved to Amarillo in 1921. A century later, the Beck name remains a standard in the industry. “Harry Beck himself hired me in 2009,” says Jeremy Pool, the current owner. “I think it was one of those ‘right place, right time’ kind of things.”
Pool grew up in Stratford, and received a degree in aeronautical technology from Kansas State University. He served as a pilot for Hastings for several years before they closed [see our feature on p. 104], followed by what he describes as “a brief misstep” as a financial advisor.
He was ready for something different. So 16 years ago, Pool walked into Beck Boots looking for work. “I just thought [bootmaking] looked cool,” he recalls. Harry hired him first as a clerical administrator. Pool excelled in customer service and business management and, in 2016, had the opportunity to buy the shop. He partnered with Carlos Quiroz, who’d been making boots with Harry for several years. “We had both the boots and the business [sides] taken care of,” Pool says.
He jokes that his shop is “kind of a one-trick pony.” They just happen to be really good at that one trick: creating working cowboy boots, true to the Beck name. “Our boots are known for their durability and functionality,” he says.
Beck Boots supplies three categories of boots. The first are what Pool calls “in-house” boots, available in standard sizing for walk-in customers. A level up from that is the “Cowboy Special,” a custom boot with certain options made for the working cowboy. “These boots take us nearly eight weeks to construct,” he says. They are truly custom, taking into consideration not only a cowboy’s foot length, but measurements like instep height, toe shape, and ankle and calf circumference.
Pool then categorizes his topmost level of boots as “Full-Blown Custom.” They can take up to a year to make, and he describes them as “a joint design venture between us and the customer.” Those customers include celebrities. He doesn’t always identify them by name, but at least one is familiar: “I really love the ones we made for Nolan Ryan.”
Pool and Quiroz have expanded shop operations since 2016, including a move to a new home at 7200 Canyon Drive, which was formerly a rental event venue. In fact, the barn-like building served as a horse stables in the 1950s—another one of those “right place, right time” situations.
Bustamante Cowboy Boots
706 W. Valencia Drive | 806.341.7517
In an unassuming shop south of town, near the Claude Highway, Vidal Bustamante is surrounded by dogs and cats. They rarely leave his side, even on days like a recent one when he arrived at 4 a.m. to finish 12 pairs of identical boots for a wedding party. “It’s a passion for me,” Bustamante says. “We all just want our customers to be happy.”
Raised in southern Mexico, his family moved to Juarez when Bustamante was 14. He dropped out of school to help his family pay the bills, and found work in a Juarez boot shop. “I think the owner just didn’t want me wandering around outside his shop,” he says. 
Under the watchful eye of his new boss, Bustamante learned to make highly stylized “dancing boots”—also known as botas picudas or “pointy boots.” These boots are more cultural than practical, he says, adding that they are “much lighter than cowboy boots and they have less quality in the durability.”
Bustamante saved enough money to move to Texas in 1998, and soon found himself in Amarillo. Like so many others, he was given a job by Harry Beck. The demand for dancing boots was almost nonexistent here, but Beck taught him how to make working cowboy boots.
“When I left Beck, I opened my garage to friends and neighbors so I could make them cowboy boots,” he says. “Some of my customers here got their first pair of boots from my garage.”
Today, Bustamante continues to specialize in made-to-order, working cowboy boots. “Each pair of boots starts with a piece of paper and a ruler,” Vidal says. Each pair is designed by the customer and made by hand, but the shop is surprisingly prolific: Bustamante says he averages up to 1,500 pairs of custom boots each year, all courtesy of “some little machines and a good knife,” he says, bending over to pet his dog.
When possible, he delivers boots in person and enjoys interacting with customers. “I love to meet someone, have a cookout, get to know them, and then go to work.”
Dean Randolph Custom Boots
2005 N. Second Ave., Canyon | 806.570.1669
What do hip-hop mogul Snoop Dogg, country music legend Randy Travis and rock-god Steven Tyler have in common? They all own boots or shoes made by Dean Randolph, owner of Dean Randolph Custom Boots in Canyon. 
His upbringing was about as far from the world of celebrity as you can get. “I grew up pretty simply in Mobeetie on a cotton farm,” he says. Randolph attended Frank Phillips College and later Texas Tech University on his way to becoming a rodeo cowboy.
He spent15 years on that circuit and remains a Professional Bull Riders judge.
“I had to retire from bull riding in the mid-’90s after I broke my leg,” he says. “I had just ordered a new protective vest for riding, but after I got hurt, I decided to just start making them myself.”
Randolph opened a leather shop in 2000, producing vests and other products. Then, in 2006, he made a pair of boots for his young son. Shoe construction followed soon after. “I’m a sneakerhead,” says Randolph. Some bootmakers are inspired by decades of cowboy tradition. Randolph was inspired by Air Jordans.
In 2012, Randolph opened his shop in its current form, and the best way to illustrate his work is to describe products like a custom pair of baseball cleats—made from actual baseballs and baseball mitts. “I can be the first to do things in the sneaker business,” he says.
Business is booming. Randolph’s connections in the rodeo business keep orders for boots and chaps flowing in. But thanks to social media, the world of custom sneakers has grown from a street-level subculture into a luxury niche. A random call from a leather vendor in Florida introduced his work to the Hollywood elite. “I bought leather and other stuff from this guy, but he had been making specialty shoes for people like Beyoncé and Snoop Dogg for years. He basically didn’t want to do it anymore, and he asked if I wanted to,” Randolph recalls.
He relished the opportunity to take over the portfolio—not necessarily for the celebrity connections, but for the chance to work with the unique materials his famous customers wanted. “I’ve done foot measurements in Arby’s parking lots and the locker room at Madison Square Garden,” he says.
Much like Snoop Dogg, Randolph hasn’t forgotten his roots. “I still love when I see rodeo riders in my boots,” he says.
Leverett Boots
6666 W. Amarillo Blvd. | leverettboots.com
It’s easy to drive past Leverett Boots without noticing the quiet, nondescript shop run by its equally introspective owner, Carson Leverett. “I’ve always been around boots, literally,” Leverett explains. “I was born to a farming and ranching family, and I’m a rancher now, myself. That’s what helps me pay for this place.” 
A graduate of Amarillo High, Leverett earned a degree in philosophy and audio engineering from Belmont University. Those don’t exactly scream “bootmaking career,” but when his path took him to Abilene Christian University for graduate work, he needed help to pay for school. He found it in an Abilene boot shop. “Bootmaking became that rabbit I just had to chase,” he says.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Leverett is also part of the Beck bootmaking heritage. He and Harry Beck first worked together in 2011. “Harry had limited opportunities for shadowing, so he sent me to Edwin Martin in Las Animas, Colorado,” he says. Leverett trained at E.P. Martin Boots for six months, commuting from Abilene to Colorado every weekend during that time. The late Martin had a local connection, having worked at Ingerton Boot and Saddle on Polk Street in the 1940s. “I still have an Ingerton saddle out at my ranch,” Leverett says.
Having learned from a legend, Carson opened his current shop in 2013 and has been crafting incredibly intricate and beautiful boots since. “Boots are basically works of art to me and I love being a creative partner” in their design, he says. “Each pair of boots I make is like a commissioned painting or portrait.” They’re not just made from classic cowhide, either. “I’ve got boots made from kangaroo, caribou, alligator, water buffalo and ostrich in here,” he explains, pointing out a few high-end, exotic materials. “I refuse to lose touch with the trade, though. I always incorporate some stitch pattern or other feature that nods to that Amarillo style.”
He adds that Amarillo’s local bootmakers are “more of a community than a group of competitors.” Each pair can take from 40 to 100 hours, so Leverett Boots only takes orders once a year.
Lucero’s Cowboy Boot Repair
1009 N. Apache St. | 806.517.7500
Jorge Lucero was born in Juarez, Mexico, to a working-class family. As a teenager, he worked in factories and was comfortable using his hands. He married at 18, and Lucero and his new bride moved to the United States. After six months in Artesia, New Mexico, the young family moved to Amarillo. 
Lucero found work at a boot shop, and spent the next seven years learning the trade. “I knew there were people who needed [repair] work we didn’t offer,” he remembers. “I wondered, where are all the other boots?” Wanting to serve more customers, he opened a small, backyard shop out of his home near Forest Hill Elementary.
The work came slowly, and Lucero supplemented his income by also working as a mechanic. “It was hard to build trust with people at first, so I started to do repair work for friends and family,” he says. Those early customers became walking advertisements. As business picked up, little by little, he would add equipment to his operation.
“I would get a ‘boot call’ so I would leave the car shop and come here to meet the customer,” he says, laughing. “However long it took for the boot job, I would make up later at the car shop.”
Repairs soon grew into custom bootmaking, and today Lucero balances the two. His reputation for repair work, however, is legendary. Other local bootmakers often hire Lucero for detailed repair work when they don’t have capacity, and he’s never seen a repair he felt inadequate to handle. “Oh, I can do it,” he says. That’s basically become his business motto.
“People tried to talk me out of this business,” he adds, but he’s always enjoyed the independence of what he does. “I don’t cut corners. Sometimes work is good enough for the customer and still not good enough for me,” Lucero adds. Surrounded by order slips and stacks of boots, he swivels his chair back to the sewing machine in the corner. “I am always busy because I’m always trying to be the best.”
Texas Best Boot & Shoe Repair
5106 S. Western St. | 806.358.2701
Three years ago, Robbie Browning, dissatisfied with his construction career, walked into Texas Best Boot & Shoe Repair asking owners Janet and Gaylen Harden for a job. He didn’t have any bootmaking experience, but he was a quick learner. He wanted to learn a trade.
“I’ve always been good with my hands. If you show me how to do something once, I can do it,” Browning says. The Hardens had been thinking about closing the shop, and had another offer for him. Would he be interested in buying the store?
He took the offer to his wife, Monica, who works for the corporate office of United Supermarkets. “I trusted her business savvy,” he says. “We had what I would call a collective good feeling, so started six months of intense training.”
Browning took to the trade quickly. “I have always been a details guy,” he says. The Tascosa grad grew up playing bass guitar and drums and first pursued a music career, stepping away after a few years. He ended up working as a tile finisher and painter in the construction business.
But with bootmaking and leatherwork, he found his 
true calling. “I’m in this business to help people,” he says, leaning over the counter. “I recently modified a boot for an older cowboy who had several foot and ankle injuries, and he couldn’t flex his foot anymore. My sister hand-made a leather jacket for a customer who had lost an arm in a traffic accident.” He shows off other unique modifications, like a boot with a hidden zipper and removable heel cap.
The “shoe” part of Texas Best Boot & Shoe is intentional, and Browning is one of the few local craftsmen who will perform repair work on any pair of boots or shoes. “A majority of my business is actually ladies’ shoes and accessories,” Robbie states. He brought in Kat, his sister, because of her skill with sewing. The duo also works with purses, jackets, and belts, and the retail side of Texas Best offers hand-made Amish belts, Italian purses and leather jackets made in Japan. All are products designed for durability. “Put your money in up front and wear them til the wheels come off,” he says.
Despite being relatively new to the industry, Browning has found his niche. “I don’t want to live in a place where cowboys and all these other people have to do without a service like this,” he says.
Ross Boots Western Leather Craft Boot Co.
1950 Civic Circle | 806.355.0174
In 1919, D.V. Ross found himself on a train coming home from fighting in World War I. A young volunteer walked up to him with a plate of cookies. “Mama,” D.V. soon wrote to his mother, “I found the woman I’m going to marry.” He followed that woman to Amarillo, and started making cowboy boots.
At least, that’s how D.V.’s grandson, Bob Ross, tells the story. He and his brother, Charles, run Western Leather Craft Boot Co. and Ross Boots. 
The two brothers grew up making boots, and Bob, now in his 80s, remembers sweeping the floor in the original Ross store at 110 Polk St. in the top floor of the Maddox Leather Shop. Over the past century of business, a staggering 29 family members have worked in the business, which the brothers’ parents, Charlie and Neldehn Ross, managed until Charlie passed away.
“The cowboys always just called my mom Mrs. Ross. That was the rule,” Bob says.
The family tradition continues. Charles and Bob are currently training Phil Baldner—who recently married into the family and, therefore, the bootmaking business. “This business was fun until my son-in-law got involved,” Charles jokes.
Bob gestures to a stack of forgotten scraps of leather and tools behind him. “Everything that has no place to go just ends up with me. Some just see sheets of leather. I see boots,” he says. He taps a Singer sewing machine at his work table. “I think this is the oldest sewing machine in Amarillo.”
Like the two brothers, it still works just fine.
Custom work dominates their production these days. “For years, we’ve made the boots for the seniors of Boys Ranch High School,” Charles says. Bob admits that most of those young adults probably don’t realize how significant it is to have a custom pair of cowboy boots. “For many of them, it’s the nicest thing they’ve owned,” he says.
His voice cracks a little, and Bob apologizes for it. After more than five decades as a radio disc jockey and announcer, that’s the kind of detail to which he’s always paying attention. That, and bootmaking details like measurements, leather grain and stitch tension. “I love seeing folks from all walks of life, and I get to share this with my kids,” Charles says. The brothers hope bootmaking stays in their family for generations to come.
