How It All Began
Founder & Chief Texan Will Roman shares the accident that took him down the rabbit hole into the boot world—and resulted in the Chisos boots that we know and love today.
Transcript
So I've worn boots my entire life.
And then in my twenties, I had a motorcycle accident and messed up my back, and it made wearing boots painful. I'd still do it anyway and go out dancing, but I'd deal with the consequences for days.
So finally, I was out in West Texas, getting recharged, down by the Chisos Mountains, and I looked down at my feet one day, at my boots, after my back is killing me, and I just thought, "How hard could it be?" Which started me down this rabbit hole.
I started looking online. I bought books. I started cutting open my own cowboy boot collection to see how are they made? What's going on inside? And ended up working my way down to a workshop in Mexico that took me under their wing. And I set out to make a boot that was comfortable enough to wear all day, even if you have back issues.
But one of the things I found out is that the other big players were cheapening their boots.
When I was cutting open my collection, I was cutting open other big brands, and I saw that they're introducing plastics. They're not doing full leather heel counters. They're not doing channel welds, they're using canvas and gemming. And there's all these things where, if you have a big company and you've got private equity money, eventually you start to cut corners.
There was an opportunity here for Chisos to not just be a more comfortable boot and change and update some of the things are made, but also to go back in time and to look at 100 year old technology, hand crank tools, to do things like channel well, which 95% of boots out there don't do.
The result is a handcrafted, durable boot that's also incredibly comfortable and cleans up pretty well too.
Our love for the great state of Texas—and enthusiasm for cowboy boots—motivates just about all that we do. On this blog, we write about community stories, local news and what goes into making the best damn comfortable cowboy boots money can buy. Y'all make it possible for our little boot shop to exist. Don't hesitate to reach out! Call or text 512-866-7222 or howdy@chisos.com
