Continuation:
How can
I justify why I should value the investment of a
“best” handmade, not better, handcrafted or a
standard production boot.
Should I trust they will make a difference in
my life? Dream
boots?
Many
companies talk a lot about a lot of features they
“do” with their products. Many of them could make
ordinary sound great because they pay thousands for
marketing! Let’s
look at some of the benefits, rather than just
features, (assuming the highest quality materials are
used, depending on the intended purpose for your
wear).
There are
boots, and then there are boots!
Your Cultured Cowboy Boots are handmade of the
finest materials and with the careful craftsmanship of
certainly one of the
best bootmakers in Texas.
With more experience in crafting top class
American Alligator custom footwear, (Probably the
hardest material to form, to skive, to materialize
into impressive and comfortable boots.), you can
believe this expert is picky enough and proud enough
to make any of your boots as impressive as any
you’ve ever collected.
For an
avid Western boot wearer, to spend up to a week’s
wage is a normal thing to do. For two weeks wages, ya
gotta think about it. Ya gotta choose it over other
alternatives. JB Stetson first priced his Western hats
at a month’s wages as he began his company. People
gladly paid it because the value received was worth
much more than their investment.
I was
asked by a professional client, “How can a person
give to others without feeling like my glass is even
half full? When I give all the time there’s
sometimes nothing left to give.” Without some
renewal, we can’t. Each of us can make a list of
ways we could renew our spirit & strength. One way
for many is to put on something “best” and feel
good about deserving to own it.
Possible
Values:
1)When I know I am well dressed, I have an increased
confidence in my ability and therefore I accomplish
better.
2)When others see that I am well dressed, others
better respect what I can offer them. They
“see” proven worth in my ability.
3)When I have longer term investments in quality, I
feel more secure. I am actually investing, not
spending.
4)My feet feel better, and legs, and back, from better
support offered by better footwear. I’m not tired,
nor tiring.
5)When I wear the best, I know people appreciate my
smile. It is easier to smile, and I feel more generous
toward them.
6)As I somewhat “spoil” myself, I realize I do
deserve some of the better “tools” for my life. I
can more easily fill other’s needs, especially
family, when I feel refreshed myself.
7)My time with my “honey” is valuable. I want to
feel special when with her/him, and to know I want
their time with me to feel special too.
8)Wearing the best, I better understand how others
will be enhanced by their wearing their best too. I
can encourage them.
9)I can choose footwear that is appropriate for my
intended use: Better leather bottoms for dancing, best
rubber soles for riding, or working where slip
resistance is important. Either impressive dress
leather / exotic uppers, or oil /barnyard acid
resistant leathers.
And feel good, either way!
10)I am choosing to live my life, rather than reacting
to how others try to choose how they want me to live.
Cultured
Cowboy, (Chuck Taylor) has been designing footwear,
based on fulfilling benefits from thousands of long
term boot wearers. “Way
back when”, (1984), the original Dan Post educated
me on finer qualities of boot materials. From there,
Justin, Tony Lama, Nocona, taught me differences of
handcrafted and handmade. Ariat introduced me to
better “performance boots”, and Twisted X has
carried these forward. Ammons taught me that “spoil
me” quality is sometimes more valuable than giving
more disposable products.
Nothing
makes you feel better than giving your best to those
you love. Although relationships may change, children
move away from home, styling may shift, respect for
someone who has given their best becomes a hallmark of
how you are remembered.
What I
hear every week: You are requesting “Where are the
boots I used to wear?”
“How come, these aren’t holding up like my
boots from 15 yrs ago?” “My MD recommended a
Western boot rather than … Yet, the stuff I’ve
been wearing is not helping.”
Cultured
Cowboy is working very hard to make your boot dreams
come true again! Major
boot companies are becoming more set up for production
for the masses! So finding a “real” custom
bootmaker for you excites us!
I too am where you are. I too am again wearing
a pair made for me. I too am taking my time to
encourage you, that these are worth more than you ever
expected from boots.
My
great friends at Justin/Tony Lama told me that my
percentage of custom requests per production boots
were out of line for their comfort.
LET ME MAKE CLEAR – I love these companies.
They just are not making what more discerning wearers
are requesting. Their focus is shifting as they see
fit.
Why are
Cultured Cowboy Customs sometimes 1/3 less than other
custom boots?
1 (We’re trading ad costs for your testimonials.)
One of the preferred conditions of our making these
custom boots for you is we request you take a few
minutes to teach others about your experiences with
these boots.
2) There are not multiple layers of management and
sales, and design, and office staff to pay. We can
still be OK, with a reasonable margin of profit.
We’d rather pass a good program forward with
you, than make it affordable only to the “rich &
famous”.
3) For us, the pride of serving you as you should be
served is more important than the bragging rights of
most $ per pair profits.
-
For
example, I’ve been wearing boots since 17, and I’m
now 62. The pair made for me only took 40 minutes to
break in. In a couple wears, there was some break in
“squeaking” because I chose a tire rubber sole
against the handmade stacked leather heels. About
20 hours into my wearing them, this went away. Just a
matter of “patience” to have exactly what I
dreamed of wearing! Real stacked leather heels relieve
the pounding my feet take while walking on concrete
based floors all day.
God
Bless the ability to get boots made like I became
accustomed to, been spoiled from, again! My back feels
40 yrs younger when I wear these boots.
- My
second wife, (sorry ‘bout that), is still wearing
the Burgundy Ostrich which were made for her in the
mid 1990’s. 25 years; only
$2.17 per month. Fractions
of the price of an Exotic boot with lesser quality
“guts” inside. $650
was a fair price in 1993. (It’s 2018 now)
This
same maker makes your Cultured Cowboy Custom boots.
Yes, he makes for other major brands. Especially,
coordinating with another leather artist with many of
the intricate hand tooled boots combined with ostrich
& alligator, you have awed in past. Beautiful
boots are of his reputation & repertoire!
Cultured
Cowboy is especially honored to have been approached
by such a friend, such a quality connoisseur, who
holds tremendous caring for his wearers, a respect for
the industry, and ability to back up your extreme
comfort desires!
If you
have heard of, seen, or tried on Ammons or Classic
Lucchese, or awed some of the finest quality Western
boots in magazines or catalogs, you know the
capability and proficiency and comfort I’m trying to
describe.
Many
older adults have issues with feet, knees, hips and
back. Like a house or a hotel, the foundation is where
support begins! Even
Scriptures advise about building on sand or stone. 3
Little Pigs chose sticks or bricks.
I had a
quite famous celebrity ask if he were crazy for
spending the investment of a pair of these boots! As I
told him: The
average person will spend a week’s salary on a pair
of well designed boots without batting an eye. “OK,
box ‘em up!” So,
I recently read where the average manufacturing
position paid well over $35.000.00 or $673.00 per
week, plus bonuses, plus plus plus…
Do you really want to wear footwear mostly made
by $40.00 per month labor, and with parts that profit
the production lines rather than you? When your
happiness and health depend on a great foundation upon
which to stand?
With
these “Trucker Boots”, we researched “tire
rubber” soles and found exactly what you want with
Goodyear’s newest best diamond treaded ball area.
The remainder of your soles are slightly grooved for
safe dispersal of liquids from under your feet, while
still retaining a quality that will not track debris
as “lug” soles are known to do. These soles are
made for climbing onto ladders, tractors, barn roofs
and stirrups.
Your
outsoles work perfectly with the arch, ankle and total
foot bottom support built into each pair. Your boots
are welted so resoles are available. Notice the brass
nailing, and rounded bottom under your arches. This
takes an experienced craftsman to get just right. It
allows the arch support you need to be held in place
properly. This construction has been a sign of quality
since modern boots began.
I’ll admit that there might be a slight sound
as you walk till the boot breaks in, but
it doesn’t take long for that to happen. It’s the
rubber matching into the stacked leather heels.
{Sidebar
– Your boots can also be handmade with a top quality
leather sole, or a mini-rib Vibram sole. The mini-rib
Vibram is
a fully grooved, very flexible, thinner bottom of tire
rubber, a popular alternative to the Goodyear
described above, for jobs requiring a lot of walking.
The quality of our leather soles will make this boot
as fine a Western Dress boot as is made.
Shown
in an R toe, you can choose from R, (Med round), J toe
(more pointed), U toe (roper), or a square toe version.
The toe is boxed properly and lasted by hand as your
boot is built.
Pretty
much, unless you specify differently, the most popular
combination lasts are used so fit is impeccable! We
have ability to special order difficult last sizes to
use for feet that are either more discriminating, or
just hard to fit.
Notice
there is some relief incorporated over the top of your
arch. When you feel that “Plop” into your boot as
you pull it on, you can rest assured that the slippage
is proper, and does not restrict your foot’s blood
circulation by pressing too tightly on that vein which
crosses over the top of your foot. Great for all day
wear. (Less
swelling of your feet.)
Best
Glove leather linings wick away foot moisture, without
eating socks, are throughout the entire inner side of
your boot. In fact, it’s the leather which you
can’t see, inside the boot’s inner workings, which
makes the difference in excellence and ordinary.
A
softer inner heel pad is placed under your heel to
help dissipation of concussion.
By the way, Outer heels are real stacked
leather. Why? The layers of leather adjust and adapt
to your way of gait better than the non-moving
“reconstituted leather” used in “genuine
leather” (ground & glued scraps) advertised by
many makers. If
you’ve worn the best before, you understand the
difference you’ll feel from your foot bottom all the
way through your spine, as everything, (your entire
boot design), works together for your benefit.
Your
heel counter is a real chunk of leather too. Skived
into the lining so you have a smooth transition,
attached securely to the heel base through heel rand,
this leather gives you lateral support as well as
holding your spurs in place as a boot should. None of
that “pressed material” or stiffened canvass that
mushes over to the outside as the boot gets wet!
If you thought you were the cause of lateral
failure, you might be hard on the wear, but it takes
better materials to make the whole boot last in
comfort for a long time.
Do your
toes sweat a lot?
Might be that manmade toe box we don’t use.
Materials that are pre-molded or easy to mold
by machine save cost, but will create heat. Not these
boots! They’re hand lasted from natural materials
which allow heat and sweat to move out of your toes.
Pulled across and shaped by expert artisan hands, the
toe box forms and maintains the integral shape of your
boot’s front.
You
want to know my biggest gripe in many boots?
Cotton cord piping covered by a thin layer of
plastic sheeting. It breaks at the bends, and my
expensive boots need me to take a “Sharpie” pen to
recolor & hide the flaws. This piping is supposed
to provide smooth transition and some give as you
walk/run/work in your boots. Leather
piping is used in your Cultured Cowboy Handmade boots,
as a washer to prevent the leathers from wearing each
other out in movement. (yes, plastic does this too)
Real leather, with the right stitching, allows the
proper give & take that allows your leather to
move with your movement, and doesn’t easily crack at
your ankles. (Keep ‘e conditioned.) Often, if you
have ankle rubbing, its caused by the initial
stiffness of poor piping and the stitching used at the
ankle area.
OK,
there’s a part called the “rand”. This is a
layer between inner heel & counter, and the heel
base of your boot. Here there is a nylon type compound
that is used to prevent the heel base from smashing
through the upper at the joining of your heel area.
(Think of it as similar to the
“cartilage” between your bones.) This
dissipates pressures. Didja know, your heel takes a
huge pounding every step you take? (2112 average steps
in a mile. 160 lb man. 316,800 lbs of pressure
repeated. Wow didn’t God do a great wonder in
designing the bones & padding in your feet! )
These handmade boots are engineered to be the
best of protection, and long term comfort.
This
pounding is why the bottom of your heel base has a
slip-resistant “tire rubber” plate placed on the ground
surface of the heel base. You hit down on a relatively
small area which needs ability to not slip till your
foot rolls forward, and to be easily replaceable as
that back of your heel cap wears faster than any other
part of a boot.
The
other manmade material used in your boots is the nylon
threading – again, the best in our industry, used
throughout your boots. Most people are not
particularly picky about the pattern or the stitch
color blends. – But now you can be!
We can either computer stitch the tops, or hand
stitch the tops for you. Yes, hand stitching will not
be as perfect as the computers, but connoisseurs will
see the difference.
So you decide
which you prefer!
This model shown has a simple computer stitched
top to reduce costs. (We do believe in using
technology, when technology makes perfect sense!)
{Sidebar
- Why are
most soles sewn with white thread?
Two reasons.
1) Original bootmakers were proud of their
handstitching and the white thread showed their
quality. 2)
White thread cost a few cents less than colors!
(Betcha didn’t figure that one!)
Save money when saving makes sense. Spend money
when spending now will save you $$$ over the life of
the boot, and when the comfort levels are greatly
increased. You can choose white or colored sole
stitching. (If ya get the white, a Sharpie Fine point
will touch ‘em the color you choose.)
These
“Trucker” boots, (as they have been called since
truckers delivered from their trucks) (it’s a design
– not a nickname) are the best of all worlds for
guys & gals who wear them every day. I prefer to
call them “Usin” boots. They are made to use in
everyday blue collar, white collar, or ranching
conditions!
Justin
made the yellow mule leather famous. Unfortunately,
Justin explains that the yellow mule is no longer
available to them. They are right! SO if it is the
color you like best, we can make your boots in a
“Sunkist”, yellow leather of shoulder quality. (It
will have some heavy grain as all shoulder is famous
for having.) OR, we can use an oil-pullup leather with
more barnyard acid resistant qualities of the older
mule, but it’ll be medium brown.
OR, for
motorcycle fans, we can do a solid black. And can
blend top stitching to match your Harley, Indian,
Yamaha, Honda, colors.
This sole and counter and support construction
is perfect for riding Iron horses, as well as tractors
and horses of flesh & blood!
You’ll
see a boot of allover shoulder, and one with shoulder
foot and cowhide upper for an attractive contrast.
Quality is exceptional whichever color or hide you
choose.
Yes, we
carry some in stock. And stock is building! But
with all the variety available to you, wouldn’t you
rather have your pair made to order as you want the
specifics to be?
If we have your boots in stock, 3 to 7
days delivery. If
they have to be made… hold onto your hats… only 3
to 10 weeks, depending on your specs!
This is crazy when the average special makeup
boot can be 6 to 9 months, isn’t it!
And they are not rushed through!
Get
this… You can make a reasonable deposit of about
half, and we’ll get your boots started. The other
half, we’ll work with you as you need.
Dealing
with a smaller maker, who both cares about you, and
retaining a relationship with you, is really
important. And
if you’ve been waiting for twice as long as we first
promised, (Orders from Fall 2017) it’s because we
had more stuff to work through than we imagined.
(Imagine that?) Now,
we have our program all ready to go. We’ll
be back in touch! With apologies! And with quality you
expect. And now with reasonable delivery times.
Hope
this reading has been helpful to you.
After all this, don’t you feel you deserve a
pair or two? Please
contact us with any questions or comments, or concerns
you might have. A
closet full of custom boots is not for everyone.
But everyone deserves to at least try a pair!
Take a look at the new possibilities below.
Thank
You & God Bless You all,
Chuck & friends.
And
now, Take a look at your next pair of Handmade
boots!
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