Ask the Bootmaker podcast with Tyler Lyle
- won 2 categories at Wichita Falls: intermediate top stitching and intermediate dress boot
- started in custom cowboy hats
- worked for a hat shop
- having a kid, coming off the road, find something without so much travel
- moved back to Texas
- always wore custom boots
- odd size that can’t find off the shelf
- “the hardest way possible”
- contacted Brad Blynn in Lubbock
- offered two-week deal
- built first pair in a week
- crash course
- went home for four weeks
- came back for another week
- did the exact same thing
- bought a repair shop (just the equipment)
- took about a year without a job
- built six or seven pair
- lived closest to greg Carmack
- drove to Waco, brought pair 3 or 4, having trouble getting the last out
- asked for help, he didn’t hesitate
- kept coming by every couple months, taking tips
- went on for about a year, year and a half
- got pretty serious
- about pair 15-20 started charging decent money
- took about six months off, tried to quit, wasn’t making money
- sold the boot shop
- six months later, Greg Carmack and Jarrett Van Curen told not to quit
- bought some equipment back
- bought some new equipment
- better knew what needed
- “kind of a restart for me”
- really resolved to make it happen
- about a year and a half now
- five days a week
- crash course
- no leather background
- fast paced
- “you can’t learn anything in two weeks”
- discouragement came from the business side of thing
- “have to go from learning to making a dollar”
- wise words
- Jarrett:
- became pretty good buds
- talked often
- Greg Carmack
- “by far…my driver to keep pushing me”
- just by chance
- close, willing to help
- “not to be a quitter”
- joking at the time
- saw that he could do it
- work through he business-side struggles
- helped with pricing
- “efficient as you can”
- Jarrett:
- work pace
- opinion: to make a solid living, need to make 50-70 pair a year
- very hard to do alone
- some shops turn out 20 and make a profit, but not at his price point
- at his current price point, has to make at least 50 pair
- works boot show to boot show
- which number pair did he enter at the last show versus this one?
- 24 pair in most recent 4 months
- 6 pair in January
- favorite part: the experience of coming in, being measured, digging through leather
- Willie
- wears 9 or 9½ EEEE or EEE
- has tons of custom boots
- has only had two or three old boots
- other customer 8½EEEE has been buying 10½EE off the shelf
- way too long but fit circumference
- can physically get his feet in
- lots of people just know that boots don’t fit ’em well
- if you fit them, you’ve got a customer for life
- Willie
- “The Bootmaker’s Prayer”
- please fit, please fit, please fit
- got to know your customer
- e.g. recently did a big group build for a bunch of first-timers
- all wore their boots very sloppy
- easy to pull on
- don’t hug foot
- ask people if they want them easy to pull on or to pop
- biggest surprise: how many people want nice things
- they will spend the money
- have something different than others
- whatever “custom” is for them
- not enough makers for demand
- have to fit in person?
- yes, required
- conflict with social media as main way of reaching people
- when traveling, can sometime fit people close by
- need the chance to read the customer
- self-measurement kits are not reliable or consistent
- who’s liable if they don’t fit?
- guarantee fit if he measures
- has made mistakes on a small handful
- goes to events and shapes hats for a friend
- sometimes fits people before or after the event
- women’s boots
- “a boot is a boot”
- lasts: no such thing as men’s or women’s size
- mother built on a 7½ last, she usually wears 9 women’s
- he builds a little different: thinner insole, thinner sole
- not as thick and rugged, but will if they need them
- most women he’s fit don’t wear boots everyday
- little bit lighter leather
- same for men’s office boots
- want a 9 iron sole, they get it
- Alligator from American Tanning out of Georgia
- get multiple hides from the same dye lot
- fitting
- builds a last to each customer
- starts with heel to ball
- short heel
- uses stock lasts, then builds up
- has close to 75 lasts on hand
- working on designing a new last
- saves the built-up lasts
- can take orders by phone once last is built
- 27 years old
- future of the industry
- if it just stays the same, it’s not going to look good
- beaten every day by Mexico and El Paso
- no comparison, but people don’t know the difference
- will lose suppliers
- older guys retiring
- young people don’t how to get in, don’t know it exists
- not at the point where he’s teaching
- “I’m still a young pup”
- only 3½ years total
- “I’m not the answer, but I have an answer”
- walk into any repair shop
- they are 6 to 8 weeks out on half soles and heel caps
- “I want to do this”
- “the top work”
- option 2: find a veteran bootmaker, over a thousand pair
- intern without a paycheck
- you don’t know anything, aren’t valuable
- Lee Miller has three kick-ass people, stick with him for a long time
- most: about five people in a shop
- making 20 pair a week or more
- had close to $15,000 invested before knew what he was doing
- everyone’s situation different
- if you’re not trying to do it alone for a living, just as a hobby, can go it alone
- some self-taught makers are really good for how many they’ve made
- we could take 100 more bootmakers across the US and not put a dent in the market
- we wouldn’t even be fighting over customers that way
- older makers: used to be secretive
- everyone sat in a corner and did one job
- now everybody helpful
- if don’t agree, that’s fine, a million ways to do it
- “we don’t see each other as competition”
- costs
- just recently hiked base price
- 30 to 50 hours to build a pair
- a week’s pay for somebody, plus materials and shop rent
- went from $1,200 to $1,600 base
- most makers that are friends are right there
- at $1,200, undercutting himself
- did that for a year
- wait was 8 months
- handful are over $2k to get on the books
- first questions what’s your base and how long is your wait?
- base: pigskin or french calf boot, baby calf or kidskin tops
- three rows of stitching
- up to 13 top
- no brand inlay, no collars, no toe bugs
- $50 per row
- $100 for oversize tops
- $150 for brand inlay
- everyone’s base is different, but they’re close
- no exotics
- favorite leather: alligator or elephant
- has lots of elephant at the shop
- don’t has a lot of alligator, very expensive
- trading pairs with Jarrett, will enter in contest against each other
- ==he does that every year with a different maker==
- sometimes they don’t end up in the same category
- has a collection of other makers’ custom boots in his shop
- Lisa gifted a pair, her personal boots
- new shop
- Calvert, TX
- previously shared with a saddlemaker
- 1400 square feet now
- downtown
- tiny town, one stop
- Instagram his biggest social media account