Best Cowboy Boot Brands: Who Makes What, and Where

Five boots, five leathers. The brand matters less than how the boot is built and whether it fits.

There is no single best cowboy boot brand — there is a best brand for what you want. If you want an old Texas house still making boots, that is Lucchese, Justin, Tony Lama, or Nocona. If you want a younger brand built around a single idea, look at Ariat or Tecovas. If you want a small maker that states exactly how its boots are built, there are more of those now than at any point in the last fifty years. Here is who makes what, where, and how each one states its own construction.

What separates the old Texas boot houses from each other?

Lucchese, Justin, Tony Lama, and Nocona all trace back to Texas bootmakers working within about fifty years of each other, and three of the four ended up under the same roof. Salvatore "Sam" Lucchese, born in Sicily, immigrated to the United States in 1883 and settled in San Antonio, where he founded the Lucchese Boot Company; his shop initially served the U.S. Cavalry School at Fort Sam Houston, per the Bullock Texas State History Museum. In 1879 H.J. Justin moved to the Chisholm Trail town of Spanish Fort, Texas, and started a boot repair business inside a local barbershop, according to Justin's own "Our Story" page; once the railroad was built in 1889, the family and the business moved to Nocona. Tony Lama, born in Syracuse, New York, to immigrant parents, served as a U.S. Army cobbler stationed at Fort Bliss in 1910; the Tony Lama Company began operation in 1912 as a small shoe-repair shop in El Paso, per the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Handbook. Enid Justin stayed in Nocona when the Justins moved the family firm to Fort Worth, and she founded the Nocona Boot Company in 1925 and incorporated it in 1926, per TSHA. Justin Brands — which today owns Justin, Tony Lama, and Nocona — is a wholly owned Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary; Berkshire's acquisition of Justin Industries closed in 2000, and Justin Industries had already bought Tony Lama in 1990 and Nocona in 1981, per Berkshire Hathaway and the TSHA Handbook.

How are Ariat and Tecovas different from the old houses?

Ariat and Tecovas are both younger than every Texas house on this list, and each built its name on a different idea. Ariat has made boots since 1993 and says it was the first to integrate athletic footwear technology into boots for equestrian athletes; the name comes from Secretariat, the racehorse, per Ariat's own "About Us" page. Tecovas was founded in 2015 by Paul Hedrick in Austin, Texas; Hedrick saw the Western industry as "hard to navigate, especially for first-time boot buyers," per Tecovas' own "Our Story" page.

Who else is making cowboy boots today, and where?

Outside the big Texas houses, a mix of family-run shops and newer independents make up most of the rest of the market. Rios of Mercedes traces its bootmaking roots to 1853 in Nuevo León, Mexico, with its namesake Texas shop opening in Mercedes in 1929; the Evans family purchased Rios of Mercedes in 1975, and the company launched its second brand, Anderson Bean, in 1985, per Rios of Mercedes. Old Gringo was founded in 2000 in León, Mexico, by Ernie Tarut and Yan Ferry, with U.S. headquarters now in Fort Worth, per Wikipedia and Cowboys & Indians. Chisos, founded in Austin in 2019 by Will Roman, makes its boots in a family-operated workshop in Guanajuato, Mexico, and states its process includes channel welting and hand-lasting, per Chisos and a BootSpy interview. Paul Bond Boots, founded in 1946, runs a custom shop in Nogales, Arizona, where every boot is made the old-fashioned way, per Cowboys & Indians. Black Jack was founded in 1996 by Gerardo Guerra, and its factory is in El Paso, per Pinto Ranch. Durango started in 1966 in Georgia and is now part of Rocky Brands. Corral was founded in 1999 by Othell Welch, who partnered with bootmakers in León, Mexico, and later with the Cuadra family, per COWGIRL Magazine. Dan Post states it has built boots "since 1965," without naming an individual founder on its own "About" page.

Best cowboy boot brands at a glance

What about Bespoke Western's own brands?

Alvies, Hevias, and Olsen-Stelzer are part of the same house, and they belong on this list alongside everyone else — not above them. Alvies was founded in Austin in 2014 by Alvie Faulkenbery IV, started from an Airstream at Austin markets, and states every boot is Goodyear welted and handcrafted in León, Mexico, per alvies.com's FAQ. Hevias, launched in 2021 in Dallas by Rian McCartan, says it owns its supply chain from material sourcing to final construction and that every welted Hevias boot is Goodyear welted and fully resolable. Olsen-Stelzer, formed in 1934 in Henrietta, Texas when Julius Stelzer joined Carl Olsen's shop, is the house's made-to-measure tier, ordered directly and delivered in 8 to 12 weeks per its own history page. None of the three is "the best" boot on this page — each is one option among the brands above, built the way its own maker states.

What actually separates a good boot?

Across every brand on this page, the same four things decide whether a boot lasts: the welt, the leather, the last, and the fit. A true Goodyear-welted or hand-welted boot stitches the upper, welt, and sole together so the boot can be resoled; a cemented (glued) boot generally cannot be, per Stridewise's breakdown of welt types. A steel shank between the insole and outsole supports the arch, and Chisos says a boot without one leads to increased foot fatigue and, over time, arch collapse. Some bootmakers also use lemonwood pegs because the wood expands and contracts with moisture at the same rate as leather, which they say prevents the sole from separating over time, per Chisos. None of that shows up in a photo — it shows up after a year of wear. Read our full breakdown of how a Goodyear welt is built and why it matters.

Which brand should you buy?

If heritage and a name you already know matters most, look at Lucchese, Justin, Tony Lama, or Nocona. If you want a younger brand with a clear founding idea, look at Ariat or Tecovas. If you want a Goodyear-welted boot from a Texas house that also builds loafers and a made-to-measure exotic tier under one roof, look at Alvies, Hevias, and Olsen-Stelzer. Whichever you choose, ask the same two questions: how is it built, and can it be resoled. Compare the house's own boots under $500, or see how Alvies stacks up against Tecovas specifically.

Where to go next

• Shop all boots
• Shop Alvies
• Shop Hevias
• Shop Olsen-Stelzer
• What is a Goodyear welt?
• Tecovas alternatives
• Best cowboy boots under $500
• How should cowboy boots fit?

Sources: Bullock Texas State History Museum; Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Handbook; Justin Boots; Berkshire Hathaway; Ariat; Tecovas; Rios of Mercedes; Painted Cowgirl Western Store; Wikipedia; Cowboys & Indians; Chisos; BootSpy; Pinto Ranch; COWGIRL Magazine; Stridewise; alvies.com; hevias.com; olsenstelzerboots.com.

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