Tony Lama; A History
Tony Lama; A History
Posted by Kevin Neilson on 12/22/2011
In the very beginning of the 1900’s, Lama served the U.S. Cavalry as a cobbler in Fort Bliss, Texas. The service experience taught him the importance of a boot that fits properly, for both functionality and comfort. When he returned from his service, he started working on developing the most comfortable boot to date.
Lama started his own boot-making business, making cowboy boots. In the beginning, customers were coming mainly for boot repairs. But soon the people began to hear about the quality of his boots and came to order custom boots. His first year, he and one helper made 20 pairs of boots.
As Western stores began ordering Lama’s boots to sell on their shelves, he had to get creative to develop a manufacturing process that did not sacrifice the quality handmade craftsmanship that his boots were becoming famous for. In 1961, almost 50 years after Lama started his business, his company started producing 750 pairs of boots per day.
Tony Lama passed away 13 years later, in 1974, leaving the business to his children and grandchildren. They know the Tony Lama name is what it is today because of Lama’s insistence on top quality and they continue to strive to maintain that high-level quality and reputation their grandfather worked so hard to develop.
Stetson; A History
Stetson; A History
Posted by Kevin Neilson on 12/19/2011
In 1865, John Stetson started his own hat making business, in Philidelphia, with a small rented room and some hand tools. Initially, he had $10 of fur to work with (which, back then, was certainly worth more than it is now, but still not a tremendous amount).
A truly skilled hat maker, Stetson developed the “Boss of the Plains” hat, also known as the “Hat of the West,” a year after opening. These Stetson hats became famous for their quality, craftsmanship, durability, and aesthetic appeal.
Part of Stetson’s marketing strategy, when he first started selling his hats, was to send letters to merchants throughout the Southwest, asking for minimum orders of 12 hats per store. He got so many orders, he soon had to use a factory to produce enough hats to meet demand.
Quality was a primary focus, for Stetson, as he sought to infuse exceptional quality into every hat he made. This brought a tremendous following and a growing popularity that led the Stetson business to become, in 1886, the largest hat company in the world. Today, it remains one of the oldest, most successful and still one of the largest hat companies in the world.
Resistol; A History
Resistol; A History
Posted by Kevin Neilson on 12/14/2011
Byer took such a liking to both the product and the man at the helm of this little company, that he decided to invest in Rolnick’s future. Byer sold his own business in Michigan and moved to Dallas, Texas to start up the new firm, Byer-Rolnick.
The two men focused on producing both Western hats and hats for dressier occasions. All of their hats were marketed as “Resistol Hats,” because they “resist all” weather conditions. In the beginning, marketing was limited primarily to Texas and Oklahoma.
In the late 1930’s, however, the company had grown beyond the capacity of their facility and had to pick up and move to a larger building in Garland, Texas, the location at which they still remain today. But that move was just the beginning.
The Resistol team was innovative in its manufacturing and distributing advancements. And, in order to maintain the quality standard they’d grown famous for, Byer and Rolnick opened up their own fur cutting plant and rough body plant. This eliminated some of the variables of supplier production as the company became the first manufacturer to create their felt hats from start to finish without any outsourcing.
The innovations and marketing successes of the Resistol team, continued snowballing forward. Today, the Byer-Rolnick company, as a portion of Hatco, Inc., is part of the largest hat manufacturing company in the world.
Lucchese: A History
Lucchese: A History
Posted by Kevin Neilson on 12/6/2011
In San Antonio, Texas, three years after his arrival, Lucchese started up his small business. As the business grew, Sam became successful and was able to pass the business on to his son, Cosimo. Cosimo carried on in his father’s footsteps. But it was Cosimo’s son, Sam Lucchese Jr. who really caused the Lucchese company to take off.
Sam Jr. was obsessed with the human foot. He studied it, and was fascinated with its form and function. As a result, he designed a boot that was able to provide the best fit of any boot in the market. Each one-of-a-kind boot took time and effort, but the results were incredible comfort and functionality for the user.
Sam Sr.’s grandson was very concerned with delivering quality to their customers. Sam Jr. stated, "The final truth is that throughout the whole boot factory, the quality chain is no stronger than its weakest link." He developed a process that is still in use by the company today- the double inspection. Each boot is individually inspected twice, before it is allowed to leave the factory.
Now located in El Paso, Texas, the Lucchese Company still owes a nod to the innovations and hard work of Sam Lucchese Jr. The company maintains his high standards of near-perfect leather and top quality workmanship. Lucchese boots are thus considered to be some of the best, if not the best, cowboy boots in the nation.
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