We’ve carried great-looking Ferrini cowboy boots for years at Drysdales, and our customers really like them — especially the boots with exotic skins, exotic prints, and classic leathers.
But it occurred to us your knowledge about the company might be scant.
So we talked to Mark Claver, Ferrini’s national sales manager, at his Dallas-area office and asked him to provide some the back story behind Ferrini and what separates its western boots from the rest of the field.
What emerged from our conversation were five factoids that we hope will give you greater confidence in Ferrini western boots if you’re thinking of buying them.
1. Ferrini controls the boot-manufacturing process from start to finish. Company founder and president Vino Ferrini finds quality leathers, cultivates long business relationships with tanneries in Spain, Italy, and Mexico to properly treat those leathers, and employs more than 100 workers at Ferrini’s Mexican factory to hand-build its western boots.
Here’s a video the company produced that shows its factory in action:
“Controlling the boot-building process from the beginning is an advantage, and allows us to have a product that fits the consumer better,” Claver said.
2. Ferrini’s expertise in leather goes back decades. Although the Ferrini company didn’t start making western boots until the mid-1990s, Vino Ferrini has been in the exotic skin and leather business for about 40 years, and has traveled to Africa, Australia, Asia, Argentina, and other countries around the globe to find those leathers.
“He has the ability to go out and find certain leathers of certain quality to apply to the certain styles of boots we have,” Claver said.
3. Ferrini transferred Italian shoe-making knowledge to cowboy boots. Vino Ferrini’s family roots in Italy — known for its acclaimed shoe-making techniques — go back generations. When Ferrini decided to enter the western-boot industry, those Italian techniques gave him built-in advantages.
“As an example, some folks think we have the best exotic prints in the industry,” Claver said. “Most of the plates for those prints were developed by the Italian shoe designers. There’s a tie to Italian craftsmanship that he connected to North American boot-making traditions.”
4. Ferrini favors a cutting-edge look with western fashion boots, but doesn’t force it. “Sometimes Vino finds a leather that’s unique, with a different look,” Claver explained. “So we create a design around those unique leathers. We try to make a design around the leather for a style that makes sense and gets a good response, and go forward from there.”
So Claver says there’s no point in trying to shoehorn a particular style to a type of leather.
“We’re always looking to be a step ahead in fashion,” he said. ” Not so out there or funky that it’s bizarre, but taking existing styles to the next level.”
5. The leather’s quality contributes to a Ferrini boot’s comfort. “The things we hear time and time again from customers is how immediately comfortable the Ferrini boot is,” Claver said. “It doesn’t take a lot of breaking in. You can put them on, and they won’t get blisters or feel stiff. Part of that is from getting the premium leathers. That’s a true advantage for us, and we get a lot of repeat business because of that.”
Claver said Ferrini boots also include a cushioned insole for more comfort. “And we don’t stick an extremely high arch in the boot, which also helps,” he said.
Here are a few Ferrini western boots for women that we offer:
Next are a few Ferrini cowboy boots for men:
We stock several dozen styles of those boots. So browse our line of Ferrini boots; you’ll probably find something you’ll like.
