Tony Lama Marks 100th Year with Special Boots

If you’ve seen our just-released Spring 2011 catalog, you may have noticed the cover pays tribute to western boots maker Tony Lama and its 100th anniversary this year:

Drysdales' spring 2011 catalog cover, featuring Tony Lama's Century Collection boots.

Tony Lama is making a series of new, commemorative boots, the Centennial Collection. It’s one of a series of Centennial Celebration events this year.

The Centennial Collection boots come with features typical of Tony Lama’s high quality — premium leathers, cushioned footbed, a rolled and pegged shank, fancy stitching on the shaft, and the Lama Comfort Technology insole. This series comes with a special Centennial logo on the shaft.

Drysdales is offering several of these men’s and women’s boots. We recently received a shipment of them and decided to take a closer look.

Here’s a chocolate-colored Centennial Collection men’s boot with a broad square toe:

Drysdales also offers Centennial Collection men’s boots in a cognac-colored round toe, a cognac fashion square toe, a chocolate snip toe, and a black El Paso round toe.

Taking a closer look, the Centennial Collection commemorative badge in the center of the shaft is made of high-quality stitching:

We also found a Centennial Collection metal badge on the inside base of the heel:

The Centennial Collection logo is embossed on the bottom of the outsole:

The boots’ packaging also comes with a unique metal “dogtag” of the Centennial Collection logo:

The dogtag could make a nice charm for a necklace, or simply a keepsake of this once-in-a-lifetime commemorative boot.

Here’s a cognac-colored women’s Centennial Collection boot with a narrow square toe:

For women, Drysdales also offers a black El Paso narrow square-toe boot and a chocolate broad square-toe boot.

The ladies boots contain many of the same Centennial Collection features as the men’s, except the centennial commemorative stitching is found on  the side of the shaft:

June Willsey, a customer service agent at Drysdales who specializes in boots, examined both of these boots and said she was impressed. She and others in our customer service department delighted in the smell of the quality leather as the boots were removed from the box.

June also liked what she saw in the boots with the heel, the detailed stitching in the shaft, and the outsole pegging.

“I’m seeing a lot of extra little touches,” she said. “It’s really soft, nice, oiltan leather. It’s nice … really nice.”

The boots come with a little card, which says:

The boots you hold in your hand now, the boots you’ll wear on your feet for  years to come, are part of a legacy.

Born in 1887, Tony Lama learned his first lessons in the boot industry at the age of 11 as a shoemaker’s apprentice. He later joined the U.S. Cavalry as a cobbler for the soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. Following his tour of service, Tony Lama set out to make the best fitting, most comfortable boot possible.

Word about Tony Lama’s Western boots shot across the Southwest. Soon, cowboys and ranchers were joining the cavalrymen at his doorstep, requesting custom-made boots. By the 1930s, Western stores were asking for his boots, and in 1961, the company moved into larger quarters to meet the growing demand. Tony Lama passed away in 1974, but his legacy lives on.

Since Tony Lama started his boot company in 1911, 100 years of hard work have deepened the character and perfected the quality of every pair of Tony Lama boots. In your hands is a tangible piece of a century-old legend. Every step you take in these boots is history in the making.

Here’s a recent video produced by Tony Lama, showing how each western boot is made in its factory. It’s a fascinating and informative behind-the-scenes look at why the company is renowned: