A Boot Collector Feature
A rancher-turned-bootmaker whose book on the trade, and whose own teaching, quietly shaped a generation of makers who never set foot in his Oregon shop.
D.W. Frommer II ran a Western bootmaking shop out of La Grande, Oregon, and became one of the trade's most influential teachers almost by accident of how much he was willing to share. He wrote Western Bootmaking: An American Tradition, an instructional book detailed enough that the Smithsonian Institution holds a copy in its library collection, and he welcomed makers from around the country to study with him directly in Oregon.
That teaching reached further than his own shop. Arizona bootmaker Paul Krause trained directly under Frommer in 2006 before opening his own Prescott shop, and Oklahoma City's self-taught Josh Duvall worked through Frommer's book as part of teaching himself the trade starting in 2015. Frommer died in 2023; tribute pieces from bootmakers he never personally trained but whose work he shaped through his writing followed his death.
Passing the trade on through the written word and open teaching rather than guarding it — a rarer approach in a craft historically passed down through tightly held apprenticeships. His book and his willingness to host students in Oregon reached bootmakers who never could have apprenticed with him in person.
A bootmaker whose teaching outlived his own shop, reaching makers across the country.
Pairs from smaller, custom, or long-closed makers rarely come up for sale, so this search may not find anything. It’s worth checking back now and then.