A Boot Collector Feature
A French rock musician who came to Los Angeles for the music, stayed for the leather, and now builds some of the loudest custom cowboy boots around.
Pascal Davayat grew up in Dallet, a village on the Allier River in central France, and was making leather projects as a hobby from childhood. He moved to Los Angeles to play rock music, and when grunge swept the scene he decided to stay and try leatherwork instead. Starting in 1992 he spent about four years at a store making custom belts and repairing boots. Then he took apart his own cowboy boots, worked out the patterns, and built his first pair himself.
He has worked from a garage workshop in the Los Angeles area ever since, under the name Hollywood Riff Raff (older bootmaker directories list the shop simply as Riff Raff). He doesn’t advertise; customers find him by word of mouth and through Instagram, which brings in about half his business. “It’s word of mouth on a planetary scale,” he says.
Hand-tooled, hand-stitched boots in bold, opaque color, from a pigment he mixes himself, with imagery drawn from Western, biker, rock, and hot rod culture. One well-known pair is themed on the Necronomicon. He also makes short “peewee” styles. Made-to-order boots start at about $1,500. Musicians and celebrities wear his work, and Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead was both a customer and a friend.
“It’s an absolute passion,” he says, “and when I’m not making boots, I miss it.”
Rock and roll by way of the West, built one pair at a time in a Los Angeles garage.
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.