A Boot Collector Feature
A "legendary bootmaker," per True West Magazine — known today mostly as the shop where a newspaper ad led Lisa Sorrell into the trade she'd go on to redefine.
Jay Griffith ran a bootmaking shop in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and his place in bootmaking lore is secure through one connection: Lisa Sorrell, who went on to become one of the trade's most celebrated artists, got her start stitching boot tops for Griffith from 1991 to 1992, before going independent and eventually opening her own Guthrie shop. True West Magazine's account of Sorrell's career singles Griffith out by name as the "legendary bootmaker" who gave a Mennonite-raised seamstress who'd "never worn boots" her first job in the trade. Griffith himself came up at Dixon’s in Wichita Falls, Texas, the shop of Andy and Noble Dixon, where he made his reputation and largely ran the business for Noble after Andy retired, before moving to Guthrie to open his own shop.
Training ground for one of American bootmaking's best-known names. Whatever else Griffith's own shop produced, its most documented legacy is the career it launched rather than a single signature boot.
The shop where Lisa Sorrell's bootmaking story began.
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.