A Boot Collector Feature

Tex Robin

A world-famous name out of small-town West Texas — more than 50 years of custom bootmaking in Coleman and Abilene, told through television, magazines, and books.

The Story

Tex L. Robin was born September 12, 1939, in Goree, Texas, and went on to spend more than 50 years making custom boots, first in Coleman and later in Abilene. Over that career he became, in the words of his own hometown obituary, "a world-famous cowboy bootmaker" — a reputation built pair by pair rather than through mass distribution, and one that drew television appearances, magazine features, and mentions in books about Western craft, along with multiple awards for his work. He was an Army veteran, a lifetime NRA member, an active guitarist in his church, and by his family's account traced his Swedish heritage in his late fifties, learning the language and visiting Sweden — a reminder that the makers behind these boots are people first.

What They're Known For

Decades of handmade custom cowboy boots out of two small West Texas towns, with a body of work substantial enough to earn national media attention without ever leaving Coleman and Abilene behind. Surviving pairs turn up on the collector market under his name, prized as genuine, documented examples of a long, singular bootmaking career. His influence also carried forward directly: bootmaker Alan Bell studied under Robin in Coleman before opening Bell Custom Boots, now one of Abilene's busiest family bootmaking shops.