A Boot Collector Feature

Tres Outlaws

A designer with more than 70,000 sketches behind him built one pair, known simply as "The Mexican," striking enough that it now lives in the Smithsonian instead of a customer's closet.

The Story

Tres Outlaws was built in El Paso around designer Scott Wayne Emmerich, who has spent more than 45 years designing Western boots and says he's personally sketched more than 70,000 individual designs over his career. Every custom pair starts with a personalized foot mold and a hand sketch, carried through a process running more than 200 handcrafted steps with no shortcuts, regardless of how elaborate the request. Some of the shop's most intricate commissions have taken as many as 700 hours to finish.

One particular pair, known simply as "The Mexican," became famous enough on its own to be acquired by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. — a rare distinction for any working bootmaker, let alone a custom Western shop, to end up represented in a national museum collection rather than a private closet. The same pair appears in the 1999 book Art of the Boot, described there as "sexy, evocative and captivating."

What They're Known For

Tres Outlaws describes its own work simply: "Boots built as art, crafted to be worn." Master bootmakers hand-stitch, inlay, and apply appliqué work to every pair, treating each one as a one-off rather than a repeatable pattern, while still building to precise individual fit, including custom orthopedic accommodations when needed. As Scott Wayne has put it about the sheer volume of ideas behind the shop: "I've done 70,000 designs. It's your boot, and I love it."

Notable Wearers

The client list spans film, music, and television: Kevin Costner, Reba McEntire, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Kirstie Alley, Jane Fonda, Lady Gaga, and Judge Joe Brown all number among documented Tres Outlaws customers.