JUSTIN BOOTS: STANDARD OF THE WEST
“Next to his gun, a man’s boots are his most prized possession” – Daddy Joe Justin
In 1879, 21-year-old “Daddy Joe” Justin hooked a ride on a whiskey wagon bound for the infamous Cowboy Saloon and arrived in Spanish Fort, the preferred town for cowboy to rest up and raise a little hell on their journey driving herds of Longhorns to market. Spanish Fort had plenty of working cowboys, but no cowboy bootmakers.
With a $35 grubstake from the town barber, “Daddy Joe”Justin started making revolutionary tall, pointy toe custom boots for working cowboys. Word spread through the saloons, whorehouses and along the cattle drives, with everyone from ranchers to outlaws demanding Justin boots. By 1887, Daddy Joe was outfitting cowboys, outlaws and ranchers. Walking past a public hanging of two outlaws in town one day, he noted that both of them were wearing Justin boots. “Good taste in footwear,” he remarked.
When Justin developed a measuring kit with tape measure and foot chart for customers across the country, his “mail order” boots saw the demand for Justin boots explode. Within two years, the Justin clan had moved operations to Nocona. Daddy Joe’s daughter, Enid, would go on to found Nocona Boots, while her brothers would move Justin operations to Fort Worth in 1925. Their intense rivalry would continue for another 56 years, until Nocona was acquired by Justin Boots in 1981, reuniting the Justin brood’s legacy.
Creative marketing and a passion for making the best, and most, cowboy boots kept Justin at the top of their game. The 1920s saw Justin expand into wholesale orders, paying stores around the country $1 for every sale they brought in. Teams of salesmen were brought onboard to expand sales territory. The growing popularity of cowboy films and enthusiasm for Western culture helped boost the market for Justin products; Tom Mix, the Hollywood superstar cowboy actor who wore only Justin boots, became a walking billboard. Celebrities’ love affair with Justin continues to this day, from Reba to Lady Gaga to Kevin Costner partnering up with Justin to produce a line of boots.
“Standard of the West” became Justin’s bold motto . We think it ought to be “How the West was won, and hearts were lost”