Meet Our First Roper, The Manchaca
I never wanted to make a roper boot. And yet here I am, excited to announce our newest men’s boot, The Manchaca deerskin roper.
WHY I USED TO BE A HARD NO ON ROPERS
I fell in love with the vintage Western boots I inherited from my grandpa, Alvie Jr. The statement-making J or snip toe, the staunch feeling of wearing a cowboy heel, the classic profile and timeless style — that was my idea of a cowboy boot.
By comparison, a roper is short, kind of squat, really, with a round toe and a shorter heel. It just didn’t feel as special, and the ropers that other cowboy boot brands put out never appealed to me. It was almost like you were trying not to wear a cowboy boot at all.
WHAT CHANGED MY MIND
Well, a few things:
- Our mission is to get people that have never worn cowboy boots into a pair for the first time. A great entry boot is the roper, and so in the spirit of sticking to our mission, I had to find a way to make it work for us.
- A lot of our loyal boot buyers do love ropers, and were constantly asking when we would make one.
- I could never back down from a challenge — I wanted to see if I could make a roper that even I would wear.
The design process took a while on this one. We worked on creating a boot shape that fit the roper mold, but with a little extra style. We sourced some special, extra soft deerskin leather, and worked to get it in interesting colors. And we of course built in all the little high-quality touches that make our boots fit better and last longer.
I’m pretty pleased with the results. The proof being that I’ve been happy to wear a pair of Manchacas around for the last month or so.
The Manchaca is available to pre-order now, and will begin shipping in early October.