If you need a unique pair of boots, Wild Bills can make a set of custom boots made to your order.
About Us
Need to put together a replica Wild Western town in less time than it takes a cowboy to slur “howdy, partner” through his chewing tobacco? If so, Bill Dewbre is your man.
“Yup, I’ve done some pretty strange projects in my time, that’s for sure,” he says. “I just helped set an entire town up for an Alcon [a global medical company] event. These guys get me in when they need a little insight into the Texan spirit. I fit them with custom-made hats and boots, and I tell ‘em how we Texan cowboys do it.”
If anyone’s steeped in old-time Texan cowboy spirit, it’s Dewbre. Now a sprightly, tanned 59 year old, he’s been in Western-wear since the age of 12, when he first began to learn the trades of fine leather craft, engraving and hand tooling from his master-craftsman father. In archetypal cowboy-style, Dewbre Senior lived his life in adherence to a handful of pithy campfire mottos. “One of the sayings that sticks in my mind my dad used to tell me is: ‘Anything’s easy if you know how- practice just helps,’” Dewbre says. “I didn’t really get it at the time, but I did practice a helluva lot. And I guess I practiced it until I could do it well.”
“You get used to the celebrities coming in after a few years,” Dewbre says. “We’ve done things for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Keith Richards, he bought some replicas of the old boots my father loved to wear. Eric Clapton was in here the other day, too, buying some boots for his wife.”
But the best celebrity story involves Elton John, who stopped by the Market Street store when Dewbre wasn’t there. “There was a young girl who was waiting on him, and she had no clue [who he was]. He was trying boots on, saying ‘Let me try this one,’ then ‘Let me try this one,’ and these boots were pilin’ up as he just kept laying them out on the floor,” Dewbre recounts. “After half an hour or so, the girl came to one of my other employees and said, ‘Now why can’t this guy make his mind up?’ The coworker, you know, just laughed. Eventually the girl strode up to him and said, ‘Well, which one of these boots are you gonna take?’ He said, “All of them, of course!’ She almost fainted right there.”
Indeed, it was a shame Dewbre missed John’s appearance, but more of a pity for John that Dewbre wasn’t there. To regular customers, Dewbre’s fireside sing-a-longs are legendary, and often spurred by the chance presence of a musician. “In my West End store, we have a fireplace and a bar with beer and top-shelf margaritas, where we measure clients for our custom boots and lay all the fine exotic skins out for them to look through,” Dewbre says. “I leave my guitar resting against the fireplace, and I’ll play if I feel like it, or we get entertainers to play if they come in. It’s a great atmosphere, and customers love it. Eric [Clapton] didn’t jam when he came in, though, which is a big shame.”
This emphasis on friendly fireside spirit is proof of Dewbre’s observance of another of his father’s favorite aphorisms: “A stranger’s just a friend you ain’t met yet.” Or perhaps it’s simply the Texas host in him. “To me,” Dewbre says, “a Texan sets his mind to something, and he’ll do it-there’s no messing. But we’re also a friendly bunch. The friendliness ain’t just a legend.”
Eye the merchandise in one of Dewbre’s stores, and you’re left with no doubt as to why celebrities are drawn to them like stampeding bulls. Wild Bill’s Western boot leathers are impeccable, filling the stores with the musty scent of resin. The designs are all his or his father’s. The hats are measured, shaped according to preference (the Garth Brooks or perhaps the Clint Eastwood, depending on customer taste) then steamed to fit perfectly. Buy your Britney Spears hot-pink Stetson elsewhere folks; this is the real deal. “As I see it, a good boot takes an artist to design it, an artist to cut it out in leather, and an artist to stitch it back together,” Dewbre says. “You want something cheap? Any cheap store can sell a plain-Jane cheap pair of boots. With my boots, people ask me how long they’re gonna last, and I say, ‘It depends on how much fun you’re planning on having!” For Dewbre, it’s sound business to dress cowboy; you’ll find him kicking around in worn-in jeans and a Western shirt. “I’ve been doing this since I was 12 years old, so I’ve seen a few changes in my life and in this business,” he says. “But the typical boots people like-and the Western shirts-they’ve been around since way before I have. Sometimes you’ll get new fashions, like when Urban Cowboy [a 1980 John Travolta flick] came out, it made a huge difference to what people would ask for. But, basically, it’s just the cowboy boots they’ve always desired since they were kids.”
According to Dewbre, the look and spirit of the Old West exert a unique hold on all of us. “People like the idea of the Old West because of the spirit and honesty. These people were straight-shootin’ and had integrity, but also some wild spirit. And there’s this little something inside all of us. a little cowboy or cowgirl that says, ‘I’ve always wanted this kind of a boot, or this kind of a fancy Stetson.’”
He continues, “You may think it’s not there, but it’s inside us all-I guarantee. I see it in people when they come in to try on a hat, or put on a pair of cowboy boots. they’ll just throw their chest out and strut around like crazy.”
And with that, “Wild” Bill Dewbre, gatekeeper to the Old West, digs in his custom-fitted boots and rides off into the sunset.
Need to put together a replica Wild Western town in less time than it takes a cowboy to slur “howdy, partner” through his chewing tobacco? If so, Bill Dewbre is your man.
Eye the merchandise in one of Dewbre’s stores, and you’re left with no doubt as to why celebrities are drawn to them like stampeding bulls. Wild Bill’s Western boot leathers are impeccable, filling the stores with the musty scent of resin. The designs are all his or his father’s. The hats are measured, shaped according to preference (the Garth Brooks or perhaps the Clint Eastwood, depending on customer taste) then steamed to fit perfectly. Buy your Britney Spears hot-pink Stetson elsewhere folks; this is the real deal. “As I see it, a good boot takes an artist to design it, an artist to cut it out in leather, and an artist to stitch it back together,” Dewbre says. “You want something cheap? Any cheap store can sell a plain-Jane cheap pair of boots. With my boots, people ask me how long they’re gonna last, and I say, ‘It depends on how much fun you’re planning on having!” For Dewbre, it’s sound business to dress cowboy; you’ll find him kicking around in worn-in jeans and a Western shirt. “I’ve been doing this since I was 12 years old, so I’ve seen a few changes in my life and in this business,” he says. “But the typical boots people like-and the Western shirts-they’ve been around since way before I have. Sometimes you’ll get new fashions, like when Urban Cowboy [a 1980 John Travolta flick] came out, it made a huge difference to what people would ask for. But, basically, it’s just the cowboy boots they’ve always desired since they were kids.”
According to Dewbre, the look and spirit of the Old West exert a unique hold on all of us. “People like the idea of the Old West because of the spirit and honesty. These people were straight-shootin’ and had integrity, but also some wild spirit. And there’s this little something inside all of us. a little cowboy or cowgirl that says, ‘I’ve always wanted this kind of a boot, or this kind of a fancy Stetson.’”