PubDate: 3/14/2002 Day: THURSDAY Publication: THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
NOCONA REBOOTS AFTER '99 CLOSURE
NEW COMPANY GAINS FOOTHOLD, HAS TOWN WALKING TALL AGAIN
BERNADETTE PRUITT
NOCONA, Texas - The Nocona Boot Co. shut down in 1999, leaving Nocona as lost as Hershey, Pa., would be without chocolate. The plant closure cost this North Texas town of 3,200 more than its top employer. It took away its identity. Then along came two Dallas brothers, and the Montague Boot Co. was born. In a venture that has evolved to include a Western wear legend and a world-champion cowboy, Nocona is turning out boots again. The operation employs only 40, compared with the 160 jobs that were lost, but it's giving a small town some big hopes.
"It was a perfect fit," said Jim Williams, a Dallas leather supplier who created the company along with his brother, Bill. "Nocona has our type of small-town values and small-town traditions. The workforce was well-trained and very eager. Cowboy products run in the blood here." When word got out that the famed boot factory was closing after 74 years, the Williamses, who had been "raised in Nocona boots," stepped through what they called "a window of opportunity." They approached plant manager David Hellinger about establishing a boot parts operation.
The following year, the Montague Boot Co. began in Mr. Hellinger's barn. Employing four laid-off artisans, it was jokingly dubbed "IBBS - Itty Bitty Boot Shop." The crew began doing boot repairs for Cavender's Western Wear, a Texas-based chain of more than 40 stores, and opportunity again presented itself, Bill Williams said.
"We learned that James Cavender had three stores looking for high-quality, handcrafted boots," he said. The trail led from Mr. Cavender to world champion all-around cowboy Larry Mahan, who has a Texas ranch near Hunt. As a result, the Montague Boot Co. entered into an agreement last year to produce, exclusively for Cavender's, a high-end boot line bearing Mr. Mahan's name.
The company has moved to a downtown storefront that was one of the original Nocona Boot Co. locations. There, craftspeople, many of whom worked at the Nocona Boot Co. for decades, turn out 120 pairs of boots per day, 600 pairs per week.
"I feel Nocona's identity has been resurrected," said Tom Horn, executive director of the Nocona Economic Development Corp. "The boots don't have the Nocona label, but they are handcrafted in Nocona, Texas." "People are thrilled," said Robert Fenoglio, mayor pro tem. "There's a feeling of hope." Mr. Fenoglio said he expects that the company will grow because rural consumers want good boots made in America. "Quality will prevail," he said.
Bill Williams said the product has been well-received on the retail level. "We have to see where demand takes us. Demand has been good," he said. The firm fills a niche for an authentic, handcrafted, locally made cowboy boot, he said. "Our goal is to stick to tradition and history," Bill Williams added. "We don't want to be the biggest, just the best."
The Williamses, partners in other businesses., are third-generation leather suppliers. The materials used in the exclusive boot line include ostrich and alligator and come from around the world. The boots sell for $350 to $550. "Larry Mahan comes through on a regular basis and works with [craftsmen] on styling," Bill Williams said.
While the rise of the Montague Boot Co. has been a boost to Nocona and surrounding Montague County, no one is calling it a panacea. Plant manager Hellinger, a 29-year boot maker, said he has a two- to three-inch stack of applications from people who want to start making boots again or who want apprenticeships. At one time, the Nocona Boot Co. employed more than 400, city officials said. The Williamses, whose focus is more on quality than quantity, are a long way from reaching those numbers.
Economic development director Horn said many of the workers laid off when Justin Industries, the parent company of Nocona Boots, closed plants in Nocona and Fort Worth have retrained or found jobs at other leather-related industries. They include the Nocona Athletic Goods Co. and the Nocona Belt Co. Diamond Cut Jeans, which is expected to employ up to 40 by this summer, recently began production in the former Nocona Boot Co. building east of town, Mr. Horn said. Another newcomer, Texas Leather Manufacturing, is making billfolds and other leather accessories with an initial workforce of five.
But he conceded that the loss of the boot company, which had roots dating from late 19th-century cattle drives up the nearby Chisholm Trail, was a blow still felt by some. "For quite some time, we were nothing if not resilient," Mr. Horn said. "We pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps." Most of the plant's workforce has felt the highs and lows that the boot-making industry has brought Nocona, but that didn't discourage them from starting over with a new company.
Billie Partney, 73, who turned to cooking in a nursing home and picking up litter when she was laid off after 23 years, said she's thrilled to be making boots again. Weldon Parr, laid off after 35 years, is back at age 64. "I'll be here as long as they'll have me," he said. Michael Reeves, 36, commuted 170 miles a day to Nocona's sister plant in Fort Worth before operations shifted to El Paso and Cassville, Mo. "I'm happy," he said. "I can spend more time with my family."
The employees, along with Mr. Horn, Mr. Fenoglio and the Williamses, said they are optimistic about the future. "We plan on being here a long time," Jim Williams said. Bernadette Pruitt is a Wichita Falls-based free-lance writer.
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