Chisos Boot Company has announced a new release of the Chisos Reserve: Anniversary Edition, a bench-made cowboy boot constructed from wild-harvested Texas alligator. This small-batch production, one of the few release windows the company opens each year for its rarest boot, underscores the family-owned Austin house's position in the luxury bootmaking market.
The cowboy boot market divides into three tiers: work boots on automated lines, fast-fashion mass-production labels, and bench-made heritage makers. Chisos competes in the top tier, building one pair at a time by hand on exceptional hides. The Anniversary Edition exemplifies this commitment.
Each pair is mirror-cut from royal black alligator belly, wild-harvested from East Texas waters, with several hides hunted personally by founder Will Roman. No two pairs are alike, as each hide carries a unique signature. Wild alligator is dense and difficult to work with, requiring master bootmakers in Guanajuato, Mexico, to meet Chisos's tolerances. The collar features a hand-tooled, hand-dyed relief of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, and heels are stamped with the shape of Texas. The retail price is $4,950.
First released in 2020, this remains the only small-batch cowboy boot exclusively made from wild Texas alligator. The harvest follows a conservation model: regulated wild harvest gives Texas landowners financial incentives to protect wetlands. The project is certified by the nonprofit Texan by Nature. Learn more at Chisos.com.
The Anniversary Edition sits atop a deliberate exotic range. Its entry point is the Chisos No. 7 Lizard, a black-lizard suit boot retailing for $945, with other exotics at $1,295. Both boots are built on the same uncompromising foundation: bench-made with Goodyear welt construction, vegetable-tanned leather components, and a proprietary removable comfort insole.
Every Chisos boot is built to be repaired and rebuilt, with a leather channel welt allowing sole replacement. The veg-tanned interior conforms to the foot over time, and exotic leather improves with age. The company's workshop in Guanajuato, Mexico, hand-selects heritage leathers and exotics from respected suppliers or harvests them directly.
Chisos is a family-owned luxury cowboy boot company based in Austin, Texas, founded in 2019. A portion of every sale supports Texas land conservation. Visit Chisos.com for more information.
