F&R Distillery and Tony Lama come together with a unique packaging concept emphasizing their common heritage.
When Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson, founding partners of Firestone & Robertson Distillery Co., sought a packaging concept to showcase the roots of their wildly popular labels TX Bourbon and TX Whiskey, they couldn’t shake the idea of incorporating boot leather. To bring their idea to reality, F&R partnered with Tony Lama Boots, crafting custom-made leather bottle caps that give quality scrap leather new life and foster a shared appreciation for the two companies’ Western heritage.
“With our roots in Fort Worth — the gateway to the West — we had a lot of materials to draw inspiration from,” Firestone says. “It was an evolving process to determine how to source different leathers with local boot makers, and Tony Lama quickly became one of our best partners.”
Leather is sourced daily from a factory at Tony Lama’s headquarters in El Paso, Texas, where Monte Nelson, vice president of sales, says artisans cut the boot leather and send a variety of premium scraps to F&R’s home base in Fort Worth. “It’s a perfect marriage between the two brands,” Nelson says. “The amount of detail they put into their products, and even their bottle design, is exactly what we do at Tony Lama.”
The caps, each adorned with a unique slice of premium Tony Lama boot leather, quickly caught on among fans of F&R’s spirits, according to Firestone. He says some loyal customers have even started collections — acquiring caps with different colors, textures, and types of leather.
“We love being able to give all these boot leathers a second life,” Firestone says. “It’s a ton of fun to collaborate with Tony Lama on these creative endeavors, and we couldn’t do it without their partnership.”
Photography: Courtesy Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.
From W&E's January 2020 issue.
