See the flyers below for information on a special weekend at The Star Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters.
American-made Boots for American Heroes
The culmination of a yearlong custom boot collaboration between Lucchese Bootmaker, US Army Veteran, Ferris Butler, and philanthropist, Loralee West, comes to fruition by aiding combat injured amputee veterans. A formal gift reveal will display the 10 pair of cowboy boots that were designed, engineered, and hand made to the specifications requested by each individual veteran. After hide and style selection, the Lucchese Bootmaker team in El Paso, TX began the most important step - meticulously designing these boots to function in harmony with the veteran’s prosthetic devices that are relied upon after sustaining catastrophic injuries while in service to their country.
While deployed to Iraq with the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, CPT Ferris Butler USA (Ret.) sustained bilateral lower leg amputations leading to the past decade of discovering new ways to adapt to his injuries. What was initially a personal quest to have a pair of cowboy boots augmented to work with his prosthesis, became a much larger mission upon receiving feedback from other veterans that this boot design was a much-needed option in an otherwise non-existent product line. Statements from Ferris’ military peers such as, “I haven’t been able to wear a pair of cowboy boots since I lost my feet; I use to wear them daily,” was a driving force to expand this concept. It became abundantly clear that simply adding a zipper to the boot shaft so the prosthetic could fit would not be sufficient; rather the boots had to function ergonomically with damaged limbs and prosthetic devices.
Ferris and Loralee, working as co-founders of Boots for the Brave, have collaborated on countless non-profit initiatives focused on bettering the lives of veterans affected by our Nation’s longest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a proud Texas ranch owner, Loralee envisioned a path forward that would embrace the hospitality and culture of Texas. Seeing the immediate desire of so many amputees, they set out with one goal – to create ‘American-made Boots for American Heroes.’ With Lucchese Bootmaker’s history of American military support, founding their business in 1883 supplying boots to the US Army’s Calvary soldiers, they were the perfect partner for this project. Lucchese has grown to be the premier custom bootmaker in the nation with their in-house resources, specialized tools, and well over a century of expertise, the team at Lucchese jumped on the opportunity to collaborate on such a meaningful project.
The partnership has been extremely symbiotic between the team at Boots for the Brave, and Lucchese Bootmaker. Ferris & Loralee selected the veterans and organized sponsors to cover logistical and boot production expenses, while Lucchese handled all aspects of research and development, hosted the veterans for their personalized boot fitting, and placed all 10 pair of unique boots through their 100-individual step manufacturing process.
The overarching intent of this project is to put a pair of highly functional, custom boots on every amputee veterans’ feet that desire to have them. This project isn’t necessarily about the boots, but as Ferris stated, “These boots are giving the veterans back a sense of identity in a way. I know, from personal experience, how regaining small freedoms likes this can truly empower a person’s soul. It may seem like a pair of boots to the casual observer, but to us, it is an extension of our new bodies – an extension that is no longer defined by physical constraints.”
