WENDY LANE HENRY was ready to try something different. By the 1990s, she’d realized her dream of opening a cowboy-boot store, Back at the Ranch, in Santa Fe. But the Western-wear fashion industry was male dominated, most of the boots she could order were either brown or black, and they weren’t necessarily made with women’s feet—or tastes—in mind.
“I worked with vendors, and they were all men. They really didn’t want to work with me,” Henry says. “I realized there were so many colors out there, all these different styles that were easy to wear. There was so much missing in the industry, so I changed it.”
These days, to stroll into Back at the Ranch’s modest adobe digs on East Marcy Street is to enter a world of boot-scootin’ possibilities. Should you go for pebbled ostrich skin, smooth red leather, or shiny crocodile? High heels, zippered booties, or 14-inch shafts? Or bedazzled, initialed, or decked out in your alma mater’s colors? Whatever you want, chances are it’s there—among an inventory of more than 700 pairs of all-new boots—or Henry can make it for you.
A tasseled pair of boots from Back at the Ranch.
Going on 35 years in downtown Santa Fe, Back at the Ranch has now worked exclusively with its own manufacturing facility in El Paso, Texas, for more than two decades. With the help of three generations of factory artisans, the boots Henry produces for Back at the Ranch clients are as custom-made and sustainably sourced as they can get. “I do 90 percent of the designing of the boots. We buy all our leathers, and they’re basically sourced from the United States, though some of my skins come from South Africa,” Henry says, showing a green alligator skin with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service number tag on it.
Her work has won Back at the Ranch devotees from all walks of life, including designers Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren; musicians Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and Post Malone; and actor-activist Jane Fonda, who has called Henry’s store the best boot shop in the country. And since the 74-year-old Henry says her clientele is only getting younger, she’s recruited her 35-year-old granddaughter, Jackie Hopper Daru, to work in the store. Daru represents Back at the Ranch’s third generation of Henry family salespeople.
Customers get fitted for custom boots.
The store’s continued success is rooted in its devotion to the customer’s experience. That’s evident in its Old West charm, which includes a collection of “just for show” vintage kids’ cowboy boots, Western movie posters, and hardcover classics, as well as the modern flexibility of worldwide shipping, shopping by appointment, and design services for people who can’t make it into the store. Henry is relentless in her pursuit of what a man or woman wants in a boot—she’s even used photographs of a client’s beloved pet to make a pair of tribute boots featuring an inlaid leather portrait of the prized pup.
With prices that start at $1,500, some window-shoppers might wonder, Why custom boots? Back at the Ranch’s reasoning is rooted in how the Western boot industry has diminished in its quality and craftsmanship. “It’s very expensive to do work in the United States these days,” she says. “I pay—really pay—all my people. When boots are this expensive, it’s because everything is hand done.”
For her, custom boots come all the way back to having your say. “Say you needed a little extra room in the ball of your foot, we can do that at no extra charge,” she speculates. “You pick your skins, pick your colors, and we design boots for you. Sky’s the limit.”
Read more: At Soul of the West Bootique, in Carrizozo, owner Gwendolyn Rogers wants to fit all y’all with a pair of vintage cowboy boots.
