history
Once upon a time . . .
on the edge of Texas there lived a commercial photographer named Marty Snortum. Now, Marty was an eccentric guy who loved the craftsmanship of vintage objects. He collected vintage cars, jukeboxes, furniture and yes... even BOOTS! Marty was a cowboy from way back,
but back then his horse only had three wheels.
One of Marty's favorite jobs was shooting boot catalogs for the many manufacturers here in town. Now I don't know if y'all know this but, El Paso has the proud history of being the Boot Capital of America. Many of the great vintage companies that Marty collected sprouted up right here.
He loved the colors and imaginative styles of the classic 40's vintage boots and wondered why they stopped making them. Art Directors would show up to shoot a catalog and bring a couple of vintage pairs
...Marty would be all smiles ...but to his chagrin they wanted to use them on the cover of their catalogs but had no plans of manufacturing anything like'em again. So there it was, the world was stuck in a sea of brown and black boring boots untill one day...
Our Virginia born photographer met a German born entrepreneur in a bar one night. As Tall Texas Tales go, this one is a doozy! ....Recollections of that night might be a little vague ....and some tequila was definitely involved ...and the rest ....let's just say it was FATE.
Come sun up on a blustery December day in 1989, a deal had been signed and a trade had been made.