Meet Jim Brainard | Western Bootmaker, leather crafter and repairs

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jim Brainard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jim, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
There are only about 300 known active hand made cowboy bootmaker’s in this country.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am Jim Brainard. Born 1960, Littleton Colorado. Learned to ride horses at age 6. I rode western show events, junior and high school rodeo. Spent a few years in Helena Montana in the late 60’s and then in Edmond Oklahoma in the early 70’s. Horses, rodeos and western things were a great influence to finding my path in life.
Leather goods are a big part of the western life style. This drew my interest in to making leather goods. At age ten I began to learn how to make hands carved belts and wallets. I got my first sewing machine at Goodwill for $30 to make chaps with. I made some rodeo gear as well. By age 13 I was pretty busy making belts and gear for people in rodeo and 4H groups I was in. I went to a boot repair shop one day with my mom and when we left I remembered what a messy looking place it was and I told my mom “I will never work in a place like that”! The next year we moved to Parker, Colorado. I was at the local western store and boot shop where I offered to make a pair of chaps for a gentleman who was shopping there. Well that got the attention of the boot repairman’s wife and next thing you know I got hired. It was a shop exactly “like that”! Age 14. I worked with my mentor there for 5 years. From there, after graduating high school I tried college for three months and decided I wanted back in the leather shop. Then my mentor couldn’t hire me back but he needed to sell the shop so with the help of my parents we purchased it in 1979.
I love what I do!
It’s always challenging, rewarding and different. There are many people who want what I do and make. It’s what I know.
Learning how to transform leather into useable products makes me feel useful.
It is often difficult which builds into me great a deal of patience. That is hard to do since I’m not by nature, patient. Builds character. The majority of my clients come from a lifestyle, I relate to and enjoy working for.
I believe my clients understand the value of the products they use and respect the amount of skill and experience I have to offer to bring them quality crafted leather goods and repairs.
My years of repair work and custom leather goods has always been a growth experience. With every thing I have repaired and made it has changed my course, upward. Although many days you feel like you’re going backwards. 35 years after I purchased the shop I found myself at a place where I felt I needed something different to occur. My wife suggested I call my mentor and have him teach me the one thing he had not done. Teach me how to make boots. This was the greatest change in my career yet. I thought I was learning patience before this and having children but actually book making taught me even more. The degree of difficulty and attention to details was way higher than all I’ve experienced in leather goods prior. This makes everything I do be set to a higher standard. I see the appreciation and increase in clients because of this. So, boot making is that “one” project.
My career hopes became that I could become as accomplished as possible as a boot maker before I find my self to old to work or ready to retire. I know that it would impossible to ever feel like I would have it all figured out. There will always be something new to achieve in making. That’s what drives me forward.
Now that I am growing well in this part of my career I have been wanting to find out what this means to the world around me. Who does it benefit? What do I leave behind from it? This is where I see the need to share my craft, teach it to others and keep it growing through future generations. Hand crafted useable, wearable goods are not easy to come by as much as they were in the past. I see a revival in the craft and I hope to help further it through public education, mentorship and apprenticeship programs.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Double Eagle, Ocean Prime, Top Golf, Lake Granby, Grand Lake, Casa Mariachi.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mentors are many. Without I would not have the success I do. First, all glory for my career points back to my faith in God. Next David J. Hutchings, aka Hutch was my mentor for five years in the first years of my career. My parents early on supported me with finaces and love. Numerous leather crafters have taught me along the way. Continuously to this day, my wife. She upholds me every day.

Website: https://jbcustomleather.com

Instagram: j.b._custom_leather

Facebook: J.B. Custom Leather

Image Credits
KDM PHOTOGRAPHY, Kristen Fiske.
McKinzey Photography, Megan McKinzey