Just for Kicks: Lucky Bastard Custom Boots Now Open in Denver

Moving to Denver from Evergreen after high school, Brian Tomajko fell in love with vintage clothing, especially Western wear. “I loved everything; the fit of the clothes back then, the gabardine shirts,” he says. “But it was all about the boots.”

Cowboy boots from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s were Tomajko’s dream shoes, but they were hard to come by. Not only were shoes from that era smaller, but when he did find his size, the boots were usually rotted out on the inside. “You’d put them on, you’d get maybe two weeks, and then they’d blow out,” he recalls.

So Tomajko’s younger self would be delighted to see the shop he currently owns: Lucky Bastard Custom Boots, a storefront that opened late last year near Platte Street, packed with shelves of beautiful, handmade cowboy boots.

But it took some work to get there.

Tomajko figured that if he wanted to wear those kinds of boots, he’d have to learn how to make them himself. He found Dave “Hutch” Hutchings, a master bootmaker in Parker whose family once ran Great West Saddlery, and his education started there. “I apprenticed with Hutch and took his course,” Tomajko recalls. “After that, I went to the tiny town of Saint Jo, Texas, to train with master bootmaker Carl Chappell, one of the most famous bootmakers in the nation.”

Next, he befriended a cobbler named Don Becker, who let Tomajko set up a workspace in his Lakewood shop and taught him about boot and shoe repair. “I just kept making boots until I got it right,” Tomajko says.

And when he finally did get it right, the feeling was almost indescribable. “Boot-making is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Tomajko explains. “Depending on who you ask, there can be over 250 individual steps that go into making a pair of boots. To get a pair of boots on that fit me like a glove — knowing exactly how long it took, what went into it — it just felt amazing. It felt like coming home.”

Tomajko made reproductions of cowboy boots he’d found in catalogs from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s — boots with high heels, high tops and intricate inlay work. “They were just fun, playful boots,” he recalls.

When he decided to open his own boot shop, he was originally going to call it Renegade Ranch Custom Boots. But the name that stuck came to him at his wedding reception, when his wife’s stepfather stood up to give a toast. “He says, ‘Brian, if you’re half as happy being married to Kelly as I am being married to Kelly’s mom, then you’re one lucky bastard,'” Tomajko remembers. “The room just erupted in laughter, and the next day, one of my groomsmen called me up and said, ‘I have the name for your shop.’ So I scrapped everything — the cards, the stationery — and used the name Lucky Bastard Custom Boots. It’s a name people can remember.”

That was twelve years ago. Tomajko’s first shop was in Lakewood, in a location that ended up being a little suffocating. “It was in a strip mall, set way back, no street view, no foot traffic,” he says. Opening the storefront on the edge of Highland has been exciting; Tomajko lives only eight blocks away and walks there every day with his puppy, Lucky, a Great Dane/Black Lab mix.

The store near the Millennium Bridge is in a vibrant area with a lot of foot traffic, which has been good for business. “The neighborhood has really taken a liking to the store, and especially this dog,” he says of Lucky, who, while still learning the concept of personal space, is extremely friendly and gentle with guests.

While the Lakewood store (which will be kept as a satellite repair facility, not open to the public) was focused on custom boots and repair, this new store has plenty of handmade boots and belts ready for sale, in addition to offering custom and repair services. Western is the store’s specialty, but repairs can be done on most shoes or boots. Customers in need of a repair should come to the shop and ask Tomajko for an assessment.

“When you look around the shop, most of these boots are one of a kind,” Tomajko says. “Many of them are little works of art. We still offer the full custom experience, but we are also really shifting to having boots available here and now.”

The boots are available in several styles — pointed, rounded and square toes, high and low heels, various stitching patterns and intricate inlay designs depicting flowers, stars, hearts, spades and more. The boots come in vibrant colors and are made with almost any kind of leather you can imagine: horse, bison, calf skin, goat, stingray, alligator, ostrich, Nile crocodile, lizard and even salmon.

While many of the boots are Tomajko’s designs, they are all handmade in a facility in El Paso, Texas. “I’m no longer hands-on with boots,” Tomajko says. “I’m basically a boot fitter. I use my expertise as a bootmaker to get people fitted. The fun part is designing boots. What’s the best toe, what’s the best heel? How high do you want the boot? What kind of leather? Are we going with smooth leathers, are we getting into exotics? There are so many choices when it comes to boots.”

Each boot is touched by 25 to thirty people, adds Jess Agur, who works in the store. “I recently went to El Paso to see the shop, and there’s very minimal machinery,” she says. “What they can do and make down there — it’s really pieces of art that you’re wearing.”

And that art comes at a price. The boots available for purchase at the store start at $1,200, while fully made-to-measure custom boots start at $2,000. “Everything is for sale,” Tomajko says. “What you see here is what we have. If you don’t see it in your size, we can build it. If you don’t see something that you want, we can figure it out.”

While the boots may have a hefty price tag, Tomajko does not want Lucky Bastard Custom Boots to be a pretentious store. “Everybody is a potential customer or a potential conversation,” he says. “We always have beer and whiskey on hand. I invite people to come in, hang out, meet Lucky, look at the boots, look at the belts, discuss repairs and have a conversation.”

It’s all part of that Western tradition. “We have a lot of equestrians here, a lot of ranchers, cattlemen. Endless space. It’s fashion,” Tomajko says. “And right now, Western is hot, and it’s really never going to leave.”

Lucky Bastard Custom Boots is located at 2559 16th Street, Unit 101, with regular hours from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Learn more at luckybastardcustomboots.com.