I find family companies to be very interesting, particularly the ones that have lasted through several generations. As the saying goes, “The first generation starts it, second generation builds it and the third loses it.” A perfect example of this pattern is the Hilton Family, whose third generation is celebrity party-girl Paris Hilton. The companies I find interesting are the ones who are the exception to this rule, their businesses have grown and flourished past the tough third generation.
The Justin Boot Company is one example of this type of family business. On and off during this school year, I have been slowly reading Standard of the West by Irvin Farman, the book tells the story of the Justin family and their boot business. Unlike the spoiled and reckless third generation Hilton’s, grandchild John S. Justin Jr. rejuvenated, expanded and diversified the family boot company, making it more successful than ever.
H.J. Justin started the company around 1879 sometime after his arrival in Spanish Fort, Texas. Two years earlier, he left home and Indiana at 18 years old to follow his dream of making boots. Contrary to the custom of the day, he choose not to follow in his father’s footsteps as a cigar maker. After leaving home, H.J. landed in Gainesville, Texas where he learned the shoe making trade from two sisters, who had inherited their cobbler business from their father.
After two years, he was ready to move on. He told the wagon-train driver he was going to Spanish Fort and asked what the fare was. The drive asked in return, “How much do you have?” Naively, H.J. responded, “Five dollars and twenty-five cents.” With that information, the fare to Spanish Fort became five dollars. H.J. Justin arrived in Spanish Fort nearly penniless, just as he had entering into Gainesville. This time though, his rucksack held a hammer and awl and he had two years of experience as a cobbler.
Sometime later, after working in a barbershop and patching boots, H.J. was frustrated and contemplating going back to Indiana, he didn’t want to patch boots for a living; he wanted to make boots. He simply lacked the funds to get started, he couldn’t afford to buy even a single hide and many would be needed to begin making boots. H.J. shared his woes with a friend, Frank See who later recounted the tale to the McAllen Monitor on January 22, 1932. H.J. (who was called Joe) said, “Frank, I am going to have to leave. I can’t get by at this unless I can get hold of some money. Have you any money?” Frank replied, “Mighty little, Joe.” H.J.’s response is classic, to me it sums up the spirit of any struggling dreamer, he said, “If I can get enough to buy a little stock, just two or three hides, I’ll make the world sit up and take notice that H. J. Justin can make the best boots in the world. How much have you got?” Frank then counted his life savings of $35 out to Joe and said, “Now, Joe, go do your best.” With that, H.J. Justin finally got the break he’d been waiting and preparing himself for. Within a week, Frank was wearing the first ever pair of Justin boots, which cost him nine dollars.
As the company grew so did the family, it was always H.J.’s dream to have his two sons carry on the family business. He made that dream reality, in 1908 when he made the second-generation son’s full partners. They changed the name to H.J Justin and Sons, to commemorate the event he gave each son a $5 gold piece. At this time they were selling boots in 22 states, revenues had reached $12,000 and they had passed the one 1,000 pair mark for the year.
The second generation of Justin men took the bull by the horns. Years later, in 1917, John wrote to his father saying, “Earl’s and my policy is early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise. It’s $150,000 this year or bust. We will not be satisfied ‘til we get it.” This quote is definitely the best I’ve read so far, I think it sums up the humor and the legacy of the Justin Family. I liked Justin boots before I learned about the dreams and legacy the company was built on, but now I’d have to say I am proud to wear my Justin boots!
A poetic opinion about the purpose for high heels on cowboy boots offered by Foster Harris in The Look of the Old West:
Don’t let them kid you about the reason for heels, either. So you foot wouldn’t slide through the stirrup? Or to dig in the ground for leverage, to hold a wild one after you’d roped him? Maybe. But the Army in flat heels, the Injuns in moccasins and the gaunchos of South America all managed, right along with the gents on stilts, when it came to handling the rough ones. The truth is, those cowboy heels were and are a mark of position, an insignia, like a colonel’s eagles or a policeman’s badge. When you get a good pair on, they shove you up into another world altogether, a world that’s not a mean and petty as the flatfoot pedestrian landscape most of us have to hoof it through, day after day. They’re wings to the spirit, those cowboy boots—and who doesn’t want wings?
