Author Carol Lipscomb’s biography about the tenacious businesswoman, Enid Justin, who founded the Nocona Boot Company, is a well-researched, inspirational read. Enid was no stranger to the boot making industry. Her father, Herman Joseph Justin, founded H. J. Justin and Sons in 1879, selling his sturdy, handcrafted boots to cowhands traveling along the Chisholm Trail. Herman’s seven children learned the trade working beside him at the shop. From purchasing the leather to stitching the boots, the Justin clan were destined to become experts in the field.  Born in 1894, Enid was sewing boot tops at the age of twelve.  Little did she know she would one day become the president of her own boot making company. 

In 1925, the plucky bootmaker announced she was going to start her own company in her hometown of Nocona, Texas. Fearing she would fail, her family pleaded with her to reconsider, but Enid was determined. She worked hard and was the first traveling salesperson for the company.  She drove a Model-T Ford from town-to-town peddling boots at every hamlet she stopped.  Little by little she grew the business until it became a multi-million-dollar corporation.  The Lady Make Boots is not only the story of a feisty entrepreneur but it’s the business chronicle of a company synonymous with the rise of cowboy boots from a practical work boot to a fashion symbol. 

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