A Whimsical Texas Boot Designer You Need To Know
Equal parts whimsical and luxurious, the exclusive and customizable boot designs of Miron Crosby have garnered a swarm of attention. Texas authenticity collides with New York City creativity, and there is no stopping the sister duo behind this bespoke boot brand.
Sorry, Texas, but we just have to reveal your darling bespoke boot designer, Miron Crosby, to the rest of the South. Equal parts whimsical and luxurious, the exclusive designs of Miron Crosby have garnered a swarm of attention from their West Texas home that extends to both coasts. The boot brand has a flagship shop in Dallasβs Highland Park Village, a new sister shop in Aspen, Colorado, and no plans of stopping there.
Miron Crosby was born and bred on the Texas dirt, just like its founders, sisters Lizzie Means Duplantis and Sarah Means. (Weβre all about sister design duos lately!) βWe grew up quite rurally on a working cattle ranch in West Texas,β Lizzie says. βWe laugh that we didnβt have many neighbors. We were sort of forced to make our own fun together from a young age, and weβve been dreaming together since then.β
The pair used to build forts in the creek and dream up ways to torture their brother Coley. Now, they dream up boot designs. βWeβre still thinking of ways to torture our brother Coley,β Sarah adds. βWeβve always been a pair at play.β And this pairΒ continues to wow us with pair after pair of never-want-to-take-them-off boots.
They followed their cattle ranch childhood with a move to New York City, where high fashion and vibrant color began to mix with their Western authenticity and grit. After a new design is realized in the New York studio, it comes to life back in Mercedes, TX. Rios of Mercedes β a name that should ring some bells if you know your boots β is an iconic 160-year-old boot manufacturer with a factory drenched in crawling ivy.
Rios is owned and operated by cousins of the Means sisters, so they have access to master boot artisans who can bring their inventive designs to life. For each boot design, an experienced master artisan selects luxurious leathers and exotic skins, then cuts, lasts (a βlastβ is a solid structure shaped like a foot used to form and construct a pair of boots), and stitches every pair by hand.
Like the custom bespoke hat trend we see everywhere, boot buyers are flocking to the in-store experience of customizing a pair of Miron Crosby boots. And few bootmakers offer a service as intricately tailored to each customer as Miron Crosbyβs.
Once youβve picked your style, colors, and materials, you can add a monogram, ranch brand, logo, or other meaningful imagery. And it doesnβt stop there. Handwritten notes can even be transcribed onto leather and sewn into the lining of your boot.
Lizzie and Sarahβs great-grandfather, Marion Otis Means, was a true gentleman, a debonair, and a real cowman. βMironβ is a play on Marion, and βCrosbyβ is the name of a pasture on their familyβs cattle ranch. The sisters also love exploring Crosby Street in NYCβs SoHo neighborhood for some trusty retail therapy and design inspiration.
βPeople always say, βOh, I could never work with my sister, weβd fight constantly,'β Sarah says. βWhile we occasionally bicker, certainly, we also think folks miss the other half of that sentence. While itβs true nobody can drive you crazier than your sister, itβs also true that few people on the planet know you better or trust you more. Thereβs power in that,β she adds.
Work, play, and family tend to blur together for Sarah and Lizzie. βAs cheesy as it sounds, we really are best friends,β Lizzie says, βso we spend lots of time together between work and play.β But the sisters had a serious conversation when Miron Crosby was in its infancy. βWe made a pact to turn it off sometimes,β Sarah says. βWhen we need to chill and hang out and just be sisters, weβll be intentional about that, and having that firewall sometimes is a lifesaver.β
The more we dug into the stories behind each design, the more impressed we became by the intention with which Lizzie and Sarah create. The Mansion Boot, for example, was born from a history deep-dive and extensive tour of the European influences found in the architecture of Dallasβs iconic Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.
Miron Crosby also recently collaborated with a Dallas-based artist Stephanie Cooper Johnson who dreamed up some true one-of-a-kind painted boots with brightly-hued animals and florals. They also have a handsome line of menβs boots and βMini Crosbyβ for kiddos. We cannot wait to see what Lizzie and Sarah dream up next. Keep up with Miron Crosby on Instagram.
Thanks to Lizzie and Sarah for sharing the Miron Crosby story with us β and Kristen Kilpatrick for the gorgeous photos.
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Zoe Yarborough
Zoe is a StyleBlueprint staff writer, Charlotte native, Washington & Lee graduate, and Nashville transplant of eleven years. She teaches Pilates, helps manage recording artists, and likes to "research" Germantown's food scene.