Wild West Land Blog

Some days you just hit pay dirt - that was the feeling I had when I came across this fantastic store tucked away in Hakanoa St in trendy Grey Lynn, central Auckland.

The owner Tom is a wild west aficionado with genuine American connections and a passion for all things cowboy themed.

He self-built the store/home in the traditional adobe style of New Mexico - how much more passion for the American south west can you get that that?

Out the front of Trigger Happy is parked Tom’s yank barge and an assortment of selected clothes displayed in a small covered wagon reminiscent of so many settlers’ transport of choice. There’s even room to tie up your horse.

Inside there are racks of old western shirts and jackets, a selection of classic guitars (Tom and his wife play country music in their act Tennessee Sister), native American blankets and cowboy boots galore. More stock arrives regularly from contacts in the US.

If you’re in the area I highly recommend a visit!

The richest man in the world must love buying footwear, particularly boots fit for a rodeo star.

How do I know this? Well the Oracle of Omaha happens to own (through his investment company Berkshire Hathaway) Justin Boots, purveyor of quality cowboy boots since 1879.

Now, at the start of this year, Mr Buffett had an estimated net worth of $62 billion - as ranked by Forbes magazine - so he won’t personally feel too bad about the theft of 20,000 pairs of Justin boots from a Fort Worth warehouse. But then again a $3 million dollar theft in the current economy is going to upset any CEO.

I first heard about Buffett’s investing skills after reading Peter Lynch’s classic book Beating the Street. His theory was ‘buy what you know and love’ and (not wishing to simplify a whole library of Buffet books) I think Buffet aims to keep things just as simple - buy what you understand.

The classic ‘Sage’ quote I remember is about investing in Gilette, maker of shaving paraphenalia:

You go to bed feeling very comfortable just thinking about two and a half billion males with hair growing while you sleep. No one at Gillette has trouble sleeping.

Are there that many people out there willing to buy cowboy boots? A month ago I wrote about a shopping trip down the Kings Road in London, R Soles boots and the fact every shop had cowboy boots for sale.

Today this is the most popular post on this blog and if there are people out there willing to risk jail to steal 20,000 pairs of boots then maybe we should all follow Warren’s example and start buying shares in bootmakers!

I was hunting for a cowboy themed T shirt last night and found this good looking one on Spreadshirt by Austrian designer ‘Amorphia’.

The description: “The ghost of a very stubborn cowboy standing over his freshly minted corpse, holding a last stand against the buzzards”

Has anyone bought from this T shirt printing company? The quality of the designs looks to be great.

I took a trip down the Kings Road for the first time in years and came across ‘R.Soles’. They had some great looking cowboy boots in the window and the website tells me the firm opened for business all the way back in 1975.

Are cowboy boots - like western films - back in fashion again? Half the shops in west London seemed to have them in stock. I’m guessing they’ve been in vogue many times in 33 years of trading. Take the poll below or leave your comments.

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If you’re about to head off and buy some new boots then be sure not to commit any fashion fopars - College Fashion has a great article for cowgirls on how to wear cowboy/girl boots without looking like Daisy Duke. And if you need a video refresher then watch this 2 minute guide to buying and wearing western boots with style:

America’s “oldest working CEO” passed away on Wednesday at the ripe old age of 107.

The inventor of the first western style shirts with snap buttons, Jack A. Weil obviously spotted a market for City Slicker western wear long before the Billy Crystal movie, telling Mark Wolf at Rocky Mountain News:

“The cowboy business wasn’t an industry… There wasn’t enough of them, and they didn’t make enough money. They’d come to town, get drunk and the next month do it again. I felt there was a market from Middle Westerners and Easterners and we could take advantage of the popularity of Western movies. In the East you had to make it casual wear. I saw an opportunity to make a difference.”

The Rockmount Ranch Wear company has been going in Denver, Colorado since 1946 and has been worn by many a celebrity including the sadly deceased Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.

The Times reports that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has come out with a new line in kids clothing:

The polygamy look is essentially unchanged from the days of the American pioneers: austere dresses with long sleeves and high collars, loose trousers, long-johns, and modest blouses.