Arditti · History

History

Arditti is an El Paso, Texas custom boot shop. Texas Monthly's June 2002 roundup of top bootmakers listed it as Arditti Alligator Accoutrements and Handcrafted Footware, run by Thomas Yves Arditti, then 31 and a twelve-year veteran of the leather trade, producing high-end designs in alligator and other exotic leathers.

The shop's own account says it began in 1991 selling fine leather and hair-on-hide accessories before Arditti moved into designing and making custom footwear, recruiting bootmakers from families with five and six generations in the trade. A 2002 photo caption names one of those bootmakers, Enrique "Kiki" Velasquez — see Enrique Velasquez — though not every pair from the shop should be credited to him or to Thomas Arditti personally.

The 2002 profile listed prices starting at $550 and a turnaround of one to two months. Jack Nicholson and Mikhail Gorbachev were named as customers, which is a reputation note rather than documentation of specific pairs. The shop has also made private-label boots sold through other outfitters under names including La Maria, Provencio, and Patrona.