Carrlyn Miller

History

Carrlyn Miller is the co-owner of Texas Traditions in Austin, Texas, the shop she runs with bootmaker Lee Miller, who works the bench. She came from the medical field and answered a newspaper ad for a secretary, learning only at her second interview that the employer was Charlie Dunn. A friend recognized Dunn’s name and told her who he was.

She worked as Dunn’s secretary for years, watching how the shop ran and leaning on its accountant, before she and Lee Miller bought Texas Traditions in 1986, when Dunn was 88. In a 2019 interview she recalled the early struggle to convince customers that the quality carried on after Dunn retired, and how costly print advertising brought few orders. The lesson she took away was that finished boots were the best advertisement. In 2019 the business still signed itself Texas Traditions, Boots by Lee Miller.

Sources

• Carrlyn Miller interview, The Cowboy Bootmakers, 25 April 2019
• Lee Miller interview, The Cowboy Bootmakers, 25 April 2019
• Jennifer June, USA bootmaker list, updated 2 May 2024