Jarrett Van Curen · History

Portrait of bootmaker Jarrett Van Curen — Photo: Courtesy Jarrett Van Curen

Why collectors care

Jarrett Van Curen is a working bench maker, not a brand. Every pair is built by him in a small shop in Pittsburg, Texas, and the construction is the old grammar: all-leather bottoms, wooden pegs where pegs belong, a hand-forged shank. Collectors meet his work as fresh custom pairs rather than estate finds, so the useful questions are about how to read a Van Curen pair and how to commission one.

He sits in the same living-custom conversation as Lisa Sorrell, Pablo Jass, and Texas Traditions: one maker, one bench, a wait list, and a recognizable hand.

The maker

Van Curen started in high school at a boot-repair shop inside a local western-wear store in Mount Pleasant, cleaning and breaking down worn pairs for new soles. Leatherwork paid his way through college, and by his own account he committed to building boots around 2012, the same year he attended the Wichita Falls Boot and Saddle Maker Roundup. For years he built at the bench before dawn while teaching high school agriculture in Big Sandy; the work is now his full-time trade.

Texas Monthly featured his boots in November 2019 among its favorite contemporary makers, citing a “clean aesthetic and elegant stitching.” The Longview News-Journal profiled the shop in 2020: a workroom attached to his garage, a vintage Landis stitcher, and at least forty hours in every pair.

Recent work

Pairs supplied by the maker, September 2026.

Tall plum-colored boot tops with fanned feather stitching and white side piping over tan roughout vamps, photographed against a stone wall — Plum tops, fanned feather stitch, white piping, tan roughout vamps

Navy boot tops with pale blue ribcage stitching over brown roughout vamps in low sunlight — Navy tops with the ribcage stitch over brown roughout

A tan pair laid on its side showing green flame stitching down the shafts and white piping — Tan pair, green flame stitch, laid flat

Black boot tops with red and white stitching over red full-quill ostrich vamps — Red full-quill ostrich vamps under black tops

Cobalt blue boot tops with tonal stitching over tan roughout vamps and a square toe — Cobalt tops, tan roughout, square toe

White boot tops with orange piping over royal blue suede vamps — White tops with orange piping over blue suede

Olive green boot tops with pale stitching over black vamps and a cutter toe — Olive tops over black vamps, cutter toe

Black boot tops with teal ribcage stitching over black alligator vamps — Black alligator vamps, teal ribcage stitch

Brown alligator vamp under tan tops with tonal ribcage stitching, side view — Brown alligator vamp, tonal ribcage stitch

Short black boot tops with pink and green stitching over a dark brown vamp with a toe medallion — Black tops, pink and green stitch, brown vamp with toe medallion

Commissioning

Custom and made-to-measure only; there is no ready-to-wear line. Expect a wait measured in months. Reach the shop through the Van Curen Leather Facebook page below.

Known for

The Van Curen “ribcage” top stitch; hand-forged 60-penny-nail shanks; wood-pegged all-leather bottoms

Sources and references