Raúl Cerrillo · History

History

Raúl Cerrillo led the original three-artisan bench at Republic Boot Company in Houston, Texas, hired by the shop's founder, Chris Conrad. Texas Monthly's September 2025 profile says he learned the craft from his father and grandfather in Mexico and has made boots for John Wayne and Steve McQueen; a 2023 ABC13 segment calls him head bootmaker and a third-generation craftsman, and adds Roy Rogers to the client list.

A Houston Chronicle profile of the shop puts Cerrillo's age at 72, says he learned from his father and grandfather in León, Guanajuato, and later worked in both Nogales, Mexico, and Nogales, Arizona, before Houston. That account, unlike the others, says he made shoes rather than boots — including a pair seen in the film Rio Lobo — for John Wayne, plus Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Chuck Norris, and George H. W. Bush. Sources differ on whether his well-known clients received boots or shoes.