Bootmaker
Yldefonso Sanchez
Yldefonso Sanchez moved from León, Mexico, to El Paso in the 1920s, working as a cobbler at Fort Bliss alongside Tony Lama Sr. before opening his own shoe-repair and bootmaking business in 1928. His son, Jose Lucas Sanchez, and daughter-in-law Cuca later expanded the business into western wear, growing it to six locations and pioneering "repair while you wait" service.
Related: Jose Lucas Sanchez · Jose Luis Sanchez · Caboots
History
Yldefonso Sanchez was a cobbler who opened his own El Paso shop in 1928. Texas House Resolution 1427 (2015) says that in the 1920s he moved from León, Mexico, to El Paso, worked at Fort Bliss as a cobbler alongside Tony Lama Sr., and opened his own business in 1928. Sources differ on the spelling of his first name: the resolution prints “Yldefonso,” while an El Paso Inc. article on the same family prints “Ildefonso.”
In the 1940s and 1950s, his son and daughter-in-law, Jose Lucas Sanchez and Cuca Sanchez, expanded the business into western wear, growing it to six locations and pioneering “repair while you wait” service. His grandson, Jose Luis Sanchez, later continued the family trade, which eventually became known as Caboots.
Known for
Opened his El Paso shop in 1928; worked alongside Tony Lama Sr.