For centuries people have made a living by manufacturing products. During World War II it was planes, and during the 1990s it was platform sandals. However, before factories mass produced products like Nike shoes and pencils, people made products by hand. After the boom of the Industrial Revolution, it was rare to find goods that weren’t produced by machines. Holick’s bootmaking company in Bryan breaks this tradition. The shoemaking business has been making boots by hand for more than 100 years.
Holick’s is the official bootmaker for the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. Cadets receive these boots as seniors, and this achievement is the biggest symbol of honor and recognition a cadet can get. “Their senior boots are their senior ring, but the Corps version of their senior ring,” says Leo Belovoskey, Holick’s current owner and master bootmaker.
The history of Holick’s traces back to 1868 in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, where Joseph Holick was born. Holick did not want to be a shoemaker and at the age of 16 boarded a ship headed for America, according to the Holick’s website. When he arrived, he hopped on a train to Orange, Texas, but never arrived because he fell asleep and did not realize his car had been disconnected. This accidently left him in the heart of Aggieland. Within a few days he was offered two jobs as a shoemaker, one in Downtown Bryan, and another repairing Corps boots for Texas A&M, Belovoskey explains. After proposing the idea of a military band (now the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band) Holick continued to make shoes, including short lace-up boots for the Corps, according to Holick’s website.
The tall Aggie boot is believed to have entered the Corps uniform in the 1920s, according to Holick’s website. Belovoskey says the boots are based off English military riding boots, and the buckle, or side lap, is a Spanish style. By the 1950s, Joseph’s son Johnnie Holick had started the official brand “Holick’s” and became Texas A&M’s official bootmakers.
Belovoskey’s history with Holick’s intersected in 1991. After a personal spiritual change, he discovered a passion for bootmaking, but wasn’t sure how to pursue his passion until his brother, who was in the Corps at Texas A&M, called him and shared about getting his senior boots at Holick’s. Then after lobbying for him, Belovoskey’s brother got Leo a job at Holick’s, just after their 100th year anniversary.
Belovoskey and his wife bought Holick’s in 2005. Shortly after, Holick’s moved from their original Northgate location on Church Street to their current location on Wellborn Road due to an increase in rent.
While the location may have changed, the bootmaking process has been virtually the same since Holick’s first opened.
Making the boots is a multi-step process that takes three to four days to complete, says Belovoskey. First, they trace the cadet’s foot and the measurements are sent to the upper maker where a pattern is created.
The upper maker traces and cuts the leather and then starts assembling the boot. She passes it back to the head bootmaker who tweaks any mistakes or rough edges and then he forms the boot by sanding it. They construct the sole and cover it with leather, then they sew it and attach the heel. Finally, the boot is passed to the apprentice shoemaker who shapes the barrels, says Belovoskey.
Averaging from 500 to 550 pairs of boots per year, Holick’s does not make all their boots on site, says Belovoskey. There are not enough bootmakers at the company to meet the demand. Therefore, Holick’s boots are outsourced to two companies, E. Vogel in New York and Calero in Spain. No matter where the boot is made, it’s made with a passion and care that spans generations.
“I’ve seen a couple of times where dads will come back, that I made their boots for them in the early 90s, and then they got their kids in here getting their boots,” says Belovoskey.
Other companies may continue to mass-produce their products, but in Aggieland, traditions stick. Whether they are repairing a boot or presenting a cadet with their first pair, Holick’s remains a Bryan College Station staple, producing hand-made boots for generations to come.
