Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep. 44: She Reinvented Cowgirl Boots… Without Using Leather - Desert Bloom Boots (Kristen Decker)
Transcript
- Joe: What if your favorite cowgirl boots weren't just iconic, but ethical and completely reinvented? Welcome to the Globizer Podcast, where we explore business growth, communication, and personal development through real conversations with people that make an impact. Our guest is transforming Western fashion Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Thank you very much. Joe: from the inside out. She's the founder and CEO of Dessert Bloom. took legendary Mexican heritage bootmaking and fused it with innovation. Creating cowgirl boots made from corn and wheat that feel like sneakers and perform like traditional leather. She's not just building a brand, she's building a movement for conscious, confident women who want style with purpose. Globizer welcomes Kristen Decker. Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Hi, thank you so much for having us on the show. I really appreciate it. I'm Kristen Decker, founder of Desert Bloom. Joe: Looking forward to the conversation. So Kristen, let's begin. Please tell us more what you do. Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: always been a cowgirl. So I've always had a love for cowgirl boots. And so about five years ago I had this wild idea of wanting to create my own boot brand and wanted to do it differently. so for the past five years I've pretty much been eating, breathing, and sleeping boot development in here in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. Joe: So, Kristen, what inspired you to pursue this path? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: So being being a cowgirl my whole life, I, I was raised on a farm. I used to wear cowgirl boots and hats and, you know, be a part of four H and and all the things when I was little. So cowgirl boots for me was just is just a staple in my life. And it's something I wear pretty much every day. And I've always kind of had this dream of, you know, this goes back years and years ago of wanting to have my own boot brand. And life gets busy, you, you're doing this and that, and and and sometimes, those dreams or things that you think about, don't always, you know, they don't always come to fruition. being down here in Mexico, and being a part of the Mexican culture and the Mexican history, and then also discovering Leon Guanajuato and basically which is like the boot capital of Mexico. these guys are just masters at like, you know, developing shoes and especially Western boots. And learning about this process and seeing it and and also really kind of like understanding you know, where the fashion and footwear industry has been for decades. I really noticed there's a big gap there. You know, in the industry for decades, it's either been all animal leather or it's been a cheap plastic synthetic. And so I started thinking, you know, if I were to ever have my own boot company, I would want to do things differently. I'd want to try to make an impact, try to make a difference, try to fill a a void or create a new category in the industry where I feel like we could actually make a difference. So it wasn't about just creating another boot that would compete against, you know, all the other boots on the market, but it's more about for me, was about how can I do something that could actually make a difference. about 10 years ago, I had discovered this material here when I was in Mexico. and when I started researching. originally it started with the cactus leather. And and I just came across it by chance and I thought, wow, this is so interesting. This is it's not animal leather, it's not a cheap plastic synthetic. This is something like entirely innovative, entirely new. And I was really intrigued. So I started doing a bunch of research and and we also being down here in Mexico, my husband and I, we also own a property management business. And so being in the property management business down here, we're servicing a lot of the baby boomers or snowbirds that, spend half the months up north and then half the months down here in Mexico. And because of this business, we actually get a lot of people who are would give us their old furniture or or things like that that they weren't using and and so when I had discovered this company, I thought, well, why don't I order like some big rolls of it and we'll start maybe recovering some of this old furniture and just see what happens. Because I wanted to kind of experiment with it and and and see. And so we started recovering couches and chairs, you know, one after another. And after some time, I was just like, seeing the results, seeing how it was held up, seeing how it lasted. And I thought to myself about I woke- I literally woke up five years ago and looked at myself in the mirror, and I said, I need to create some cowgirl boots. So you know, it's just kind of it was a mixture of like all of these things from being in Mexico, from learning about the heritage, learning about the you know, seeing the boot development and factories in in Mexico, learning about this material, experimenting with it, and then just like having a waking up one day and just saying, This is what I need to do. Joe: now let's go back. Here you are, you're experimenting with a product. did you make your first pair of boots for yourself and walked around with them and then realized this is pretty comfy and maybe this is something I should bring back and produce as a mass produce as a product? Was that the case? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Absolutely. Absolutely. So when I basically five years ago I decided to do this, I I didn't know anything about the boot like I mean about how to like develop a actual like build a cowgirl boot brand like on my own, right? Like I've seen people do it. I learned about it. But what I wanted to do is I wanted to, I ended up surrounding myself around people that had actually been in the industry longer than I have. and I ended up hiring a shoe consultant, who'd been in the industry for about thirty, forty years that worked with a lot of major Western brands. And so so she helped me we basically found our development team in in Mexico and we outsourced a designer in the UK to help with some of the designs for the boots. and then of course, you know, we once we had the designs, once we, had the development and the feel, you know, of the shoe. Which like our last that we developed is a custom last that's inspired by a tennis shoe fit. So they are truly designed to be extremely comfortable from from the moment you wear them. so at that moment, that's when we were like, okay, we've got the material, we've got the design, we've got the development, everything we need. let's make some prototypes. And so we actually started out. making our very first prototype with the cactus leather. And and we probably we did this for quite a few times and it came to the point where I wasn't happy with the finish. and I wasn't it didn't it didn't have the quality and the feel that I wanted it to for for a leather for this type of boot. Like I wanted it to feel and look like a traditional leather boot and act like a it, you know, like a boot. As well. And I wasn't happy with the results that it was giving me for a shoe. and so we ran several prototypes with that, and then I discovered it's a similar same type of biomaterial, but it comes from the corn and weed fibers, and the corn and weed fibers have proven to be more durable, and so for shoes, you definitely need to have something stronger, more durable type material. then say you would maybe, you know, recovering a chair. So so we decided to pivot and we started using this same type of biomaterial from corn and weed fibers. And I was absolutely blown away. Like the from the texture to to to the quality to everything. Even my manufacturing team in Mexico who by the way this was also This was also very, very difficult because trying to get into a manufacturing facility down there was very difficult because for years they've always done it one way, which is with animal leather. And so they were very nervous about taking me on as a client using this new innovative material because they were really uncertain about it. And once we had our first prototype. my development team and manufacturing team down there were everybody was completely blown away with how the boot felt, how the boot looked, because even my team was like, this looks like leather, this feels like leather, like I I can't believe it. once we had the prototype, then of course, yes, absolutely. I am wearing this boot 247 for literally over a year. I'm just wherever I go. If I'm up in the snow, if I'm up, walking in the mountains, in the in the sand, in the mud puddles, like I wanted to wear this thing absolutely everywhere because I wanted to make sure that the boot that we were putting out on the market is a is a good quality product. And so I literally have a pair of boots, my first prototypes that I have worn for over a year. literally almost every single day, everywhere. And to this day, I mean I do have the it's got some little scuffs on the toe, which is completely normal. Cause even with that'll happen with even with your, traditional leather boots, that you wear with the snip toe, you'll get scuffs on them. But to make a long story short, after wearing them a year, almost every day, they look brand new. Joe: what's very interesting to me here is that you were so certain about your product even before you had the prototype, which makes this so interesting. That I see that very often. You have some CEOs and founders who are just know, they just know that something great is is in the horizon. And I can see that that's what you saw. But now, once you made the prototypes, did you send it out to other people to test it out for you and to let you know so you can start getting some feedback before you start mass producing? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Yes, we did do that as well. So we had a little small circle, with like a lot of just maybe friends and family that we would just like have wear the boots, wear them around, tell them us what you think. and you know, we had to make a few adjustments here and there with with a couple of the PO runs. you know, where we had to maybe kind of widen the shaft a little bit or make some little tweaks here and there. But but other than that. like the feedback that we have and the feedback that we continue to get as we do these events and is absolutely positive. being in the footwear industry in general is not an easy task. I knew it wasn't gonna be easy but I also didn't think it was going to be this hard. people's feet are so different. There's, from you have like people with high arches or high end steps or wide feet or, you know, it's not like a one size fits all for a lot of people. Joe: Well, so you answered my question, because I was about to ask you, what is your biggest obstacle? And I think is is recognizing that in this the business of dealing with human beings, everything is so different and there's so many variations of that. And I can see that that would have been a little bit Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Yes. Joe: of a nightmare trying to figure that out. So now you you said, okay, I'm ready. My family members and friends have said is the greatest product We're ready to roll. Now, what was your first step? How d how did you decide? Like what was your first thing that you did? Who did you contact to say, I'm ready to sell to you? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: after we had run the prototypes, after we had run the tests, obviously in the background while we're doing all this, I'm building the foundation for the company as well. so we're we're we're developing, you know, obviously we have the name, we have the logo, the graphic design with the logos, we're building the Shopify website, we're trademarking the names. you know, we're doing all of this foundational work. kind of behind the scenes getting ready for this. and we we made we actually decided to do our very first launch with the boots at Stagecoach in 2025. And so it was and so that we didn't and we did our launch there, but it was more of like a soft launch. and because we didn't actually have the product like necessarily ready. It was like all pre-sales at that point. So it was just kind of like a hey, this is who we are. you can view them, you can try them on. Like we had a complete size run there for people to try on and to feel them and touch them. And then they could pre-order and then a couple months later they would be shipped out to the door. So so yeah it was once once we kind of had once we knew we had everything in place ready to go. We, had some influencers, we, did the soft launch at Stagecoach. and and that's basically where we started to introduce the brand and start our e-com business. Joe: Now, have you been able to get your boots into a brick and mortar store? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: We have also expanded into the wholesale market as well. So we do a few trade shows a year, one in Atlanta, one in Dallas. and then we also we're on FAIR Marketplace. and right now, since we launched in July 2025 or March, sorry, March 2025. We are now probably in maybe 10 small boutique retailers across the US. So, we're growing strategically with our independent partners. I got a show coming up here in Atlanta next month. So so we're excited about that too. Joe: If listeners remember only one thing from today's conversation, what do you hope that message is? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: One thing from today's conversation. Well, I mean, being an entrepreneur is is like is not the easiest thing in the world. and so I think one one message that has helped me the most is is continue to believe in yourself and and If you truly have a passion and you truly believe in something, don't give up on it. Don't give up on yourself. And also for me, surrounding myself or surrounding yourself around people that believe in you more than you do is going to make it that much better. Cause there's these, as an as for me as an entrepreneur, I have many, there's many like times of ups and downs. There's, times when you're just like so excited and you're Like, yes, I got this, you know, let's go. And then there's moments of doubt, right? And in those moments of doubt is the time when you need that people, those people around you that believe in you more than you do. Joe: Very true. Now, I love the passion. I love the direction you're taking. And your major market is women who want the best product, most comfortable products, and they're conscious about the product as well. But what is the future of your company moving forward? Will cowboys get the opportunity to wear these as well? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Yes, I would love to be able to expand into into the cowboy boots as well. And then maybe even later on into children's boots. absolutely. I definitely see that being the future. we would love to one of these days have a flagship store. and be able to expand into larger retails across the US and also even globally too. So we're we're also starting to see a pretty big audience in the UK right now that is also very eco-friendly and and loves the conscious movement of these boots as well. So we just actually shipped a pair of boots to Italy the other day which was kind of fun. Joe: Wow, it's going global so quickly. Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Yes. Joe: So now Kristen, who should be contacting you right now? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Who should be contacting me right now? You know, we're we're right now we are on a path to create something larger than boots. So we are We're trying to develop a new category in the footwear and fasten industry, which doesn't exist. So, for decades, like I said before, you've had you it's either been all leather or it's been a cheap plastic synthetic. And so we're we're we're not trying to compete, we're just trying to create another option. And and so we're literally on a modern cowgirl movement at the moment, and we're trying to build a community of people that want to help us. move this move this needle like move this community move this development and so anybody who wants to support women owned businesses anybody who wants to support innovative new futuristic materials that are better for the planet Joe: where can our audience connect with you and join this movement? Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: So anyone can connect with us. We're we're all over social media. they can connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, all of our social media handles are at Desert Bloom Boots for all of those social media handles. So follow us, find us, as well on our website, which is our e-commerce Shopify site. We are at www.desertbloom.com. Joe: Kristen, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate your time and the value that you shared. Kristen Decker / DESERT BLOOM: Thank you. I honestly feel honored to be a part of this show and I really appreciate you having me on today. That was fantastic. Joe: Awesome. Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to follow the Globizer Podcast for more conversations that make an impact. Till the next time.