Where it all began!
Dukes has only been going for 6 months now and it has been an absolute whirlwind – it often gets forgotten how it all started so I thought I would write a piece to explain my little story. Im Daisy by the way!
In 2006, I went travelling with a very good friend Becky, and one of our stops was to stay with another friend in her family home in Sierra De Aracena. The house it absolutely unbelievable and I insisted the following year that my family and I went and stayed – this has become our annual holiday and is almost like a home from home.
After numerous days of exploring, we stumbled upon some tiny boutiques, selling boots that they spent hours and hours making. These weren’t just any boots, they were completely hand crafted and made of the most incredible leathers – not like some of the boots you will find in the UK.
Being a borderline obsessive over boots, I would come back every year with a suitcase full of these boots for myself (mainly) and my friends. Even more unbelievable were the prices… being so used to the high street prices in the UK, I literally could not believe it when I was told how much these boots were.
To backtrack a bit: Boots run in my family. My Auntie Judy has a well known Cowboy Boot store in London, R.Soles. I have grown up around boots and have virtually lived in boots since I could walk. I wore them so much, friends called me Daisy Duke – hence our brand name!
A couple of years later, I found myself going to El Tornero with a list as long as my arm of friends wanting boots – hello lightbulb moment! The boots that I was bringing home were very traditionally Spanish – why not jazz them up a bit, make them a bit more modern and start selling them? I knew exactly what I wanted and the hunt for my boot maker commenced…
After a few months, I had found two individuals that I wanted to make my boots and Dukes Boots was born! It took a very long time getting the designs exactly how I wanted them, sourcing the highest quality leathers and suedes - not to mention the need to rapidly improve my Spanish. Our boot makers are VERY Spanish – by this I mean they do not speak a word of English!
In October 2013, my first delivery of boots arrived! My excitement was uncontainable – it was such a relief to see the final product in my hands –up until this point it has been a lot of drawings etc and if Im honest, I had absolutely no idea how the boots were going to turn out.
The website launched in December 2013 and has been whirlwind ever since and I cant wait to see what the future holds for Dukes!
