monday, apri! 6, 1981
spring fashion supplement to the daily nebraskan
page 5
City slickers mosey around in cowboy duds
By I). Eric Kircher
The "Urban Cowboy" look - where even people who
never have been near a horse or cow wear Western-styled
clothing may have peaked on the coasts, but managers
of Western specialty stores in Lincoln are planning on at
least one more year of large sales before any decline.
"It's holding its own," said Con Schleiger, manager and
buyer for Lincoln Army & Western Wear. "I don't think
it's going to last over a couple of years."
Linda Wohlfarth, a manager and buyer for Fort
Western & Supply, said she expects the current boom to
last this year and the next before it levels off. Hie Wohl
farths are expanding their store to handle the increased
business. Wohlfarth said her family has doubled the floor
area since the specialty store opened several years ago.
"Certain people will chinge with fads," said Mark
France, manager of Indian Village Western Shop, "but
some will recognize the value and continue to buy western
clothes."
Wohlfarth said Fort Western customers include "real
cowboys, urban cowboys" and horse show riders.
At least 60 percent of Lincoln Army & Western Wear's
customers are farmers and ranchers, Schleiger said, but the
rest are executives, professors, clerks, and college stu
dents. Even foreign students have started to go western,
he said.
Everyone buying boots
"It's caught on all over," Schleiger said. "Everyone is
buying boots."
All the kids from 16 on up to 70 or 75 are wearing
them."
France said businessmen, the nine-to-fivers, state
employees and students, as well as working cowboys are
buying western clothing and accessories
"Along with the western fashion, people are going back
to the good clean fun," France said. "The square dance
department is just going bananas. The square dance
department is our calling card." The store stocks the
fancy wear required for these social occasions, including
frilly dresses and petticoats.
But the dancing usually attributed with starting the
national trend toward western was done by John Tra
volta in the movie Urban Cowboy.
"Fashion has turned western since Urban Cowboy, "
The Gateway Western manager Kay Williamson said. The
store gave away sneak-preview tickets when Urban Cow
boy came to Lincoln and placed some store merchandise
in the theater window. She said people came to the store
after seeing the movie.
Travolta boot
"That is the boot that John Travolta wore," William
son said, pointing to a golden tan boot with dark toe tips
and uppers. She said the store sells many pairs of that
style.
Cowboy boots cost between $30 and $300 (or even
higher by special order), but most pairs cost about $100.
The well-heeled urban cowboy can be well-shod by paying
$275 for a pair of genuine ostrich leather boots with a
pattern of raised bumps marking where the quills protrud
ed when the ostrich wore the leather.
Prospective purchasers should hurry to but their exotic
leather boots though, because the supply of exotic
leathers is finite, while demand, if it isn't infinite, at least
is heavy. Williamson said she received a letter from Tony
Lama, a famous Texan boot manufacturer, advising the
store to not even order ostrich leather boots for a year
and a half.
For those not willing to settle for cowhide, boot mak
ers are sewing up boots from iguana lizard skin, elephant
ear leather, eel skin, sharkskin, ostrich leg skin, python
skins, elk and bull hide.
Wohlfarth said she has some customers who have boots
covered with every different leather. They will buy boots
sewn from exotic leathers as soon as the boots arrive at
the store.
Out of state orders
Along with Sandhills ranchers who fly into Lincoln
twice a year to shop for clothing, Lincoln stores get calls
from Texans and New Yorkers who can't find a good
selection of Western-wear in their states' stores.
Besides being unable to fill orders of exotic merchan
dise, orders for more common staples don't arrive as
quickly as they did in the past.
"No one expected it to get this big," Schleiger said.
"There's a pick up (in business) from certain people, but
the thing is, we can't get enough merchandise. We just got
hats that have been on order for nearly a year." Orders
the store had received in three weeks now take 15 weeks
to arrive .
"Felts are very hard to come by," France said. The felt
hats are made from wool felt or wool felt with varying
amounts of beaver fur. Hats manufacturers are alloting
their shipments of hats to each store. France said he had
sold his allotment and Williamson said her store had a low
supply of felts.
Felt hats cost from $10 for a cheap wool felt to about
$100 for a high percentage beaver fur felt hat.
Straw hats
"Straw hats are really starting to sell now," France
said. Straws are cooler in warm weather than felt hats, al
though the managers said both materials sold well year
round. Straws cost from $10 to $30.
Wohlfarth said hats, boots and shirts were bit sellers,
but "the biggest thing, the most important thing is the
hat."
She said people will wear cowboy hats with tennis
shoes and other non-Western dress.
"I would say that the hat business is good but the hat
accessory business is great," Wohlfarth said.
Customers are buying hat pins, hat racks and hat bands
to customize and personalize their hat. Only urban cow
boys buy the trim, she said. A "real cowboy" wouldn't be
caught in the saddle with a pheasant feather band around
his hat.
"Cowboys like clean hats," she said.
Williamson said customers buy the hat bands - with
prices ranging from $2 to $50 - because they can't afford
a new hat, or because they can't find the preferred style in
stock, but still want a different look.
Very expensive look
"It's very seldom that we sell a whole outfit," Schleiger
said, because a hat, boots, shirt, slacks and jacket would
cost at least $225, more than most people can afford to
spend in one day.
"They have no idea of the cost of the merchandise," he
said.
They like to get the whole works in one night if they
can afford it, Wohlfarth said. "Usually they are headed to
the bar."
The managers admitted western wear is expensive, but
they said the longer-life and fit make the clothing a better
buy than other lower quality ready-to-wear clothing.
They praised the tit and durability of the hand-made
leather cowboy boots and tapered western-cut shirts.
"I think the 'comfortable' is going to win out over
everything," Williamson said.
"Western wear is acceptable now, where it wasn't
before," Wohlfarth said. She added that a while back
Lincoln Southeast High students would call her "Wendy
Western" when she wore cowboy boots to school.
"Western wear is the one place you can be unique," she
said. "TheyU either say that's really neat' or they won't
say anything at all."
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