DENVER, CO, April 24, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In a digital age, Mickey Mussett, owner and bootmaker of Ghost Rider Custom Boots in Denver, Colorado, along with his wife Marie and co-owner of the business, are practicing a truly analog American craft that is hundreds of years old – making beautiful cowboy and cowgirl boots by hand. In their converted garage boot workshop. He has just been inducted into the prestigious Marquis Who's Who Biographical Registry.
Mussett, who is a retired advertising executive of 25 years, found himself too dated in his profession to find work and without a job at the age of 53. The only work he and his wife were able to find was temporary clerical work at various businesses in the Denver area.
In one of the temporary assignments, he had the random thought of "How do you get a vibrant red color in leather?" He went on the internet and found a custom bootmaker in New Mexico who gave him the answer. As he scrolled down the list of custom bootmakers, he found David Jack Hutchings, a master bootmaker in a Denver suburb who also taught bootmaking.
"I turned from the computer and started back to my desk when I said "God is this what you want me to do"? I felt a big hand in my back that turned me around to the computer and I got Hutch's number and started learning the most difficult job I've ever done."
That was 20 years ago and Mussett and his wife now have a thriving local, national and international business producing bespoke cowboy boots, one pair at a time.
"I've slept on a ranch house floor to learn one aspect of the craft. I've gone to bootmaker roundups to meet the masters of the trade. And in the end, I've been given a new life and a career that I love.
But it's not just the boots that are the success we have experienced. It's the experiences we have had with the wonderful customers we have had the privilege to come to know over these 20 years. They are truly the riches we have in our lives."
A wonderful CBS producer who has become a friend once told me, "Mickey, no one leaves your workshop unchanged."
"It's an Old West thing."
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