Miron Crosby: From Ranch Roots to Luxury Western Boot Empire

Miron Crosby isn't just a boot brand, it's a Texas story rooted in generations of ranch life, real craftsmanship, and a "fewer, finer" philosophy that turns heads from Far West Texas to the streets of New York. Co-founders and sisters Lizzie Means Duplantis and Sarah Means Ward grew up where boots are daily gear and the land itself teaches you to notice color, texture, and silhouette. In this episode, they break down what it actually takes to build a luxury handmade brand with soul — from their family connection to famed Rios of Mercedes to the community traditions woven into every design. It's a masterclass in modern Texas fashion and authentic brand building.

We get into the "romance of the West" and how to make it feel real without turning it into a costume, plus their newer line Besita, built to widen the door without losing what makes Miron Crosby worth knowing. Whether you're obsessed with Western wear, handmade boots, or what it looks like to grow a lifestyle brand without selling out, this one is for you.

Hit subscribe, share this episode with your most style-obsessed friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome To Front Of Book Texas

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Front of Book Texas. I'm Christy Ramirez. Conversations with the creators and icons driving lifestyle and culture today. From Texas to the world, timeless, unpaid. Texas creativity, global influence. Stop what you're doing right now. You have to listen to this conversation I just had with Marin Crosby co-founders and sisters Elizabeth Means Deplantis and Sarah Means Ward. We laughed so much, but we also talked about how Texas has hit a real inflection point over the last few years, especially when it comes to inspiring fashion. And there's no better brand that's ridden that wave like Marin Crosby. They grew up on their family's generations-old cattle ranch in far west Texas, and they used that experience to create what is now one of the most emulated boot brands on the market. Here's my chat with the lovely Lizzie and Sarah, who remained so kind and beautifully authentic to their Texas roots.

Boot Closets, Vintage Finds, Sister Sharing

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So Lizzie and Sarah, the sisters, the boot sisters are here. Okay, first things first. How many pairs of boots do each of you own? I'm kind of afraid.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

So it's a little scary. So we can justify absolutely anything because we can share them, you know? The problem though is when I'm getting dressed in the morning and I want a specific pair and they're at Lizzie's house that gets to be a little bit of an ordeal. But we do share well. Do you all live to each other? Are y'all student two miles?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

I'm in University Park and she's over in the Devonshire area. Okay. I mean not far, but it's not convenient when you like are like, oh, do you have that boot? But even so, Christy had just cleaned out a closet that used to be our luggage closet, and it's huge, massive for like suitcases. Yeah. Um for my boots. I took a picture for you. I'll show you the closet. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

It's well a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

I mean, it's starting to be. You know how.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Do you think it's like, I mean, I'm gonna lowball it, but like hundreds. Oh, hundreds. Okay, I was gonna say 30 or 40. Oh yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Like, what was it? The Noda, like the um spaghetti story that Oh, with the Rand spaghetti? Where she starts cooking spaghetti, the spaghetti starts coming out of her house and won't stop making it, and it's like you wouldn't. It's me with food. It's like really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

So hundreds. Really love vintage too. So we have like a little vintage club.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

So you have yours, you have vintage, and this is really I mean,

Growing Up On A Working Ranch

SPEAKER_00 2:06

like the you guys grew up on this cattle ranch outside of Marfa, and the ranch has been around since 1884, right? You did your homework. Not even looking at my notes. Um but you I mean, wearing cowboy boots, it's it's a necessity out there. And so you really grew up wearing they're probably like your sneakers, like somebody as a city kid would wear, right? True truly, yes. Yeah. And so, like, what was that like growing up on this ranch? It was magical.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

We had a we had a really, really great.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Tell me about it. Like, kind of.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I feel like and I think you know, I just I just think about like waking up. I mean, you first all the sounds like uh the birds song in the morning or the like roosters crowing. It's very I mean, it's so rural.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

So we're an hour from town, an hour. Um so it's 18 miles of dirt road to the highway, and then the highway's 20 into town. True story. So we drove an hour to and from school every day.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Um, there's no lights.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

I mean, you know, how many how big was your school? How many kids were in there? There were 70, 74 in my grade, I remember. Um, and we went to so we went to school. We claim Marfa um because it really is the ranch is right between Marfa and Vanhorn, so like our whole lives were kind of split between both little towns. So we went to school in Vanhorn and then everything else in Marfa, like ballet and sundae and all that. Yeah, all that stuff was in Marfa.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Um we drove like 18 miles and would meet a bus like early early in the morning and then take the bus into town and do the reverse commute coming back.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

So if we weren't outside, we were in the car. We left growing up. Yeah, but um, my as you mentioned, so we grew up on our working cattle ranch, it's very much what my parents do. Um and still do. Still doing still there. And uh we raised Angus certified Angus beef.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

But I just when I think about it, I think about like waking up to the sound of birds and like walking out, and it's just this vast Debosa flats that are so beautiful, and I think that's why West Texas is so uh like loved, and when discovered, people are just uh enthralled by it because the colors of the vistas and the like the blue blue sky against the Debosa flats, which are gold, and then the mountains in the back, which kind of like you know read into the lavenders and blues, it's really just so beautiful, and this is what we had all day, every day. And then we have this like you know, space to be creative and to and be imaginative. And I really credit, I think, where we are now, um, both in our relationship, but also in our creativity, um, to our our our days making play together. So on the ranch, there was other kids um that grew up with us, and we were all best friends, but we really just had each other, you know?

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Because y'all are the only siblings. No, no, we have a brother. Oh, you have a brother, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

He's in the middle of us and um poor things. So you're younger than me, Sarah.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

So he's sandwiched by the sister. He's so tired all the time.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

He's so tired of us all the time. But yeah, I just like we built forts in the creek and read stories and would, you know, ride our horses bare back and skinny dip in the tanks, and you know it was just it really is the idyllic, idyllic childhood, it really was.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

We had his go-kart, like one of the old school gasoline go-karts where you had to pull the rope to start, you know what I'm talking about? The engine. I do. And that was like we would get home from school. If we finished our homework, we could we read the go-kart out and like we'd take something.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Like we'd you know, grab our pumpkins and be on a mountaintop somewhere, and or we'd like drive down to the creek and you know, build a fort, but so our parents spent lots of time looking for us late night.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Figure out where we where we could possibly be. Did you have free rain like at the ranch?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Like they were basically just like we were gone for hours, so they never kind of one time we got locked, we locked ourselves in a trailer, a horse trailer, and we were gone all day, but it wasn't unusual. We were in there baking for hours, like baking to get out of it. Banging to get out. It was so hot. We're just in this horse trailer all day, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

It's so funny. Oh my gosh. I mean, I'm sure the story, I'm sure you have so many more stories like that. So many. Well, we won't bore you with them, but it's also it's it's so sweet to me, also, because you know, unless you're in a situation like that where you're kind of you have each other and then you're also growing up with kids that are like on the ranch as well, you don't really hear about that kind of childhood that much anymore, especially like when you're in Dallas.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

You saw Texas summers kind of like that?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yes, because it's a super small town, you said. We didn't yes, it was a super small town, and we definitely, I mean, there was nothing really to do there. I I was either related to everybody, like it was it we were it was a very tight-knit community, but we weren't on a big piece of property, so there were other things. It was like going mudden or you know, drinking in a field late at night, you know, things like we never did that. It never happened. Um but yeah, kind of the kind of the same thing, you know, but I feel like you're you're it almost feels like halcyon days, you know, just like this really beautiful kind of idea of what it's like to grow up in the country.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

It's funny you say that too, because my dad's very committed to kind of like the traditional ways, he's very serious about not stressing cattle, and so like we ride horses, we don't use ATVs because like the noise like things like that. And so even in like spring break, we always worked cattle, we would you know, move and brand and wean. And he would like, when we were little especially, he loves the romance of this. We would like pack up and ride off and take the chuck wagon, like ride off from the house with a check wagon and package and camp with everybody as we left and ride and yeah, and we'd work and then we'd camp around the ranch um and like cook out and sleep out and get up and move along. And we didn't have to do that, the house was five miles away. It's not like we didn't have a pickup. But he's like really wanted us to understand like the old kind of ways and the tradition of all of that, and and he was big on the ceremony.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

And I love this, I love that too.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

I think it's really and we like played cards by the campfire.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

I love that you said romance because it really is like such a romantic way of thinking about how things used to be done and trying to keep that intact. It's cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

And I think the respect for the history and how hard that was, like, that was fun for us, right? We thought it was magic. Yeah, because your house was five. We were trying to basically go home and take a shower, right? We were trying to have babies out there. Like it's you've got to, I think we it just it gave me us a I think a great appreciation for the forefathers of the West, the forefathers of whatever you want to say.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Um and ours, you know, and I think I think too. I mean, back to Texas like really speaks to the Texans, like the grit that we have at Bailey. And um, and I think you know, it's funny, I think all around the world people recognize Texans and they always want to. I mean, our dad wears a cowboy hat, whether we're you know, vacationing in Italy or shopping in London over Christmas, and he's a celebrity by the time we leave, but there's just this.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

There's a mythic, there's a mythic quality about it, and and that's what I so love about being Texan, and just like you know, knowing that you guys, when you were in New York, like after graduating from college, that you always had your boots on, and all the New Yorkers are like, Where'd you get this? Like,

Custom Boots And The Rios Connection

SPEAKER_00 8:28

there is a fascination, you know, and just natural interest that comes with it. So getting back to the boots, your cousins, Rios of Mercedes, of Mercedes, boot makers, and so there was a little bit of a connection already, and then but there's still some of your there, there's still people that manufacture, so Rio still helps you manufacture the boots. And so you had like a little bit of a soft entry into knowing what that's about.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

So growing up, uh, we we like you know, weren't allowed to have custom boots done until your foot quit growing. That was a rule in our house. And so we were all very excited for our boots quit growing. So we kind of wore whatever was Cavendars was selling in Midland, Texas or in El Paso, Texas, or um until we our feet quit growing, until we kind of, and then we got to go to Rios. And that was it was very like it's kind of like ride of passage again. So right of passage, and um so so we've always had Rios boots made, and that's when Sarah and I were able to kind of start to order customs, we loved playing with the colors and fabrications and yeah, and and coming up adapting you know the silhouette. I mean, not the silver always very true to the silhouette, but adapting kind of like what had always been done to what we thought was really relevant from a fashion perspective for us or what was in our wardrobe or what we thought you know was trending. And so then we'd wear them and and it really kind of carried on entire time in New York, and I guess you know at that time it felt really novel um to wear a cowboy boot around New York. It did and every time we did, we were stopped um and asked where where they could get a pair, but we couldn't send them anywhere because we designed them and our cousins had built them for us. Right. So that was kind of like what planted the seed. And then yes, they were extremely gracious. We wrote an um an email and asked if we could come see them at the factory, which isn't you know, you never want to get a note when someone asks if they can come see them. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

To to pitch if they would be willing to do our manufacturing. So when we started, they did all of our manufacturing, the whole line, every single boot, until frankly, we just ate up too much of their capacity. And so we're we supplemented some other factory partners.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, and so

New York Careers And Early Style Lessons

SPEAKER_00 10:32

you guys both went to TCU. Yes. Then you went to New York first, and then you followed her to New York, but you also like you were at Goldman Sachs for a while. So Sarah's almost nine years my junior.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

So she's a little bit more. We're in the same path, but we're, you know, all the different partners. Yes. So I moved to New York um initially to take a job with Forbes magazine. Right. So um little journalist. I was gonna say you know this so well, Christy. Like at about like year two, my parents were like, this is fun, but when are you ever gonna pay for your rent? Yeah, yeah. You can't make it in publishing in editorial. Like it's so hard. Gosh, so I um I got a job with Goldman, left and went to Goldman and was in our executive office there. So I traveled with our board of um directors um and and worked um doing that for years and loved it, and then ended my time in New York at Tiger Global, which is a hedge fund. Okay. So it's funny, I I was in the f in the finance world, um, but it's not at all what I'm doing now. It in the similar way that Sarah will tell her story, she was, you know, did went to law school and it's not at all what she's doing now. I'm so grateful for the backgrounds we've had. Yeah, for sure, but it's although it's so opposite from anything.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

It's so true. Like you look back, and you're kind of, you know, you're 22 and you know what to do, so you take a job and you figure it out, right? But you look back to do something. And it you know, it's so true that you you recognize how every little decision leads to where you look back and you're like, ah, that's why that happened. Thank you. That's why you're gonna be able to do that. And I needed that, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Lego there to like move to the next step. So and so you were there, then you came up, and you were at Lawler. Yes, yes, it was to me wholesale sales at Lawler. I mean, that was such a hot brand. I mean, I just remember getting like first pairs and just like being able to afford them and like how exciting it was.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

I wore a pair of Loughlin Randall to my high school graduation, which was four years before you know I graduated from college, obviously, and was like just thought. I mean, they were amazing. I still remember the yellow patent, so cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Well, this is what's kind of interesting. Like, you grew up like on this ranch, on this cattle ranch, but you had it sounds like you always had like some kind of inherent kind of sense of fashion, and where did that kind of come from?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

My my mom is very fashionable and loves fashion, but really my my grandmother, my dad's mom, okay, was super chic, and she was kind of the pattern. Yes, my dad's mom lived on the ranch until she passed away. Yeah, um she was widowed quite young, but she lived there and won Leave-in and like loved it. She was also a ranch girl.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Um, she was fabulous, and also I really love she, you know, we speak to our boots being quality and handmade, and we really, really are proud of and um beholden to the craftsmanship of our boots. But she, I think, really, if if I can speak for myself, like instilled that in me.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

And I think she was kind of the pattern piece for like fewer finer. Yeah. She had five suits, but she wore one, you know, she wore them every week and like she took care of them and had them forever, and they were beautiful and they were like tailored and clean, and she took care of them and like uh even her handbags. Like she had four handbags, but they were perfect and pristine. Like we, you know, she would.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

I mean, she would wear her Ferragamo flats. She did not wear cowway boots, which makes me kind of sad. They probably weren't, you know, refined enough for her in the time, especially. But she'd wear her like Ferragamo flats, like out to the cowpin, and then come back and dust them off in the West Texas desktop and put them back in. She was very Ferragalmo St. John, you know, all those stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

She was obsessed with the Neiman's catalog, like with the book. Oh, okay. And when the book would come at Christmas, it was always a really big deal. So on Fridays, she would pick us up from school um because she went to the beauty shop every Friday to get her herd up.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

We like to go and the picking shop was right next to the little uh movie rental place. We get to go get a big pickle and run a movie.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

And then sometimes you can remember them. I would like to get a Dairy Queen Blizzard every like I think it was for lunch on Fridays, and she sometimes, if she didn't have time to go before, she would let us go with her. So we would get blizzards and then drive back to her house, and we often we spent a ton of time with her, like not a couple nights a week often. Um, and we would sit on her couch, this like big green leather couch in her study, and we would read the book. And like we she would talk, she would be like, Is it now? Is that in? Is that in now? Should we send that?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

And she'd I remember like picking, she bought me a Burberry coat out of it one time and like picking things with her, just like really special. And the way that like pages felt and smelled when you turned them on the big green couch in her in our study.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

And I'm sure that it was so meaningful to you too, not just because you're spending time with your grandmother, but also when you're so far removed from like the big city. Oh, it was so wildly different, yes, and inspiring. Oh my gosh. I mean, just thinking about like getting a catalog and how exciting it was to like in back in the day to like shop through a catalog.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Because we I mean we had a computer and a TV, of course, but like it's not it was before you were hit in the face with editorial all the time. So it was so special and magical.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Do you feel like it's coming back?

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I think it is, yeah. I get more and more catalogs in the mail now, and I flip through all of them. I love them.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah, I still love catalogs. I mean, I'm always gonna be a print girl. We we interviewed um also Karina Bolding, who's the art director for Vir Virtueso magazine and an amazing photographer, and we just talked about our love of print. Like, I think if you grow up in a certain time, and I don't know if it's you know with millennials feel this way or not, but for me, like a Generation X, you know, generation, print is always going to win for me, even like newspapers. Like I love to read the paper.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

The smell and the feeling and like how the ink smudges. Yeah. I got a question for you, Christy. Ever-present debate in our house. Our house meaning like your house or our house. Not my house proper with my husband and my five kids, but our house, like sibling house with my mom. Um if you listen to a book, is it like can you say you read that? I mean, is it reading the book? My mom, my mom is like very firm that it's very different things. It's a completely different experience to listen as opposed to reading.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

I've never listened to a book. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

You've got to come to come to Thanksgiving. I just never listened to the book.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Let's sign the adoption pickers now. Jackie will be thrilled. I've never listened to a book before. Are you really so fascinated by that and shocked by that? Can I tell you?

SPEAKER_00 16:20

It really surprises me about you. Yeah. I'll listen to a podcast all day long, but a book feels like I need to have I won't even, I've never even looked at it on a tablet or a Kindle. No. I oh I like the tactile experience of having it in front of me and having even the heft of it in my book bag or when I'm like. Did you make notes? I feel like you would notate. I actually don't make notes, and I should because I have a lot of friends. My friend Carla McKinley makes crazy notes in her books about things. That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love Carla McHugh.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah, but I think that's such a cool gift too to leave, like a legacy of writing, you know?

SPEAKER_02 16:55

So there's a like notations in a book when you give it to a friend, but so special.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yeah, one of my favorite things is my my my and I know it's a Bible would be because it's a significance, but um, my grandmother wrote all over her Bible, and it's just reading it's almost like reading through their lives because you know she marked dates and you can see what was important to them and what resonated with them. And I love handwriting. I mean, handwriting is almost like a voice to me, like it like you recognize it.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

And so nobody even writes cursive anymore.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

It's kind of crazy. Does do your kids know how to write cursive? We are learning, Christy. I mean, are they really? Learning in my house is always a process building.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

We are learning.

The Miren Crosby Name And First Boot

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Now the name, Miren Crosby, so it's a combination of two things a great grandfather, but then also your favorite street. Why is Crosby Street? Why is it your favorite street in New York?

SPEAKER_02 17:40

We lived in New York, I lived downtown, um, and Lizzie lived in Chelsea, and then later in Grahamcy. Um, but we would we would often meet because my office was right at the corner of Broadway and Spring. We would meet after work for and go get honestly, we did Margarita's and foot massages all the time. That was like our sister date. I love it. Um and it's just it's like magical. I that whole area of Soho and that and kind of Nolita and that whole area felt really great. And then we have a pasture on the ranch that's also called Crosby. And so it was always kind of close to home. And a name you know you see and it makes you uh think of the other place. Um, and we just felt the intersection of kind of fashion and discovery and excitement with like then juxtaposed with like the ranch and the authenticity and the kind of beauty there felt really on brand, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

And so when you guys first started talking, when you came to Sarah and you were like, okay, this is what I want to do, and you were about to go to law school, or were you already in the last year? I was in law school.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

I just finished my first year, and it was that summer I was interning for a judge in Lubbock, hilarious. Thank you, Judge Hatch. Um and Lizzie called and was like, I'm really serious about this. Come to town and let's kind of put pencil to paper. So I did, and um, we then opened that was June of 16. We opened June of 17th.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah, 2020. Yeah, 2017. Especially like even just to have products, like I don't know how we kind of it's it's really bullshit.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

There's a will, there's a way.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

What was the first foot you guys designed?

SPEAKER_02 19:05

The Margaretta.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

The Margretta.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

With the jumping stores, which is still the capstan of our collection and my all-time favorite forever. And named after one of your friends.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Yes, and you guys continue to do this even as the brand has grown so big. I mean, like the you know, the collab with the Maddox family with the Maddox girls, which is so great. Um, treasures on the podcast. Yeah, she's so great. And the one with the McGuire with Sophie McGuire, which is so great. Um, but you continue to do this, and I mean, you kind of at this point, like, are so well known in the industry, like you keep coming back to this thing that has like a sense of community with your friends. So, why is that so important?

SPEAKER_02 19:43

We've always named boots in the collection after women we love or people we love and admire. Um and I think part of that is frankly, we're just super sentimental, and it's fun for us to kind of evoke their their memory and that kind of thing, and um, you know, how gr grateful we are for all that they've done for us. But I think too, it just speaks to the community, like this brand's really about community. It is, um, and we love our community, we live in this community, and the people have done amazing things to help us and support us and to be around, and if it's you know a little way to honor them, then it means a lot to us.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And how lucky are we to like you know get to meet them and and cross paths with them? I I just feel like maybe that's my favorite part of this business, frankly, is just the journey. I mean, to have the support of other Texas women and um to encourage each other, and I think it's fun to um kind of say thank you. And I think that that's a thank you.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Well, even right now, sitting with you, I mean, of course, you're we're always kind of buzzing around peripherally, right? Like, I feel like I wanted you at a party or something, but like we haven't sat down to chat in 10 years. Yeah, it's really scary.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

I know like just life kind of just gets in the way, and like the scheduling, especially when you have like kids and work and all the things, it makes it really hard. Like, if you're not planning things out, so I'm so happy that you guys decided to come on the podcast. You were on. I mean, when we first were thinking about this, like I had my list of like here are the 10 episodes I want, and it was it was you guys, like super flattered that is really sweet.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Well, I thought that we were for our work, we wouldn't be crossing paths, you know, your work and our work, and that's what I mean. I think in like it's all comes back to what a gift, like the relationship is yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah, I love it. Texas women supporting Texas women is really important. It's not just a quip, it's really true. Like they've come out for us, and I'm really touched by it, and I hope that we can show it for them like that.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

And it's a good lesson to pay it forward.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

I was just gonna say, like, I I really, really try to be cognizant as you know, I get older and recognize that I there's those coming up behind me that people have done it for me, and we have to do it for them. And I think that's one of the reasons Sarah and I feel so strongly too about what we can do for this community through our platform of which is our business. We'd love to, you know. So um I hope that's always a friend of mine for us.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

I love that. And so uh when you guys launched, I I feel

Reinventing Cowboy Boots And Staying Fresh

SPEAKER_00 21:55

like it was super disruptive in the industry. Like there were big And then there was Rios, and then there were other brands that were kind of doing things along the line, but they all felt very traditional, where this really kind of mixed the fashion and the tradition together. And so when you guys launched, what or getting into launching as you were launching, was there ever a moment where you're like, I don't know if this is gonna work? Or it is gonna work, or oh my god, we just really messed this up? Like what like what were some of the big things that happened as you guys were launching the brand?

SPEAKER_02 22:26

You know, I think that's interesting that you would say that to your point about like, oh my god, is this gonna work? In a way, I feel like I feel that every day. We we try so hard to reinvent ourselves, to reinvent the collection. Really, because like you know, we're we like to think, and I hope that this is resonates, that we're kind of like cracking a category, right? And going doing things that haven't been done in ways that haven't been done, and even if it is working, we have to innovate. And even you know, I think specifically product-wise, but like in the store, like when people come in, do they have an um did they have an 89 experience and how can we get it to 90? How can we get it from 100 to 110? You know what I mean? And I think even though it's working and like that's so great, like the challenge to reinvent and and stay fresh and but be satisfied is a cool rub and something.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

And I think we're really we talk about I I I sit on the design team um and we talk about it all the time, and it's just like I I do think Christine, thank you for saying that, that that we that we really kind of saw a white space when we launched and looked to fill it and that we were successful in doing so, but because it was there. There is like a there was a need for a fashion forward cowboy booth that would stay true to the silhouette. And so I I I I do think we were the originals there. And I love that. But but to Sarah's point, like I don't want to lose esteem. Like, and so I think that the way to do that is to keep kind of like what could what could be done? Like what isn't being done with this work, you know, and and whether that's like we'll always make cowboy boots, certainly, but whether that's like playing with how like how can we push the boundary, is like what that means.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah, and I mean kind of jumping off of that, you now have Besita boots. So tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Our little sister Brandy. Yes, you know, it really the idea for Besita came about in totally and much the same way that Marin Crosby did. We just wanted to open the door a little bit further. Yeah, and so to kind of extend the spirit of Marin Crosby, which is about you know, playful and fashion and and quality, but then extend that to a more accessible price point and a different and thereby acquire a different customer that because you know our our cowway boots are a luxury. The Marin Crosby boots are really luxury, and um something that could be a little more accessible and a little more playful, which is kind of the dream.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Evaluating it from a business standpoint too, I mean, we really saw this as something that could scale um and scale maybe more quickly than Marin Crosby. Yeah, and I think at the heart of it, Sarah and I um would love to I I Marin Crosby's just you know, we've always kind of taken the sailboat approach with it, and and we've really been intentional um in our and in and stuff authentic in our uh growth and in our scaling. Like we uh we don't advertise, um never uh you know, we don't pay for people to wear our product, um we gift. Um we like have never taken on investments and we bootstrapped the business this far. And I mean there's just incredible. There's just really organic place pieces that have been put in place, and I just hope that it always kind of maintains that. Where Besita, I feel like, could be a little disruptive and scale quickly.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

And you can tell that even from the branding and like the social media. Do you think so? Really? Yes, I do. Thank you. I mean, it's like you can tell that they're connected, but you can tell that they're two different things. Thank you. Because it was never meant to be the fusion brand or sister brand, and but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

I'm so excited to see it. I want to see it. Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

When you guys are thinking about the brand, like Besita versus Mir and Crosby, who are the Texas icons that you think of when you think of Mir and Crosby versus like Besita?

Besita, Texas Icons, Shops, And Food

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Do you have any Texas icons that you reference?

SPEAKER_02 25:50

It's funny, I would say for Miren, it's less icon human icons, if I may, and more like flora and fauna icons.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Oh, okay. Is that fair?

SPEAKER_02 25:58

So, like when you think of West Texas, you think of night stars, you think of like cactus and flowers, and again, we talk a lot about the landscape. Yeah. Um, and so I feel like that's kind of my answer for MC. I would also be reminisced to not include that, like, we're always really inspired by art and architecture, and of course, fashion. Yeah. Um, and so people play into fashion, but and I I recognize that architecture is done by a human, but you do know what I mean. Like, I feel like it's almost more physical than it is of human. Is that fair? Yeah, do you agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah, and I was gonna say, like, our crescent moon and that sort of thing. That's exactly what's funny because we were talking about these questions yesterday, and I I Sarah was like, Did you read the question wrong? Because what I what I was like, the icons of Texas, and Texas is true. Like, I know so much of Texas has um imprinted itself in our hearts and on our souls, and I think that kind of comes out in what it we produces in our product, and so I think that Texas icons are kind of like like tile floors and crescent moons and sunsets and yeah and cactus blooms and um birds, and we love animals, as you know, like we love an obscure animal moment.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Um so I feel like for the for me it's less about humans and more about that.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Yeah, that totally makes sense for that.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

And then for Besita, that's a hard way.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I didn't know it is, I'm trying to think. We need like a Loretta Lynn or something like that. Oh, I love it. Yeah, Loretta Len is done.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Okay, where do you guys like to shop in Texas?

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Where do we not like to shop in Texas? Oh, I do. So many people go, yeah, they need a good list. They need a good list. Okay. There's a really great spot called Marfa Community. Okay. It's spelled C O N M U N I T I E. Okay. Is that French?

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Is that French? You wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yes, I've always said I have no idea. Anyways, um, it's darling, like really great. Um, like oh pottery, they can bring home or ceramics and cool earrings and like vintage shirts and stuff. Wrong Marfa, W-R-O-N-D is awesome. Yeah. I love Marfa Garza. Garza Geta. Garza Marfa. Sorry. Yeah, sorry, I love Garza Marfa.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Um, what else do I love in? Uh, I think the store, the Sentinel, has a really cool uh the coffee shop. So the people that bought um Macy Crow and her husband that bought the newspaper where and it's printed also like put in a little amazing kind of coffee shop restaurant, and they have she has a cool curation of stuff in there. Yeah, like great gift.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Oh, and Marfa bookstores. Yeah, he's a little bit more. I think it's a market, yeah. Um what about you? Shopping.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Shopping, um anywhere in Texas. Shopping in Texas. Oh, I have so many spots.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

I love to that's my spot. Like, I want to go to the paisano and have a marguerite on the patio. I want to bop around to these little spots. It's so funny right there. My favorite. Like, that's my little shopping day. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Here, I love Market, of course, in Collin Park Village. Um, Canary, V O D. Yeah, obviously. Um, I think Kegplate's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

I love Austin and here.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Love. Um, Love by George. We'll shop it by George in Austin. Uh that's kind of my I do love the I think the original Titsy's in Houston's specialty.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

I love it, too. Yeah, it's St. Bernard. Y'all, St. Bernard's my gift. How could I forget to? Georgiana and I run into each other. Yeah, yeah. Dallas, let's be honest.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Like, you know, we can see our gift and it, you know, it's so easy. And there's something for everybody. We ran into each other. We were both it was. Did y'all shop the sale this weekend? No, I didn't shop this Ellis Weekend, but last Father's Day, we were both ding dong. I should, yeah, like cut this out. We didn't have Father's Day gifts. And so we both, she was coming out, and I was coming in, and I was like, oh my god, I forgot Father's Day gifts. Trying to find something.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

Love Ellis Hill too is a great. LS Hill is to your point about like whatever you need for whatever you think you need, got it.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

They're amazing. ASAP. They've got the best stuff. And then, like, as far as like eating in Texas, anywhere in Texas, do you are you able to name a favorite restaurant or not? Are they just like a favorite restaurant in Texas?

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Oh, yeah. Well, of course.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Oh, what is it?

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Roses Cafe. The original one, like the chain. With the original ones in Odessa. This is serious. This is a true story.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

We have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Absolute deathbed meal is bean cheese burritos from Roses, done. The one that I see the commercial for all the time.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

I actually never had roses.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Christy, you've never had roses? No problem. I shall arrange it. But it's like a they started in Odessa. It's a West Texas like thing. And the original ones in um in Odessa. They're delicious. Death Bud meal. Done.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Like her husband up on Valentine's Day called me early and he was like, asked some silly questions, but he was on his way to Rose's to get to get burritos for Sarah for Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

So I got a dozen bean and cheese burritos for Valentine's Day's house. Is that hilarious? And I hoard them so I freeze them. Like I portion them out and freeze them so I can like follow the eat up. Because there's not because there's not one close particularly close to my house.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

I'm gonna do a little bit from everywhere my favorite spots. Okay. I feel like that's cheating. She asked for the favorite. I know, I know, but it's too hard and Texas is too big. If you're in Connecticut, I could answer that question. It would not we're in Texas. Okay, so I would start with Manny's in Fort Davis has the best chili relleno. Okay. So I would start with that, the side of guacamole, and flour tortillas, obviously. Okay. Then I would bump down the road to um Perini Steakhouse. Oh gosh. Have a little beef with the side of hominy. Oh, there's the green chili hominy. So then I would um from there bump down to Austin. And y'all, I love Amy's ice cream. It is so good. And Amy's is only in Austin. I'm so frustrated by that. Like somebody franchise did you. Um, but I just love it. And their Mexican vanilla bean is wild, my favorite thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

That's a great meal. It's such a good impression. Okay, your turn. Oh, in Dallas, duh, Greg, anything by Greg Katz. I mean, big fan personal. Beverly's Claremont, Green. Cheeseburger at Claremont. That is so good. Um, and he's got another concept coming down the pipeline. That's exciting to know. Yes, but it is like it's Tex-Mex. I'm so excited.

unknown 32:29

Ah!

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Yes, I'll get my Tex-Mex fill. But um, I think, gosh, okay, it's so kind of like you. Like, so I have Monument Cafe in Georgetown. So um, and then I also like Circle G Restaurant, which is off 181 in Poth, Texas. And I love this. And I love the enchilada plate with rice and beans.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

I mean, but the I love also hearing these because I next time I'm driving to Georgetown, which I actually yes. I mean it's just think it's so expensive.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

There's really only one restaurant in town, Circle G. So I mean, my kids grew up going there, like they think the pancakes are great. Yeah. They're like, but but because I, you know, it's just like nostalgia, right? 300 person. So we talk about the old. Yeah, but they have just, I mean, my dad would sit there every morning and like just, you know, have his coffee. And when I was working at Texas Monthly, I mean, anybody that would walk in, he would just be like, My daughter works at this magazine. Oh my goodness. So I grew up going there and I love Inchilad Place so good. And then there's also Beatrix Meat Market, which is a couple of doors down, and Beatrix has the most amazing beef jerky ever. It's fresh every day, and you open the door and it just smells like pepper beef. Oh, make it my mouth. They process your meat there, like you can drop it off, you know, take it out.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Fresh daily beef jerky, what a dream. So that's mine. That's mine.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Okay, we're gonna do rapid fire.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Okay, ready. Are you all ready? Sweating, but I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

How should we do this? Are you gonna ask Sarah first?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Or are we just both? Y'all can just spit out whatever. Y'all can y'all can dup it out. Okay. I mean, dupe it out. Okay. Rapid fire. Okay, barbecue or tex max? Tex Max. Oh, okay. Okay, Galveston or the Hill Country? Hill Country. Hill Country. All day. September Texas State Fair or spring rodeo season?

SPEAKER_02 34:21

Rodeo.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

I'm going to the state fair.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

Really? She does love the fair.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

I love the fair.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

She goes like six times and sometimes not even with her kids. I know. And I love the fair. I think so much. I know. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

I love the bear too. I grew up going to the bear.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

But rodeo, hello. I know. There's midways at the rodeo. It's the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

You can kind of get two. Less of the fair, but you can also get, I mean, there is That's fair. There's also animals at the fair. Okay. You do. Um okay, East Texas Piney Woods or West Texas Desert.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

West Texas. Of course. Sorry. Sorry, East Texas.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

I actually think I know they answered this next one just because you guys have a tradition of the tequila for significant events, but Tito's are lalo. Oh, lalo. Lalo.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Although you're right. And I don't know if you know this. My dad insists it's a digestive. So it's yeah, it's hard for you.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

It's really helping digest things. Yeah. So you have it psychilita, which is just a little shot after dinner at special occasions. It's a family family shirt shape. I think it's so sweet.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Um, Fort Worth or Dallas? That is so hard because they both went to TCP. I know, I know. Um so I feel like there's so much of my heart it's in Fort Worth, but Dallas is home. So I have to say Dallas because it's it's home.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

Could we just like scoot scoot Joe T's to Dallas and then say Dallas? So if that was here, then yeah, Fort Worth. I love Fort Worth. I love Fort Worth. That's a really hard one, but I'm gonna say Dallas with Joe T's. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

I like it. Okay, Miranda or Casey. Casey. Casey. I love her so much. I do too. I do so. If you listen to her new single, it's hysterical. She's so good.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

And she's super chic and has long been kind of.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

I mean the video of her with like the camouflage, like sweaty with like the hoodie in the grocery stores. She's incredible. So great. I love her so much. Yeah, I love her so much. Her voice is so incredibly special. Okay, Luke or Owen.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Okay, do you know this? Sorry, I have to tell the story. Owen is the one that got away from me. Hilarious. You know this? Did you actually meet him? No, but I mean almost. So my my aunt was is a ranch broker and was selling a ranch that his mom was considering buying one point, and uh somehow they started talking about their kids, and she was like, Oh, well, um, so my aunt is like, she's not, it's we're we're Texan. We call everyone aunt when they're willing a lot. You know? And she's like kind of our godmother. We're very close. Yeah. She was like, Oh, well, your son Owen needs to meet Lizzie on the road, you know, ran the ranch couple doors down. Anyway, so she told me, like, oh, I met this Owen, Owen Wilson, uh, his mom, and so cute. He's gonna be down here to see this ranch, and you gotta meet him. I was living in New York and I'd never met him, but I was like, I bet Aunt Jan almost got me married on Owen Wilson. Close. Almost.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Almost they're cute boys. Oh, they are. So yours would be Owen. I'm gonna go Owen.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Plus, I love wedding crashers. It's one of my favorites. Oh my god. So good. So funny. So good.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

I do love a blonde. I'm gonna go Owen too.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Coffee cat.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

I know. Okay, um, I-45, so headed east, or I-20. I 20 and grew up on it. Of course. Um, okay, days and confused, or bottle rocket.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Oh, Matthew McClellan, hey, dazed and confused.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

I have to tell you something. I've never seen either one.

unknown 37:28

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

That's terrible. So I will promise that we had a TV and like we're normal. I promise. It's my my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law think this is the funniest thing. None of us have seen any movies. Yes. Like my siblings. No, no movies.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

I'm surprised by that because I will say that I think a lot of like people that were raised at like away from TV. When you had the whole outdoors versus like sitting in front of a TV, most kids are gonna pick going into the streets.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

There's like this whole like cultural moment we missed. And so people always like reference it, and we're always like, like when people say, like, all right, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

I don't know what they're talking about. I've never seen it. It's like terrible.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

You have to watch both of them because Bottle Rocket was filmed right on Rock Brook in Manning in Preston Hollow. And the house is still there. Oh, cool. Um, and then Days and Confuse is just hysterical. It's an icon. It will give you a it's like a real glimpse into like late 70s Austin high school, a day in the life of a high schooler. It's very funny.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

I mean, we may have to watch it. It's on my list. But we could have lied to you.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

We know every Selena song.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Oh, and every single 90s 90s Texas country song ever, too. Yes, we can. Or 90s country sort of that too. Yes, yeah. Tracy Bird, call me.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Yes, yeah. Oh my god, Travis Tritt, like rice cooking in the microwave, like all day long.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Oh, those are all my favorites.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

It's so good. Um, okay, and now this might be the hardest question. This really upset Rob Wilson. Big bread or Dr. Pepper.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Dr. Pepper, Dr. Pepper. A cold? There is nothing more Texan than a cold Dr. Pepper. I just remind it reminds me of like summer's. Y'all like to get in a fight. That is this is polarizing practice. This is polarizing. It just reminds me of like summer. I love Dr. Pepper.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Um and it goes with everything. Pizza. And the glass bottle is so good. But I I think I'm gonna go big red because this is hilarious. I don't see one that I don't think about our vet at the ranch, and he was like just the best, and that's all he drank. Like, I don't think I've never seen, never seen him drink water ever. But he would come, you know, work with us and stay and whatnot, and like only drank big red, and it reminds me of him. Yeah, I say that.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Yeah, mine is big red. See? You can tell by the way we've grew up bringing, I mean, it was always like a ta like a brisket taco and a big red. It was always big red. I mean, it was everywhere. When was the last time you had a big red? Um, actually recently. Stop it! Because they're kind of hard to find. So I just had red like three weeks ago, but before that, it had been years. Okay, now though, I won't let I hadn't thought about them in a while.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

I've been like with a pickle, but like from the concession stand. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like a big pickle. Yeah, the big pickle pickle. That's my compar.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

So for sure.

Final Thanks And How To Support

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Okay, well, there you go. You have now been on front of Book Texas so much. That's a wrap with the Mirror and Crosby girls. Thank you so much for watching. So much fun. Thanks for having me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Huge congratulations to you on the new project we're so excited about for you.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Can't wait to see your success with this day. I appreciate your support. Truly so much.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Really honored to be here. Thank you for thinking of us.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

I'm in supporting you, which you've always been about.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Chris. This has been Front of Book Texas. We've got a new conversation every two weeks. So don't just listen, subscribe, follow, and share. I want to thank my executive producer, Georgiana Moreland. Front of Book Texas. Texas creativity, global reach.