Giving Him the Boot : When It Comes to Repairs, Clients Know He Doesn’t Horse Around
In Andreas Chianis’ shop, boots made from the skin of ostriches and reptiles alternate with boots made from plain cowhide. Some are fancy, hand-stitched footwear that will never come within 100 yards of a horse; other pairs have heels worn down from hours in the stirrups.
Despite having merchandise with price tags that range from under $100 to several thousand dollars, Chianis sees all the boots the same way.
“People who buy boots, they don’t just throw them away when they get worn out,” said Chianis, 66, who is known around here as the boot man. “They bring them to me; I make them good as new.”
For more than 45 years, Chianis has repaired the boots of hundreds of cowboys and those that dress like them. He also repairs shoes, briefcases and purses, but boots and other Western gear are most of his trade.
“People in the horse community know Andreas does good work,” said Carol Cantwell, a member of Yorba Country Riders. “They take their boots and tack to him because he is the best around. He appreciates how expensive this stuff is.”
Chianis is one of just a handful of people in the county who specialize in boot repair. Melody Tetz-Aragon, manager of Thieves Market in Fullerton, refers all her customers to him.
“The quality of his work, the materials he uses, is what makes the difference,” Tetz-Aragon said. “Boot repair is different from shoe repair, and Andreas has a reputation for quality work.”
“I own 28 pairs of boots, and I’ve been bringing them to him for years,” said Scott Brebner of Irvine. “I wouldn’t take them to anyone else.”
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Although he owns just four pairs of boots himself, Chianis said Western footwear fascinates him.
“Each pair is so unique,” he said. “They have different skins, colors and stitching. Some are tall, some aren’t. It’s exciting to see how many different kinds of boots there are.”
Despite the 11-hour days he puts in, Chianis says he loves his work. The highlight of his job is when he makes a pair of custom-ordered boots.
“Creating something one-of-a-kind, that’s the greatest feeling,” Chianis said.
Chianis learned his trade from his father, working after school in the family’s boot repair shop in Long Beach and later as an apprentice in the shoe repair department of a local store. As much as he learned during those years, it was an eight-month stint repairing ski boots that Chianis remembers most.
As a young Army pilot during World War II, Chianis was shot down over Germany during World War II. After his captors discovered Chianis’ trade, he was put to work in a boot repair shop in a nearby town.
“A prison guard marched me into town every morning and I would work fixing ski boots,” Chianis said. “He’d come back for me in the evening, and I would go back to the camp.”
Despite being left unsupervised at times, “I never thought about escaping because I knew the Allies would be coming for us soon,” Chianis said. “And I had heard of men trying to escape and getting shot. I figured I could wait.”
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At the end of the war, Chianis returned to Long Beach, where he opened Andy’s Boot Repair on Broadway and Magnolia, near the site of the current Long Beach City Hall.
He moved his shop several times, finally opening Andreas Boot Repair in Yorba Linda about 12 years ago when a friend built a shopping center at Bastanchury Road and Imperial Highway.
With its miles of horse trails and large population of equestrians, Yorba Linda is the perfect place for a boot repair shop. Business is good, Chianis said, but he worries about who will replace him when he retires.
“There is nobody who wants to learn this trade. I get students from Cal State Fullerton here, all they want to know is how much they get paid, what kind of benefits do they get,” Chianis said. “None of them want to work to learn what I know.”
