Pulled Up By Her Bootstraps
Kailey Kerns – A Cobbler’s Tale
Billings, Montana
Written by Cyd Hoefle
Photography by Stu Hoefle
Spring Issue - 2026
“I found out in art school that I don’t like making things, I like fixing things,” Kailey Kerns began. Kailey is a cobbler, and a bit of an anomaly in a profession typically dominated by men.
It takes artistic skill to be a cobbler - and the ability to understand the construction of boots and shoes - and how to use machinery twice as old as you are to repair them. But Kailey has managed to master all of that and at barely 30 years old, she’s found a niche in one of the world’s oldest professions.
“I got started almost entirely by accident,” she said. With a Fine Arts degree in Sculpture and an interest in theater, Kailey was living in Phoenix and at the height of her career constructing props and sewing costumes for Shakespeare in the Park when Covid hit.
“The industry went down and I had a choice,” she said. “I could either try to find work in a big city during lockdown or come home. I chose home.”
Kailey found a job in sales at Al’s Bootery, but her curiosity soon led her to the back of the store – into the shoe repair shop.
For over 80 years, Al’s Bootery has been a staple footwear business in Billings, specializing in western and work boots. Dating back to 1911, Al’s began as a shoe repair shop in the General Custer Hotel, (currently Jake’s Downtown). It was moved to its current location in the late 70s.
“Al’s has an amazing history,” owner, Ethan Fornshell said. Ethan owns both Bighorn Boots, which he purchased in late 2022 and Al’s Bootery which he bought six months ago. “When Al Jenkins came back from the war in 1945, he did boot repair in shop he called, New Method Shoe Repair.”
As the story goes, the bootery created itself. Al had a public telephone which he allowed people to use. And when they made a call, they would tell people that they were at Al’s bootery. The description of the location morphed into the name of the business.
Shortly after, along with offering repair, the shop began selling boots and shoes. The shoe repair service came and went depending on if a cobbler was available. When Ethan was considering buying the business, he took that into consideration.
“Kailey sealed the deal for us,” Ethan said. “She is the reason we pulled the trigger on continuing to offer shoe repair. She offers a cool mix of passion and skill set and she just keeps getting better at what she does.”
Kailey came with experience with shoe alterations – repairing, decorating and accessorizing them for shows. So, her interest, years before Ethan bought the business, was piqued when the need for boot repair came up.
“It was a facet of what I had already been doing,” she explained. “And that excited me.”
She found she was a fast learner and good at what she learned. Under the tutelage of Helena cobbler, Mike Ryan, as well as learning from the store’s previous owners and spending time with the now retired cobbler, she’s picked up just about everything there is to know about repairing boots and shoes.
“There’s definitely parts I like to do more than others,” she said. “Heels are my happy place. Releveling them, getting everything to sit nicely. It looks so good when a new heel is put on a boot.”
She showed an example of a pair of well-loved boots that had a slanted riding heel, the owners wanted a lower, more stable roper’s heel.
In a shop that hasn’t changed much over the decades, using sewing machines that are at least 50 years old, Kailey has learned not only to use them, but to repair them as well.
“They are so well built,” she said. “They are heavy and simple to run. But on occasion, they do break down.”
One of the sewing machines that Kailey operates uses a hand crank. The “thump, thump, thump” of the needle as she punched through layers of leather and rubber on a torn boot seam demonstrated the strength of the machine.
“I like using this machine when I have a repair like this because I can control the speed better,” she said. “It’s harder to control the speed on the electric one.”
50+ YEAR OLD HAND CRANK ADLER SEWING MACHINE
Beyond the two sewing machines, a couple of other relics are still being used: one for making custom-sized nails and the other for stitching soles. Kailey uses both machines.
In another area, she demonstrated using the biggest piece of equipment in the shop: a multi-phased grinder. After designing and replacing a heel, the sides need to be ground down. As Kailey takes the heel down to the desired level and sands the edges, she moves down the machine from a coarse grade to a finer grade before she’s satisfied with the result. Behind her, a press machine is used to replace soles.
“I brush glue over the replacement soles and soak them in water for a couple of hours to make them pliable. This machine then presses the new sole onto the bottom of the shoe,” she explained.
The shelves lining one wall of the repair shop continually rotate from repair jobs to finished jobs. A tag attached to the boots tells Kailey what the customer expects. At any given time, there are over sixty pairs of boots and shoes wanting her attention.
GRINDING AND POLISHING MACHINE
“I’m about three weeks out on repairs,” she said. “Since I’m a one-person-show, I can’t promise repairs any sooner.”
That doesn’t seem to bother most of her customers. Many are repeat patrons bringing the same boots or shoes back repeatedly to extend their life.
“People develop an affinity for a favorite pair of footwear,” Kailey continued. “I have one customer who has brought a pair of boots back to me six times. A good pair of western boots, if you take good care of them, will last through three or more sets of soles.”
Kailey said she’s seen shoes that are over twenty years old that are loved and cherished by their owners who are unwilling to replace them with new shoes.
“When you get a good pair of boots broke in and comfortable, it’s hard to justify buying new ones,” Kailey said. “I’m a big fan of fabrication and returning things to their former glory.”