Rockin‘ H Boot Company

At the end of World War II, American soldiers not only brought chocolate, cigarettes, and blue jeans to Germany, they also introduced Hillbilly Music and the cowboy dress code to the German people.

Reknown Hillbilly artists like Bill Haley gained immense popularity. There was a lot of blues, and a lot to yodel away, so songs like Haley’s 1948 single YODEL YOUR BLUES AWAY (which can be heard HERE) became a major hit with German audiences. The artists Western outfit created the first wave of Western fashion in Germany, more than three decades before John Travolta‘s URBAN COWBOY.

Just like the Travolta movie in the 1980s, the hillbilly fashion of the late 40s created a vast demand for authentic Western boots, so in 1949 the Rockin’ H Boot Company was founded in Berlin. In the few years of its existence, Rockin‘ H produced some of the finest handmade Western boots in Europe.

Here’s a vintage newspaper ad from the early 1950s:

Unfortunately, the Western trend did not last. Bill Haley moved on to become a moderately successful Rock ‘n‘ Roll singer, and the hillbilly fashion trend vanished almost as fast as it had started. No exact details are known, but it is believed that Rockin‘ H Boots closed their doors sometime in the late 1950s.