Thomas Rhett's Tecovas Collab Is an Ode to Family and Western Staples

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

When I ask Thomas Rhett how he is at the beginning of our interview, he answers, "Better than I deserve." I couldn't say what the country music singer-songwriter deserves, but I have a suspicion that I know why he feels the better part. Why wouldn't he, after all, with a brand-new collaboration with Tecovas that just released?

One of the most popular country musicians partnering with one of the most popular Western apparel brands in the world seems like a no-brainer, but Rhett is the first celebrity to have his own limited-edition collection in partnership with Tecovas. The collection, which launched on July 20, keeps it simple, stylish, and true to Rhett's passions. There are six cowboy boots—three women's styles and three men's styles—named after members of his family, two trucker hats, and a signature graphic T-shirt.

"It all just really resonates towards my style and the style that a lot of the folks coming out to our shows are wearing as well, so I feel like it's a really cohesive line from the boots from the tees to the hats," Rhett says. Ahead, the musician dives into his collaboration with Tecovas, from the Instagram DM that started it all to a potential round two.

Shop Now

You’re the first celebrity to ever collaborate with Tecovas, which is a big deal—how did this partnership come about?

Pretty organically, honestly. It was from social media, if I'm being honest with you. I've worn Tecovas for probably the last five or six years, but I remember reaching out to them in a direct message on Instagram, just being like, “We should collab,” kind of as a joke. And then it turned into something serious, and now here we are, a year after that conversation, with six brand new boots out there named after people that are very important to me in my life. So I guess you miss all the shots you don't take.

Why the direct message in the first place? What is it about Tecovas that made you want to reach out to them?

You know, I've always been a cowboy boot wearer, and I've got a ton of different brands that I've worn from high school to college to now. I had a bunch of buddies that were wearing Tecovas, and I'd never had a pair. So I reached out to them asking about sizing and asking about different styles, and they sent me a couple of pairs, and I started to wear them on stage. They just became part of my wardrobe and part of my show style. They became part of my date night style, really just kind of part of my everyday life. And at that point, I was like, "Okay, I'm a believer. I feel very loyal to Tecovas, and so maybe I should reach out to see if they'd ever wanted to design something with me."

And turns out they did. We just kind of went very nostalgic on these boots. All three boots in the men's collection are boots that were hand-designed by me and the Tecovas team, and same for the women's. I really wanted to base them off my wife and my sister and my sister-in-law, just based on boots that I thought that they would love to wear. So the design process was just really fun, being able to design boots that I felt like a lot of folks in my family would naturally gravitate to.

What inspired you to name each boot after a member of your family? And are they named specifically for each person, or at random?

You know, when Tecovas asked me to pick boot names, I was trying to think of six things in my life that meant something to me. My wife and I have gotten really into horses, and so we kind of had an idea of naming all the boots after all of our horses. But we have two horses, and so we'd have had to make up the other four names. We started going down into my family line, and in the men's section, I was like, man, it'd be really cool to represent these after all the dads in my life—my dad, my father-in-law, my stepdad. I wanted to design each of those boots to fit a profile of what I thought they would want to wear. And then the same for the women's line—"What does my wife love to do?"

Like, my wife rides horses all the time, so the Lauren is very good for getting in and out of stirrups and doing a little bit of roping in an arena. The Kasey just looks like boots that my sister would wear to one of my concerts or just to a concert in general. And then my sister-in-law Macy dresses up quite a bit, and so I feel like those boots represent who she is as a person and what boots she would naturally wear to lunch or to dinner or whatever. They all kind of fit all these people in my family in a pretty unique, different way.

Do you have a favorite boot from the collection?

Man, I think my favorite boot is the Lankford, honestly. Even during the design process, the Tecovas team was like, “Man, I really think we should do a dark chocolate lizard in a cutter toe.” You've got round toe, you've got square toe, cutter toe, and snip toe, and I normally just gravitate towards a round-toed boot. Those were the ones that I was most on the fence about, and then once I finally got the sample in, I was like, dang, this is my favorite boot of the collection. So I would go with the Lankford, for sure.

What's your favorite way to style those?

I like to wear those with a light pair of jeans. I love how dark the boot is, the contrast with a super light pair of jeans and a collared shirt and a backwards trucker hat. That's kind of my everyday style and it hasn't let me down yet.

Aside from the boots, I also really love the hats and the T-shirt from this collection, especially that cowboy graphic on the T-shirt. Can you tell me a little bit about that artwork and how that came about?

There's a ton of logo brands out there today, but I feel like Tecovas is sort of becoming a household name and kind of becoming a lifestyle brand. I don't know where you live, but where I live, you see nothing but Yeti stickers on the backs of people’s trucks.

Oh, I’m from Houston, so I know exactly what you’re talking about.

Right, so you know. I feel like Tecovas is becoming one of those kinds of brands that families are just rocking together. So when it comes to their apparel, I feel like they've done a great job at getting high quality denim and high quality linens for their shirts. Especially when it comes to the design of their graphic tees, I feel like they've kind of knocked it out of the park. It was fun to design two different graphic tees with them themed upon the Western cowboy, and to do a couple of trucker hats as well. It all just really resonates towards my style and the style that a lot of the folks coming out to our shows are wearing as well, so I feel like it's a really cohesive line from the boots from the tees to the hats.

One last question for you—even though this collaboration just came out, are there any future collections from you and Tecovas down the line?

You know, me and Paul [Hedrick], the owner, have talked about that quite a lot now. We wanted to see how this collection was going to do and now that it's come out, it's been such a cool success that I feel like it'd be a shame not to do a round two. I think we just need to get creative on what another launch would look like. Maybe we dive into some kids boots, which I think would be super sick, or we get into more exotic pairs of boots for men and women. I don't know. There's quite a bit to talk about, especially with this just launching, but I would love to do a round two with Tecovas. They're great partners, and the design process was so fun, and now it's coming full circle and fans get to put them on their feet.

You Might Also Like

• Kid Cudi Is All Right

• 16 Best Shoe Organizers For Storing and Displaying Your Kicks