OKC partners relaunch bootcover product
A boot cover company is being relaunched after facing setbacks following the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017.
Oklahoma-based businesswoman Cyndy Hoenig and her partner Margaret Croom are relaunching BootRoxx after its creator Heather Sallan handed company rights over to her friend and original BootRoxx investor Dawn Berson following the shooting.
Sallan's concept for BootRoxx in 2014 was to create a variety of boot covers to customize any pair of boots. She began selling the product at events, Berson said.
“(Sallan) one day said, `You know, wouldn't it be cool if you didn't have to buy a different pair of boots every year (and) if there was some way you could just flip on a cover of some sort, you can have a different pair of boots that go with every outfit,” Hoenig said.
Sallen began selling the boot covers at events. She and Berson knew each other after meeting in a Lamaze class and they met up again years later at an event in Las Vegas.
“(Sallan) was looking for investors and I know her well and have known her for a really long time and if she sets her mind to something, it's gonna happen,” Berson said.
Sallan was selling her products at a country music festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a gunman opened fire and killed 58 people. She was uninjured, but the trauma from the event stayed with her.
Sallan and Berson agreed to take a break from the business for a year, but after that break
Sallan said she was unable to resume the work.
She turned over the rights of the company to Berson, who brought on Hoenig, who was already familiar with the product, and Croom. And the brand moved from being Nevadabased to Oklahoma-based.
“I can't tell you what it felt like to be trusted in that way,” Hoenig said. “I really want to do a good job for them because this woman that designed the BootRoxx is so talented. ... We have 65 different styles that she designed — each and every one of them, herself.”
The brand began relaunching March 4 as restrictions were being placed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoenig and Croom decided to stop promoting the product while the restrictions were in place. With businesses allowed to reopen, they have resumed the relaunch.