A Perfect Fit: Technology & Tradition Meet At LM Boots
Story By Carrie Wirth | Photos Courtesy LM Boots
The master bootmakers at La Mundial Custom Boots (LM Boots) have measured for fit by eye and hand for 120 years. Now, this preeminent boot maker is enhancing that accumulated knowledge and craftsmanship with the world’s first digital laser scanner of the foot and leg.
The LM Master Fit Scan captures precise, three-dimensional measurements of the leg and foot with unprecedented accuracy to create perfectly fitted tall and short boots. LM Boots, known for comfort, performance, style and longevity, just singularly surpassed itself.
The pursuit of the perfect-fitting custom boot began as a family affair in 1906. Don Francisco Rivas Figueroa was not a romantic. He was a craftsman with a workshop in the old center of Quito, Ecuador, and had a clear-eyed view of what the market was about to do.
In 1906, the mass production of footwear was on the horizon. He knew it. He chose handmade anyway — not as a statement, but because he believed a custom boot was simply a better boot. Now, 120 years later, the company he founded, La Mundial or LM Boots, is still making them one pair at a time — and has just become the first equestrian bootmaker in the world to integrate 3D scanning fit technology.
The Rivas family story runs five generations deep. Today, sisters Alejandra and Isabel Rivas are taking over the management of the business, which includes two Florida locations — one here in Wellington and one at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala — while production remains rooted in Quito, where 20 employees work in manufacturing, administration and client services.
The company also has 30 U.S. sales representatives trained specifically in fit, style and measurement.
A Name with a Plan — On Aug. 10, 1919, Don Francisco received a gold medal from Ecuador’s Society of Shoemakers as the country’s finest bootmaker. The recognition crystallized something he had already decided. He named the company La Mundial. In Spanish: the world. It was not a boast. It was a target.
He wanted his boots to cross borders, and eventually, they did. The country has produced leather goods of exceptional quality for generations. Ecuador’s leatherworking tradition gave LM Boots the raw material and craft advantage that endures today.
Fixated on Perfect Fit — Getting a riding boot right is harder than most people appreciate. Calves, arches and toes vary infinitely in shape, width, height and length. Riders who spend years in the saddle develop specific fit preferences.
The industry’s standard solution has always been a tape measure, a paper form and a fitter who has seen enough legs to make reasonable guesses about what the numbers mean. It works, mostly.
However, LM Boots improved on the fit process. They developed a Velcro strap tape measurement system. It was a practical fix for a persistent problem, holding the tape in place, and the measurements got more consistent. Clients noticed, and business grew.
Combining Craftsmanship with Technology — In the 2000s, LM Boots built something no competitor had: a custom client digital customization program tailored to client preferences. Clients could design their boots on screen, choosing color, type of leather, piping, finish and other details. The order is fed directly into the manufacturing software, reducing margin for error. The system did two things simultaneously: It gave clients more control over what they were buying, and it gave the artisans more precise instructions to work from.
It was, in hindsight, the foundation for everything the LM Master Fit Scan would later build on — proof that the company was willing to rewire its own process if the result was a better boot and a happier client.
LM Boots launched its LM Master Fit Scan at the 2026 FEI World Cup Finals in Fort Worth and became the world’s first equestrian bootmaker to integrate 3D scanning into its standard measurement process. The device digitally captures the precise geometry of each client’s feet and legs and sends that data directly to the production software.
“The scan talks to the factory,” Isabel Rivas explained. “And it gives our artisans superpowers.”
For boot lovers, the difference is real.
LM Boots has never tried to scale into a volume business, and 120 years in, that position looks less like a constraint and more like a strategy. In Ecuador, the Rivas family is working toward a shared-ownership model for employees, giving them a direct stake in the company’s future. For those living in Ecuador, this could be life changing. It says something about how this particular business has survived five generations: by caring about the people who do the work.
Don Francisco Rivas named his company after the world and then spent his life perfecting a single product. The fifth generation has the world now, in Wellington and across North America — and they are still making the same bet he made in 1906: That a boot made for one specific person, measured precisely and built by hand, is worth more than anything a factory line can produce. So far, 120 years of clients have agreed.
LM Boots is located in the original Wellington Mall at 12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd. To learn more, call (561) 331-4000 or visit www.lmboots.com.
