Think of Chili’s Grill & Bar, the mid-tier Tex-Mex restaurant chain founded in 1975, and the name alone might dredge up memories of awkward high school dates, post-soccer-tournament family dinners or your first legal margarita. Now, the company wants you to associate it with something else entirely: being cool.
Chili’s has teamed up with Tecovas, a western wear label based in Austin, Texas, on a limited-edition line of cowboy boots made using the same burgundy vinyl found on the restaurant’s booths. The collaboration is a bid to reach a new, more style-conscious consumer — the kind who might line up for a buzzy new downtown spot but wouldn’t necessarily consider Chili’s for dinner.
George Felix, the brand’s chief marketing officer, said the initiative was targeted at “a younger audience that is really in tune and in touch with the latest in fashion.” By associating itself with a “high end” brand like Tecovas, he added, Chili’s could be seen in a new light.
The $345 cowboy boots feature chili pepper contrast stitching, a snip toe and an inlay of a chili pepper — the restaurant’s logo. The collection, which goes on sale on Tuesday, also includes a $75 red belt with a brass buckle, inspired by old Chili’s uniforms.
It’s one of several recent examples in which restaurant chains turn to the worlds of fashion and beauty to generate hype. In 2021, the cosmetics brand E.L.F. debuted a line of makeup inspired by Chipotle’s assembly line of ingredients (think guacamole green eye shadow and a lip-plumping red gloss inspired by a spicy salsa). In 2023, Panera Bread released the BAGuette, a slim, 12-inch handbag in the chain’s signature green. This year, it followed up with the Croissant Clutch, inspired by its croissant toast sandwiches.
These gimmicks are increasingly common as fast-casual chains look to regain relevance in a dining landscape transformed by delivery apps, changing tastes and a general move away from big-box restaurants. Many of the category’s former titans are struggling: Both TGI Fridays and Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy last year, while Applebee’s and Outback Steakhouse have quietly downsized.
Chili’s, facing the same headwinds, is diving headfirst into viral advertising in an attempt to thrust the brand back into the cultural conversation and turn likes into restaurant visits. According to Mr. Felix, its tactics are working.
In its most recent earnings report, Brinker International, the restaurant group that owns Chili’s, said the brand had experienced a 31 percent increase in sales compared with the same period last year, driven by a 21 percent increase in restaurant visits. Still, Mr. Felix maintains that this is not a bandwagon moment. Chili’s, he argues, has long had a foot in pop culture, most notably with its ear-worm “Baby Back Ribs” jingle, which made its way into “That ’90s Show” and an Austin Powers movie.
In its heyday, Mr. Felix said, the Chili’s brand was “top of mind” for consumers. But somewhere along the line, the brand “lost track of what made Chili’s so special to so many people and started to, kind of, blend in a bit with competition.”
But for an upscale brand like Tecovas, whose boots are usually crafted with leather or crocodile instead of vinyl and can retail for as much as $2,000, the advantages of the partnership may not be immediately obvious. The 10-year-old label has benefited from the recent mania for western wear, fueled by cultural juggernauts like the Paramount drama “Yellowstone” and Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.” As Tecovas expands into markets beyond the American South, is there a risk that collaborating with a mid-tier chain like Chili’s could tarnish its premium positioning?
That wasn’t a concern for Tecovas, according to Samantha Fodrowski, the company’s vice president for brand marketing. The label is aware of gimmick fatigue, she added, but sees value in aligning with a company that has helped make western culture and hospitality feel accessible to a broader audience.
“There’s both a nostalgia, but also, you know, an innovation that we have a lot of respect for,” Ms. Fodrowski said of Chili’s recent marketing push.
Online, the joint branding exercise has generated mixed responses. Some commenters were baffled by the seeming randomness of the collaboration. Others were simply curious whether their sizes would be in stock. But neither company plans to measure the success of the initiative in sales volume. Both say it’s more about setting off a reaction and driving conversation.
“When brands collaborate, generating sales is almost incidental — the real prize is consumer attention,” Kristen Classi-Zummo, a fashion and apparel industry analyst at Circana, wrote in an email. “In today’s fragmented attention economy, that’s worth more than any immediate sales bump.”
Andrea Nastri, 28, an operations coordinator at an opera house in Boston who was already in the market for a pair of red cowboy boots, said she appreciated the boots’ understated design and was planning to buy a pair come Tuesday.
“And if, like, someone were to compliment me on them, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, these are the Chili’s boots,’” Ms. Nastri said.
Yola Mzizi is a reporter for the Styles section and a member of the 2025-2026 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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