About Tribal And Western Impressions!

- TRIBAL AND WESTERN IMPRESSIONS -
Cowboy, Cowgirl, Indian And Western Wear You Will Love!
Specializing In NavajoTurquoise And Sliver Jewelry, Western Wear And Art!
Huge Selections Of: Western And Southwestern Hand Made Coats, Jackets, Shirts,Vests,
Moccasins, Western Gear, Rodeo Clothing, Turquoise, Jewelry, Belts, Belt Buckles, Cowboy Stuff, Indian
Goods, Paintings, Art, Decor, Drums, Dream Catchers, War Bonnets, Cowboy Hats, Wallets,
Purses, Leather Goods, Painted Ponies, Decor, Music CDs, Old Photos, Books, And A Whole Lot More!
Note: Please Be Advised That Everything We Carry Is Not Native American
Made And We Carry Products From Around The World With A Western And Indain Flare!

NEW! CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE TRIBAL IMPRESSIONS FACEBOOK PAGE!

Tribal And Western Impressions is a Texas Western store that is a little different in that it focuses on Indians instead of cowboys. Tribal And Western Impressionsl was started by Ralph Thomas and is a division of SpyTek Wholesale Imports And Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc. It's development is an interesting story. While the retail store in Georgetown, Texas and this web site are relatively new, Ralph Thomas has been involved in Native American art and the Native American Jewelry market in some way since the 1970's. Many moons ago when he was in his 20's Thomas wholesaled Native American Turquoise and Sliver jewelry in the Central Florida area and spent the rest of his time as a musician playing as a drummer in various rock bands. In his late 20's and early 30's he moved on to other things and became a private investigator in Central Florida. Thomas eventually published a book called How To Find Anyone Anywhere which was a professional manual on how to locate missing persons that took off like a rocket and became a standard manual for the private investigative profession for many decades. That book launched a whole book publishing company which morphed into an equipment supply company for private investigators, investigators and law enforcement professionals which is known today as SpyTek Wholesale Imports and Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc. and Lawmate America. His showroom in Austin, Texas is called The Spy Exchange And Security Center. It was his SpyTek wholesale Import business and the Internet that drove his business enterprises up to the sky. Thomas and his wife Barbara; who is part Native American, always maintained an avid fascination with and collection of Native American art, jewelry and pottery. They both have, for a long time; had a habit of spending their spare time in places like New Mexico where they can meet and and talk with Southwestern and Native American people they tend to connect with such as artists, silversmiths, bead makers, buffalo breeders, horse lovers and animal lovers of all kinds, musicians, leather smiths and (as Ralph puts it) Indian chiefs.

Some Recent Photos

Recent Photos From Left To Right: Ralph With a Acoma Indian who used to be their Chief.
Ralph With Acoma Pueblo Dancers. Barbara With A Navajo Pottery Maker.
A Navajo friend With Wonderful Lion Claw Jewelry

coats

Getting into the Southwestern Coat Business is also an interesting story! Several years ago Ralph Thomas and his wife Barbara Thomas spent one of many vacations in New Mexico state area traveling around to various Indian Pueblos which is a hobby and fascination with them. While traveling around they had walked into a shop and purchased two coats much like the coats you see in the Tribal Impressions and Indian Village Mall line on this web site.. As Ralph And Barbara traveled around, they noticed that both Native Americans on Indian Reservations and people in general asked them about these coats, where they got them and how they could obtain one. Some people at Indian Reservations even offered to trade for the coat right off Ralph's back. When he got back to Austin, Texas, the same thing happened. No matter where Ralph and Barbara went, if they had one of these coats on, people would ask them where they got it.The problem with many of the stores that stock them is that they carry a very limited number of styles, often don't have a needed size and retail them for hundreds of dollars above what the products on this web site costs. If you know Ralph Thomas at all, you understand that his business enterprises always centers around what he loves and he fell in love with these Southwestern Indian coats. Seeing a demand for an in depth selection of these unique products at highly reasonable prices, Thomas slowly added a complete and in depth line of Southwestern coats, jackets, shirts, and related products to his business simply because it's a labor of love and he finds others like him love this kind of stuff too. Today there is a line of over fifty styles of coats and jackets as well as matching vests. This extensive line has expanded into other related products such as children's western outfits, handmade western indian bags and purses, fancy shawls, handmade shirts, indian style skirts, moccasins, wallets and gloves and just about anything else pertaining to that sort of thing one could ever think of.

All of these coats and other leather products are hand made with care and not made on a machine. Each product is a unique piece of art in and of itself. These products draw attention and are highly unusual. They simply make you feel good when you wear them and we know once you have one, you will not wear you other like clothing because you simply fall in love with these!Please be advised that that coat and other clothing lines are not Native American made. Although 90 percent of all orders can be filled within 24/48 hours from our back stock, we do run out of some styles and sizes from time to time and they can sometimes take up to six weeks since all of these products are all hand made by expert craftsmen. Should you have any questions, please email Ralph Thomas at: RThomas007@mac.com

The Tribal And Western Impressions Retail store in Georgetown Texas opened i nthe late 2000's after having a successful audience on the Internet with like products since 2008. Thomas's goals are somewhat different from the run of the mill Indian stores and western stores you go into. The best way to understand that is to listen to his words from a recent newspaper interview. "A lot of people, including family members thought I was crazy for opening a new retail store in an economy in which the overwhelming majority of businesses were experiencing a thirty-three percent loss of business but I tend to think different anyway. First of all, another diversification to our business enterprises couldn't do anything but add more volume of business to our bottom line but I didn't open Tribal And Western Impressions for those reasons. We didn't do it to make a lot of money simply because we already did all that. We opened Tribal And Western Impressions because it's just something we wanted to do for a very long time which reflects my passion and interest in Native American art and South Western art. There is something about it that you can not exactly put your finger on and it's hard to describe but I will try. Native Americans think on a much different level than most humans do. Most are not very materialistic and spend their energy on higher things such as spiritually. This higher level of order and thinking tends to come out in their art pure and simple. When you see various forms of Indian and Native American art in any form, you can see the soul and the heart of the people that make it. So for fun and to help fuel my own passion and interest in Native American and Indian art and to help Native American peoples we opened the store after many moons of thinking about it. Triba And Western Impressions was opened to have fun and that is really what business is supposed to be all about in the first place! Life is short so follow your passions! Life isn't about the destination, it's about the journey because in the end, we all end up in about the same place if you are a good person!. And remember, we are all born naked and with nothing. When we leave this place we call earth, we leave usually with one set of cloths. Everything in between birth and death is what you make of it. We try to be the change we would like to see in the world today.

In the first year of opening the retail store, Thomas studied Native American music and discovered the amazing singing talent of Jana Mashonee. Jana's music became an instant love affair with both Ralph And Barbara Thomas and their store started featuring her CDs since they became instant fans. That story in and of itself is interesting. During the Christmas selling season of 2009, Thomas had purchased a batch of music CDs from a CD wholesaler and noticed one title by Jana Mashonee called American Indian Christmas. He already knew who Jana Mashonee was and loved this Christmas CD but the CD sold out instantly. At the same time, he noticed what he called "a young girl who looked like his wife on his Facebook page," and quickly found out that girl was non other than Jana Mashonee herself. The two started communicating and bonded well as friends. Today Tribal Impressions handles a line of jewelry known as Jana Jewelry and supports Jana's non-profit organization called Jana's Kids, Inc. Thomas himself says that Ms. Mashonee is poised to raise to international super stardom because of her amazing music talent and has written several articles on the subject. A close bond has developed between Ralph And Barbara Thomas with Jana Mashonee and they are determined that both Jana's Kids, Inc. (which supports Native American kids in college) and the talent of Jana Mashonee needs to move forward so they both are doing what they can to support the Jana Mashonee movement. In mid 2010, Thomas started something called NAIStv, which is an online TV channel for the National Association Of Investigative Specialists. Seeing the movement of television to an internet driven way of viewing with products such as AppleTV, GoogleTV and other set top boxes, the way we watch TV is changing and appears to be merging with Internet technology. NAIStv features spy, investigative and law enforcement type content but he wanted one featured entertainer and of course picked Jana Mashonee. NAIStv develops content from a number of different sources. As Internet driven TV comes of age, Thomas believes that NAIStv could become something that has a huge audience. You can check out NAIStv by clicking here.

Photos Of Barbara Thomas With Jana Mashonee And Ralph Thomas
With Jana Mashonee After One Of Her Concerts. Ask Thomas About These Photos And He Will Say,
"Well We Are Super Fans And You Can Have Your Photo Taken With Jana Too By Attending One Of Her
Concerts As She Always Wants To Meet Everyone After Her Show And You Will Have The Opportunity
To Have Your Photo With Her. For More Information, Click Her To Read Jana Live! "

And there is even more. Thomas always had a fascination with moccasins. As a kid he always talked his parents into stopping at road side highway gift shops that sold moccasins and has worn them since he was a kid. At every stop, he was usually able to talk his parents into getting him yet another pair. So guess what one of the main things Thomas features in his store? Minnetonka Moccasins and other lines of moccasins. You can review the Tribal Impressions moccasin line by clicking here.

An Instant Love Affair Of Painted Ponies Started As A Christmas
Gift From Cowboy Artist Allen Kenny To Thomas - The Native Jewel!

Painted Ponies is even another interesting story. As Thomas was seriously thinking about the opening of the retail store, his good friend Allen Kenny (who is a very well known cowboy and Southwestern artist) had given him the Painted Pony Native Jewel as a Christmas present. "Where did you get this!," Thomas asked and remarked he had seen them a lot in New Mexico. After his gift, he after studying the Painted Pony line with his wife Barbara another instant love affair with Painted Pony art developed. So today, Tribal Impressions specializes in Painted Ponies because of this love affair. Click here to learn about Painted Ponies.

The stories go on and on! Thomas and his wife along with his store manager Cheri Wallace have a passion for horses, the old West, Native Americans, Cowboy and Cowgirl culture and Southwestern art. They tend to connect with artistic people! They tend to know the well known artists such as Amando Pena, Victor Crisostomo Gomez, Lynn Bean, and many other artists and like to feature their work. "It's not really about selling stuff as much as it is about the passion," Thomas explained. It's more of a movement to support both the artists and to keep alive and support Native American, Old West and Cowboy culture. "Culture is always preserved through various forms of art," Thomas says. So they collect and market it.

Amado Peña Video Sample from the DVD
Spirits Of The Southwest- The Art Work Of Amado Peña -Turns Your TV And/Or Computer Screen
Into A Peña Art Gallery! This DVD As Well As Peña Prints And Posters Are Featured At Tribal And Western Impressions
Click Here For The Amado Peña Online Page!

Watch A Video Of The Amazing Art Work Of Victor Crisostomo Gomez
Click Here For The Victor Crisostomo Gomez Fine Art Gallery Section Online.

Thanks For Reading This And Stopping In At This Web Site,
Ralph And Barbara Thomas

Triba And Western Impressions
108 W 8th St, Georgetown, TX 78626 , Phone: 512-864-2081
Located On Historic Georgetown Courthouse Square
Just North Of Austin, Texas - Email: RThomas007@mac.com
Click Here For Map To Location! Click Here For A Photo Tour!
Email: RThomas007@mac.com