Designer Donald Pliner has expanded his wardrobe since the Spartan days when he wore only Western style boots, even through summers in Miami. He still wears only his own line of shoes, but as his catalog has expanded, so has his closet. He can now choose from elastic dress shoes, low suede loafers, and even sandals.

“I think there’s something wrong if you’re wearing someone else’s product,” he said, noting that he expected the same of his employees. He glanced quickly at his two hovering publicists’ well-pedicured feet – both pairs shod safely in summery Pliner women’s sandals.

Mr. Pliner was taking a brief moment away from a hectic morning during “market week,” when buyers descend on designers’ showrooms to be convinced of the stylishness and salability of the fall lines. Along with men’s shoes, Mr. Pliner’s eponymous brand, Donald J Pliner, also includes men’s clothes, women’s clothes and shoes, and the latest addition, a line of accessories for small dogs. The men’s shoe line is the fastest growing segment of the company, though it still sells at lower numbers than the women’s line, which was founded several years earlier.

His fall line combines elements of “1950s Hollywood glamour, British countryside, and … the wild, wild West.” That means low-cut boots in metallic hues, tall Western boots in green cobra skin and silver hardware, and panther-print dress shoes. The items are sold at six Pliner stores, including boutiques in Beverly Hills and Miami, as well as in department stores nationwide.

The shoes are made in several factories in Italy. Although Mr. Pliner is a native of Chicago, his aesthetic is more Mediterranean than Lake Michigan, with mostly narrow shapes and lots of colorful snakeskin. Most shoes are priced between $200 and $500. And they’re so comfortable, he said, that “the moment you buy them, you can wear them out of the store.” Many models come outfitted with built-in orthotics, hidden lifts, and wedges of elastic that help even the most structured shoes give a little. That’s part of the reason he’s become a hit with professional athletes like Alonzo Mourning and Sammy Sosa. Shaquille O’Neal orders more than 200 custom pairs each year. (One of his comically enormous shoes in Mr. Pliner’s Manhattan showroom reaches from a woman’s wrist to her shoulder.)

Mr. Pliner and his well-turned-out wife, Lisa, have been the only models in the brand’s lush catalogs for the last several seasons. Their small white dog, BabyDoll, is in almost as many spreads. She models the leashes and leather dog coats in her namesake line, Friends of BabyDoll Pliner, and is also seen lounging in the background of other shots. She frequently accompanies Mr. Pliner to the office, as does the couple’s recently adopted baby girl from Kazakhstan – who is not modeling just yet.

Mr. Pliner said he wants each shoe he creates to be able to be worn with both jeans and a tuxedo. But he acknowledges that this is a tricky feat in men’s design, since most guys are “in the closet” when it comes to sprucing up the classic formal look.

That’s why comfort is paramount no matter how flamboyant the design. Mr. Pliner said he spends 220 days a year traveling, and much of that time is spent in the air. “It annoys me on a plane when men take off their shoes. It’s disgusting!” He designs his footwear with that unpleasantness in mind: “How do you make shoes that you don’t have to take off in a plane?”