The Stitchdown Shoecast

Back in the 2010s, Ken Diamond had a booming moccasin business in Vancouver—celebrities wore his shoes, which also secured a hallowed spot on the shelves of Istetan, the Tokyo department store that's home to likely the world's great shoe selection. But at the brand's peak, a bit burned out and seeking something fresh, Ken bailed on it all. 

Today, 150km and two ferries from Vancouver on Canada's remote Sunshine Coast, Ken is hand-making stitchdown construction boots, one pair at a time. This episode, Ben chats with Ken about what that moccasin roller coaster ride was like, how he started making boots (with a construction that's just so incredibly different from the moccasins), the meaning and impact of "copying" designs, what perfection means in footwear and if it's even attainable, and what satisfaction truly means to him.

Oh and LOST. That too. WE HAVE TO GO BACK, KEN!!!

https://www.instagram.com/kendiamondboots/

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This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Alden Madison is one of the essential New York City shoe stores, stocking and selling more Alden shoes and boots than likely anywhere else in the world. 

This week, Ben and Ticho sit down with shop co-owner Curtis Bosch to talk about how he got sucked in by the good-shoe tractor beam in the first place, how their makeup program has taken off in wild ways over the last three years, CRUCIAL Alden sizing advice (including for customers who can't come into the shop!), how to make your friendly neighborhood shoe salesperson wildly happy, Indy Boots (surprise!!) and the man who wore them best. 

https://aldenmadison.com/

Here's the sizing site Curtis mentions in the episode: https://dslaw.github.io/goodyearwelt-sizes/sizes.html

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Long, long ago, Ben & Ticho did a Shoecast episode in which they had to (just for pretend, don't worry) get rid of all their shoes and boots—FOREVER—and only keep five pairs that just made sense for their lives. A lot has changed since then! So we went back to revisit our picks, and the results are...interesting!

Also on this Shoebag episode: why taking pictures of your boots is so damn fun, what’s really happening behind the scenes in tanning, crazy break-in tales, why we both would suck at making shoes, Michael Cera x Maryam, and why a quest for total knowledge when it comes to great footwear honestly kinda takes the fun out of the whole thing. 

Oh and cake, for some reason. Lots and lots of cake. Fudgie the Whale, represent. 
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This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots—check out their new high-end Brandle line today

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Ten years ago, Steve Doudaklian looked at a camera, said “good morning shoe repair family”, fixed up some shoes, and put a grainy video on YouTube as a service to cobblers around the world.

A decade later, Steve’s videos still don’t look all that different from his first—but now they’re often watched by millions, and stand as perhaps the measuring stick of high-end shoe repair and restoration worldwide.

In as lively as Shoecast episode as they get, Ben chatted with Steve about the three generations of shoemakers that preceded him; growing up in a legit war zone in Lebanon before emigrating to Falls Church, Virginia; how the shop his dad started—Bedo’s Leatherworks—has grown and shrank and otherwise shifted over time; and forming the Shoe Repair International group which now includes over 1500 cobblers around the globe.

We also get into Steve's favorite shoes to repair, Alden Indys (of course), how YouTube changed Steve’s business and cobbling in general, what a craftsman sees that the customer might not, and—with intentionally zero succession plan, meaning one of America’s iconic shoe repair businesses will end with him—how long he’s planning on keeping it up.

Oh and why all cobblers should wear a shirt and tie on Saturdays.

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This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

To call Sarah Madeline Tierney Guerin an incredibly skilled cowboy boot maker would be accurate—and also highly incomplete. Sarah is also an artist, a historian, an educator, a storyteller, a preservationist, someone who just thinks about things differently than most of the rest of us, and quite possibly the person who knows the most of anyone in the world about the deep history of Massachusetts shoemaking.

Sarah's nom de boot "Saboteuse" (the female version of saboteur, in French) isn't just an extremely cool word. It's a mindset she applies to both her bootmaking work and larger focus of bringing attention to the failures of the larger worldwide systems of modern mass production.

In a rangy chat, Ben and Sarah discuss her genesis as an architect-turned-shoemaker,  why she operates out of a replica of the Massachusetts shoemaking sheds known as "Ten Footers" and the fascinating history behind them and the 19th and early 20th century US shoemaking epicenter of Lynn and surrounding towns,  how we can trace larger histories simply by looking at and understanding objects (in this case, believe it or not, boots), and making maybe her greatest work to date while watching Little League games.

See much more of Sarah's work: https://www.saboteuse.com/
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This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

So, Ticho forced Ben to talk about Boot Camp, the fine leather footwear gathering / world's fair of boots and shoes and leather / celebration of shoemaking / big ol' party that Stitchdown just put on a few weeks back in Industry City, Brooklyn.

The two get into plenty of aggressive reminiscing—about the community connections forged and strengthened, the amazing footwear and makers in attendance, and even a Boot Camp miracle or two—before spending the entire second half going over attendee feedback in an effort to make Boot Camp 2024 the best it can possibly be.

If you made it to Boot Camp, we dare say you may enjoy taking a trip down boot-memory lane. If you didn't—well, living vicariously can be a pretty great way to live. And this episode should certainly help you make a call on if coming to Brooklyn for Boot Camp '24 is something that makes sense for you.

Boot Camp Recap Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9j-yAXKIRc
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This episode was sponsored by the imminent Nicks Boots 

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

“Let’s just change it up a bit” is how Tim Little describes his approach to shoe design for Grenson. It might as well be Tim's ongoing mantra. 

After years in advertising—including handling the Adidas footwear account—Tim decided it was time to change it up a bit and make some welted footwear. Tim Little Shoes was born, with Tim working with various Northampton factories to create different types of quirky-but-classic styles that found a small but obsessive core audience.

That work led Tim to change it up a bit again and take on the role of creative director for Grenson in 2005, before taking the whole damn thing over in 2010. Under Tim's watch, founded-in-1866 Grenson has been reignited in a way that, well, changes it up a bit from your typical historic Northampton shoemaker—combining classic English shoemaking techniques with a more fashion-forward approach that isn't afraid to break rules while knowing what the core of a great shoe always needs to be.

In our Shoecast chat, Tim gets into how the iconic Grenson triple welt arose, how and why Grenson splits is manufacturing between its Northampton factory and India-based production (and the importance of maintaining the former), why so many GYW brands feel the need to make sneakers these days, how Grenson has brought a younger customer into Goodyear welted shoes, and plenty more.

Oh also I attempt to spell veldtschoen, live on air.
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This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone — they've got you covered on just about every size and width you could ever want in dozens of styles

Theme Music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Ed Gallun was born into tanning—and even though the American tanning industry isn't what it once was for much of the life of the tannery his great-great-great grandfather started in 1858 in Milwaukee, he simply can't get away from it. That's a very good thing.

Ed relaunched Gallun Leathers in 2022, focusing on tanning incredibly interesting, dare we say gutsy calf leather, as well as more outside-the-box offerings like wild boar, deerskin, and more. In a lively chat with Ed for the final episode of Shoecast season 9, we get a fantastic look at Milwaukee's impressive tanning history and how the landscape shifted over the decades, how the original iteration of Gallun grew from a small shop to a 700,000 sqft titan, what Ed learned studying "space age" tanning technology in Europe, the wildest leather he's working on right now, and how science, selection, and a bit of magic births fantastic leather.


This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Chris Woodford is a bit of a madman. And he’s pretty much thrilled about that.

The fifth-generation shoemaker founded Crown Northampton—maker of some of the world’s best-made sneakers—as a reaction to watching his father’s business unravel, along with so much else of the iconic Northampton, England shoemaking trade.

After watching factory after factory shutter while growing up, Chris knew he needed to create a different kind of business. Early wholesale success in Japan provided the buoy for Chris to design a sneaker made with only the finest possible materials available—including J&FJ Baker oak bark leather, and Horween’s renowned shell cordovan—sell made-to-order models direct, and see if it caught. (Oh it caught.)

Now, Chris is on the verge of launching E. Woodford, an extremely high-end, full-custom handwelt line powered by Chris’s own bespoke shoemaking knowledge, and his desire to create “careers, not jobs” for shoemakers in Northampton.

In a fascinating, engaging chat, Chris talks us through the Woodford family shoemaking history that stretches back to 1908, how wars have always powered the Northampton shoe trade (and what happens when they end), why he’s obsessed with using only the best materials and preserving nearly vanished techniques, and why creating an environment in which shoemakers can learn and grow and be excited about their work every single day is the key to Northampton’s future success.

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This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

When Dennis Kieback made his first pair of Kustom Kraft boots, he’d barely even seen a pair of Red Wings before. But the bookmaking bug had bitten him hard—and the Kiel, Germany craftsman was infected.

Now 25+ pairs into his bootmaking career, Dennis sits down with Ben to chat how tricky it is to get a business started (“who wants boots from someone who hasn’t made any boots before??”), how he learned the craft thanks to internet resources and esteemed tutors including Lars Jensen of Østmo Boots and Nathan Florsheim aka NF Bootmaker, his evolving last lineup, sourcing truly unique local German leathers, the “flow state” he can get into, how he turns mistakes into magic, and of course, dogs destroying uppers by randomly deciding to operate sewing machines.

Dennis was just an absolute joy to chat with, being very game to fight through a language barrier to share his incredibly positive, inspiring outlook towards his mysterious and demanding craft.


This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Since 1904, the Shoe Service Institute of America has operated as an essential champion for the shoe repair industry. This week, Ben sat down with SSIA board member Justin Bennett (day job: Chicago-based shoe store/repair shop supplier Justin Blair & Co) to catch up on what happened at the recent 116th annual SSIA Convention, including the organization's Grand Silver Cup awards lavished upon North America's top cobblers.

The chat with Justin also covers the growth of shoe-repair YouTube and TikTok, SSIA’s most interesting and successful marketing efforts past and present, the gap between what repair customers want and need today vs back when, the interesting ways he’s seen the market crater and bounce back since 2020, the viability of a trade school for shoe repair, and plenty more.

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This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Ben and Ticho are back to tear open the Shoebag once more to answer probing listener questions such as: how should handsewns fit when they're NEW? What's the best approach to trying out new makers on the scene—and who should you keep eyes open for short-term? What are you doing wrong with (get this)... shoe bags?? Are we nearing a great-boots bubble? And is it Warren Buffett's fault???

Also: wildly divergent opinions on chukka boots! And Ticho teaches you how to "pop a door". This was a fun one.

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This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange

Theme Music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Michael James is known as “Northampton’s Last Man”—and after nearly 40 years in the game, the director of Springline lastmakers most certainly lives up to the cheeky moniker.

In a rangy chat with Michael, we cover how Springline creates some of the world’s finest production and bespoke lasts (plus shoe trees), the inherent talents required to be a top lastmaker, the fundamentals inherent in any great shoe last (it’s all about the heel!), why all the Northampton lasts are right-footed, and that time he designed a last based on a drawing on a pub bathroom wall.

Watch the YouTube version of this interview

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This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots

Theme Music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

When Graham Ebner says he makes “really nice, really expensive” cowboy boots, it’s somehow barely a brag.

In just five short years the Austin, Texas native (“to be clear, I grew up FIRMLY in the suburbs”) has established an impressive foothold for himself in the pantheon of rising bespoke cowboy makers. After training under the legendary Lee Miller at Texas Traditions (early job: refooting boots eaten by presumably lovable dogs), Graham struck out on his own to flex his unique combination of artistry, inlay/overlay work, and technical skill.

In my chat with Graham we get deep into how he works with customers through the lens of his just-finished Big Bend Boots, the “close the shop down tools” he could never be without, the language and purpose of toe bugs/flowers, and the incredible resource for learning bootmaking that is the internet—and the extra special sauce that comes from being part of a bookmaking lineage that stretches back to the all-time-great originators of the craft.

SEE MORE OF GRAHAM'S WORK
https://www.grahamebner.com/
https://www.instagram.com/grahamebnerboots/?hl=en

MENTIONED
Cowboy Bootmaking Legend Lisa Sorrell on Myths, Lore, and Why Craft Has Never Been More Important
https://www.stitchdown.com/stitchdown-shoecast/cowboy-bootmaking-legend-lisa-sorrell/

YOUTUBE VERSION OF THIS EPISODE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHtCJrjdh9g

COME TO STITCHDOWN BOOT CAMP—OCTOBER 6th & 7th 2023 IN NYC
https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/
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THIS EPISODE WAS SPONSORED BY GRANT STONE

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Just about one year ago, Luke Kolbie and his business partner Joe Julian took over ownership of 125-year-old Russell Moccasin: the Berlin, Wisconsin bookmaker that has outfitted presidents, kings, outdoorsmen of all stripes, and some very smart/stylish Japanese people.

Certain changes were made right out of the gate—which always stirs up more than a bit of fear for devotees of a brand with such legacy. Luckily nothing at all has changed with Russell’s approach to craftsmanship, including their vaunted multi-layer moccasin construction, which Luke and Ben break down in RIDICULOUS levels of detail.

So how’s that first year been like for Luke & team? What’s changed at Russell, and what’s stayed blessedly the same? And where are the sights set in terms of pushing Russell into a more general boot-lover’s market? Trust me, we get into it all, in way more depth than may be healthy.


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Guthrie, Oklahoma-based Lisa Sorrell can trace her own bootmaking ancestry back to one of the first cowboy bootmakers ever: Gus Blucher (a man quite aptly named for a shoe). Gus presumably would've been quite proud, as for the last three decades Lisa has oh so gracefully maintained a position of remarkably high esteem in the cowboy bootmaking pantheon, thanks to her overall skill and coveted inlay/overlay work that commands a starting price of $10,000 per bespoke pair. 

In what is without question one of our personal favorite episodes ever, Lisa dispels a stack of cowboy boot myths; gets deep into why the form and construction of the uniquely American art form evolved in the ways they did; discusses what makes 1940s cowboy boot lasts the unmatched pinnacle; and explains why she’s the “ambassador for raising prices” (it's almost certainly not why you’d think) and why cowboy boots are a whole lot like lingerie.


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which has taken all of the finest Japanese boots and brought them to Oakland, NYC, and Sante Fe, just for you

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

That's right it's time for another SHOEBAG episode, in which Ben and Ticho dig precariously deep into such pivotal topics as: what is an overdyed leather and how is it the same or different from teacore? What’s the deal with that eyelet at the top of the speed hooks? Which outsoles make for the best toe spring? Chelsea boots with suits: yay or nay? Where are we at on balmoral boots? What's the story with those floppy-topped boots Gaston wears, and why isn't anyone rocking them today? And are horsebutt boots underrated or (gasp)...overrated??



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which has taken all of the finest Japanese boots and brought them to Oakland, NYC, and Sante Fe, just for you

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

The six months of beautiful boot-aging mayhem known as the 2022-23 Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome is OVER!  The esteemed judges have selected their winners in both the Work and Open categories (all of whom you can see right here). Fabulous prizes from our incredible sponsors are being dished out left and right. Boots are looking really, really, really good.

So how'd it all happen? How did the judges approach this monumental task? What went into their decision-making? What surprised them along the way? Get deep inside the Dome as we pull back the curtain on the whole damn thing in a roundtable discussion with every single esteemed Thunderdome judge.




This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone—just like the Thunderdome!

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

For the past three years, CEO Shuyler Mowe has lacing up his now decade-old Builder Pros to helm Nicks Handmade Boots, shepherding the Spokane maker from a pure focus on work boots and into a new era of lifestyle relevancy—and dramatic growth that's seen the company add more than 40 employees in that time.

This episode, Shuyler and Ben dip into Nicks' deeply interesting, twisty-turny historical path,  what it’s like to exist in the uniquely competitive Spokane bootmaking landscape, the limitations of Nicks' MTO offerings and how their lead times are trending, the brand's growing content empire on YouTube and beyond, developing their proprietary 1964 leather with Seidel, if Nicks 55 and White’s 55 lasts are actually the same, how to fit a customer's MIND, and plenty more.

This episode was sponsored by Taft, whose new line of stitchdown construction boots is, believe it or not, right up our alley.

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

In 2014, Taft Clothing was selling camouflage and polka-dot no-show socks. One fateful Reddit moment later, Kory Stevens was somehow overseeing a shoe and boot brand that was absolutely on fire—and designing some of the most unique footwear you’ll ever see.

9 years later, we had Kory on the Shoecast to tell the honestly captivating tale of how Taft came storming in through the footwear world’s backdoor, the gap between what he personally loves vs what sells best, Taft’s new stitchdown construction service and Chelsea boots that are the by far the sturdiest product the brand has ever put out, and why Kory knows he’s not going to spend the rest of his career in footwear.

On top of it all, Kory is just one heckuva guy—this one is about as heartfelt as shoe conversations get.

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This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which has taken all of the finest Japanese boots and brought them to Oakland, NYC, and Sante Fe, just for you

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Back when Lorena Agolli was getting started in the trade, an aging cobbler grabbed her forearm, frowned, and dismissively said, "you’re not strong enough." Well that was the wrong read on every level—almost a decade later, Lorena is currently entering a new era as the proprietor of Toronto shoe repair shop Sole Survivor.

After scaling up the Sole Survivor business to multiple storefronts and largely training both locations' staff from scratch, Lorena has intentionally dialed things back to allow her and her team to focus on the types of repair jobs they're legitimately excited about. This episode, Lorena and Ben chat about how to listen to what an old machine is telling you, the conundrum of the next generation of cobbling talent, why the old ones are so darn grumpy, and the joy (ha!) of doing a single task for 8 hours straight every day.



This episode was sponsored by Taft, whose new line of stitchdown construction boots is, believe it or not, right up our alley.

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Wyatt Gilmore runs Baroda, Michigan-based, ever-rising footwear brand Grant Stone. So of course we had him back on the Shoecast and completely barred him from even mentioning his own company.

Instead, Wyatt gets into what makes the feeling of Goodyear welt shoes so damn addictive, just how casual our world is going to get by 2050, the lifestyles that hugely successful shoe and boot brands attach themselves to, the shoemakers both new and legendary he respects the most, and JUST HOW TOUGH THIS WHOLE DAMN SHOE BUSINESS IS. He even tries to sell Ben and Ticho on tassel loafers being cool, and it maybe almost works.

As conversational as Shoecasts get, this one's absolutely a fun little ride.



This episode was sponsored by Taft, whose new line of stitchdown construction boots is, believe it or not, right up our alley.

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

When Eric Kinney took over as president of Spokane legend White's Boots in 2019, the 170-year-old maker didn't even have a website. Just four short years later, Eric—a former White's bootmaker for 26 years who made upwards of 50,000 pairs himself—and the White's team have positioned the brand as one of the preeminent and beloved high-quality lifestyle bootmakers anywhere in the world.

This episode, Ben and Ticho chat with Eric about the unceremonious reveal of the first table-setting White's MP boot Eric developed; how he views the differences  between White's Goodyear welt, stitchdown, and handwelt lines; if we can expect to see fully custom offerings from White's into the future; how Japanese conglomerate ABC Mart's ownership of White's has changed things for the previously family-owned company; and how the brand is contending with an ongoing bootmaker shortage.

Perhaps the quote from the episode that sums up Eric, and the brand, best: “To be truthful, the [best] part about being in charge is being the one who can make White’s…stay White’s. What happens when I leave? I don’t know. I do know that if I’m still there, it’s not going to change.”



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone
Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

As global product design & development manager at Red Wing Shoe Co.,  Mike Larson has touched every single product that's ever been placed into a Red Wing Heritage shoe box over the last 13 years—a lineup that was 260 styles strong just over three years ago, before shrinking to just 12 over the course of the pandemic.

After truly banding together as a brand-within-a-brand amidst Covid, supply chain messes, AND a brutal hack that shut down Red Wing's site and internal systems, Mike's team is currently back on track and working on product the rest of us won't see until two years in the future.

In the first episode of Shoecast season 8, Ben and Ticho chat with Mike about how the Red Wing Heritage development process works (it's uh...very long and far more complicated than probably anyone realizes), the insane level of historical detail the brand imbues into all their Heritage products (they're legit matching thread tension from the 70+ years ago!) and the research behind it, the oldest working machine in the factory, Red Wing's approach to preserving institutional shoemaking knowledge, how American manufacturing survives our currently trying times, and oh so much more.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone—they make very good boots, here go give them a look

Theme Song: the Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

A little over three years ago, Weston Kay cut some Dr. Martens boots in half on YouTube. Today, millions of people watch videos of him hacking all sorts of other shoes in half to break down the materials they use, on Weston's Rose Anvil YouTube channel.

And it's no secret he said some very serious words about our beloved Alden Indy boots in one of them, and so we had to drag him onto the show and confront him.

So how'd the guy who was making DIY wedding rings and rebuilding motorcycles just months before the Doc Martens vid become just about the most heavily watched men's footwear reviewer on YouTube?  What does he feel the job of a reviewer on the internet should be in 2023? And most importantly (obviously), has he reconsidered anything about that Indy boot video?

Buckle up for the final episode of Shoecast season 7...



This episode was sponsored by Division Road

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

We’re not sure there’s ever been a “normal” year in the quality footwear world, but 2022 certainly wasn’t about to start being one. 

Smart brands reasoned out strategies that allowed them to shift from labor and supply chain scrambles to sustainable long-term solutions. The sudden rise of the Chinese brand dovetailed with the worldwide emergence of the intentionally micro (and damn talented) bookmaker. A storied brand changed ownership hands—hopefully in a manner that lets its craft and traditions persist for decades to come. And everyone caught a serious case of loafer fever, a very positive outcome indeed.

Ben and Ticho look back at a darned interesting 2022—and lob out impossibly bold predictions (LOAFER DOME?!?!) for the year ahead in 2023.
 


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, who we predict will carry the most impressive range of Japanese footwear in the entire US 

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

It's been over two years since our own Ticho took on Mr. Style, aka @almostvintagestyle, aka " Jake,"  in the inaugural Stitchdown Bootbate, an extremely formal and rigid debate...about boots.

Since then, both competitors have been cooped up in their lairs, conditioning their boots, shining their heels, wearing clothing from a place known as Japan, and mostly, preparing for the second round. Well here it is, people. Here it is!

The Stitchdown Bootbate 2: Electric Boot-Galoo is yet another epic clash between these two boot titans, covering the big, important topics in only the way they can. What is first on their list of lasts? Dainite: dapper or deadly?? Country of origin: how much does it matter in 2023?!? And oh so much more.

Yet another battle of boot logic and knowledge for the ages awaits you!



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, and about this there is no debate: the Oakland, NYC, and Sante Fe retailer is home to some of the great boots in the world. 

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

What's clickin'?? That's right Ben and Ticho are back with another SHOOOEBAG episode, in which we answer all of your listener questions, including: 

What are the best options for non-PNW footwear with arch support? Why do certain deranged people not recognize the extreme artistic beauty of the wedge sole? What are some of the best ways to enjoy the pairs you have, instead of just worrying about the next one? IS CHONK DEAD?!? And the big dog: where exactly does the line sit on brands copying other brands' patterns and silhouettes?

Come with us if you want to Shoebag!
 

This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which has more Japanese boots than possibly even Japan

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

We've had both Nick Horween (the one from Horween Leather) and Phil Kalas (formerly of Horween, now making some of the best wallets, belts, and more over at Ashland Leather) on the Shoecast before. WELL APPARENTLY THAT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR THEM.

Clearly over-emboldened by recently starting their own show, the Full Grain Podcast, Phil and Nick swung into a recent Shoecast recording session, said "we're the hosts now," and proceeded to interview Ben and Ticho.

Which actually led to some very fun conversations about how we got started with this whole caring way too much about shoes and boots thing, community building, Patina Thunderdomes, Chicago hot dogs (obviously), and plenty more.

Luckily Phil and Nick are very caring and wonderful captors, so, thank you fellas for doing it right.




This episode was sponsored by Division Road—sign up for their bulletin to get all the latest White’s, Tricker’s, Crockett & Jones, Wesco, and Alden releases

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Unsung House is a wonderfully rare shoe repair shop. After a half decade learning the trade in a more “standard” cobbler setting, brothers Grant and Isaac Gustafson opened Unsung in a literal old house in Nashville, to focus on impeccable higher-end shoe—and especially boot—repair, restoration, and ground-up creation.

Ben and Ticho sat down with Grant to dig into the beautiful details of Unsung’s work, from how they work a re-last job, to the dark arts of pattern grading, to their 9000-year-old sander that’s the size of a 727, and almost certainly louder.

We also go deep on Unsung’s nascent house-made boot line, specifically with Ticho’s wonderful engineer boots that feature an overdye created from walnuts Grant harvested on his own property—only because he hasn’t found enough wasp cocoons to do it that way.

What’s the purpose of a craftsperson in an Amazon world? We spent plenty of time trying to figure that the hell out—and Grant has as good an outlook as we’ve ever heard.



This episode was sponsored by Division Road—sign up for their bulletin to get all the latest White's, Tricker's, Crockett & Jones, Wesco, and Alden releases

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

For anyone who’s ever thought of quitting their job to make leather and boots, here’s the secret: just first make sure your parents own a goat farm in the British countryside.

Six years ago, Jack Millington was the lucky guy in that position, and he up and started what we’re pretty sure is England’s first new tannery over a century. Today, his brainchild Billy Tannery vegetable-tans micro-small batches of deer, pig, and of course goat leather, from which they create a growing range of small leathergoods…and some very choice footwear.

On the latest Shoecast episode, we speak with Jack about where his tanning epiphany came from, how he quickly corralled the knowledge necessary to set up a micro-tannery on the farm, and of course what kind of footwear Billy is making with goat and deerskin they’re producing.

But the highlight for us is Jack’s deep dive into veg-tanning: he lays out exactly how the process works, step by step, and sheds a ton of light on all of the intricacies and pitfalls that arise, especially on a boutique scale. Also if you don’t know what a “pure-finder” is, well you’re about to find out.

Give it a listen below! 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Greg Cordeiro is our kind of shoe nerd. And the dude has been around.

After getting his start as an intern at Puma before shifting over to design work for Timberland, Cole Haan, Teva, and Ralph Lauren, Greg backed away from the mega-brand to co-found one of the seminal underground (now sadly defunct) footwear brands of the aughts: New England Outwear Company.

After that he plunged back into a behemoth with a senior design gig at the behemoth that is Clark's, and then Huckberry, before spending the last three years regaining total freedom with his design pen and building out his own factory in the US handsewn capital of Lewiston, Maine to create EasyMoc,  a rising brand that combines time-honored handsewn moccasin construction techniques with creativity, a periodic dash of Japanese fashion, and a deep dedication to comfort.

So what's it like to work at a gigantic shoe brand vs your own small workshop? How much of a revival is the once-massive Maine shoemaking industry really seeing? We cover all of that and more, including the deepest, most detailed dive into footwear design we've ever had the pleasure of exploring on this Shoecast.

Warning! This one's a full nerd-out. And we're damn happy about it.



This episode was oh so thoughtfully sponsored by Grant Stone 

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

After being trained in the shoemaking arts by some of the all-time greats—including Italian master Roberto Ugolini and US shoemaking gravitational center Marcell Mrsan—Francis Waplinger found himself making shoes in a barn. Nobody said bespoke shoemaking was supposed to be easy.

Juggling multiple jobs on the east end of Long Island while sharing that barn workspace with his artist wife, Francis persisted: honing his craft, creating a range of samples, and eventually landing that crucial first bespoke order. About half a decade later, Francis has settled into a Brooklyn studio to cater to a growing list of clients for his uniquely styled, Americana nostalgia-/art deco-inspired bespoke dress shoes (and, he promises, more boots soon!).

So what's it like to be a bespoke shoemaker? From the training, to the craft and toil, to figuring out how to manage the business side of a single-person operation? Francis is here to let it rip on all of that and more. 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Occasionally we discuss boots on this podcast, but that doesn't mean we don't love and appreciate a great dress shoe as well. 

In the FINAL episode of Season 6, Ben grills Ticho—the actual dress shoe-knowing person on this podcast—about what elements add up into the perfect dress shoe, important styles to understand, and recommendations for brands both iconic and under the radar in basically every price category.

Why did we wear suits and dress shoes to tape a podcast hat nobody can see, in our basements? That's unclear. But man did it feel good. 
 

This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, because nobody should wear dress shoes every day

Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate shoes of course

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

SHOOOOOOOOERADIO! That's right, everyone's favorite drive-time terrestrial radio show about boots and shoes is BACK to tell you exactly how to win over $30k in prizes including a TRIP TO JAPAN in the second annual Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome—just for wearing things on your feet for six months.

To get to the answer, our host field questions from totally random callers (all of whom somehow manage to be Patina Thunderdome judges? Amazing.), and gets deep into both the Work and Open categories of the Thunderdome.

What's the best overall approach? What about style of boot? Leather? Care? It's all laid out in beautiful, bombastic detail. So listen up and get ready to DOME!! 
 

This episode was sponsored by Division Road, whose new Virginia boot-heaven compound on 45 acres of farmland officially opens August 25th

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

You know, when you have a history of publicly claiming to not be a black-boot lover and then you have a podcast co-host who can even more publicly prove that you are a black-boot lover…well, you need to make a Shoecast out of it we suppose.

On yet another Shoebag episode, Ticho and Ben tear open the digital sack of reader questions to explore the deeper meaning of black boots, the best process to break in a new pair, how to get the optimum roll situation on your shell cordovan and horsebutt boots, when does footwear truly become art, Ben's obsession with the chonk majesty of Viberg’s 110 last, and a hugely important question: what to do with welted leather footwear that there isn’t a resale market for.

And then, naturally, we revel in the wonders of South Carolina style BBQ, homemade popcorn, and peanut butter-covered peanut butter bites.



This episode was sponsored by Division Road, whose new Virginia boot-heaven compound on 45 acres of farmland officially opens August 25th

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Yuki Matsuda is an absolute gem of a man. If there's someone more relentlessly excited to design and make and just talk shoes after more than three decades in the biz than Yuketen's founder, I haven't met them (but would definitely like to; DM me plz).

It's no stretch to say that Yuketen is eternally in contention for the Most Interesting Footwear Brand Going Award. Over the decades, Yuki has explored a remarkable range of styles (from monkey boots, to mules, to his Goodyear welted "Land Jordan" sneakers), materials (printed Italian suede...that beaver fur!), and constructions. But the core of the brand is its relentlessly distinctive true moccasin construction handsewn boots and shoes, including Yuki's personal all-time favorite Maine Guide DB boot.

After literal years of trying, we finally pinned Yuki down to chat about the strokes of luck that got Yuketen started over 30 years ago, his singular design approach and the massive vintage-freak influence that plays into it, and how he seeks out the manufacturing partners who care about shoes the same way he does—with an insane amount of passion that often cuts directly against any sort of traditional business sensibility. Bless them all.

Oh also we obviously cover his vintage Datsun and get overly excited about backpacks that used to be made in Montana in the 90s. Yuki!!


This episode was sponsored by Division Road, whose new Virginia boot-heaven compound on 45 acres of farmland officially opens August 25th

Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Just about one year ago, footwear/menswear super-retailer Division Road packed up the Seattle storefront that has served as its home for the better part of a decade, to move its operations to 45 acres in Scottsville, Virginia—a true rural area about 20 disturbingly scenic minutes outside Charlottesville.

The promised plans for the relocation have been big—a true footwear and menswear destination that turns traditional retail completely on its head—but also not totally transparent. So Ticho and I had to find out just what the hell DR head man Jason Pecarich had in store, and headed down to the new DR CVA headquarters and property—aka The Fields—about a month ago.

Guess what: it's good. Real good.

DR's been chronicling its move and new evolution in a video series that is absolutely worth checking out. But to get an even fresher sense of things, may we also recommend listening to without a doubt the most idyllic Shoecast we've ever recorded.

Sitting on a screened-in porch with the birds chirping away on the 45 acre farm, we sat down with Jason to discuss his vision for the new Division Road when it officially opens August 25, 2022; how The Fields are developing and what features will come online when; the ripping brand-driven event schedule he's got planned; the risks a move like this presents; and plenty, plenty more.

This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Former Dayton bootmaker Tess Gobeil is the co-founder of Awl Together Leather, a custom leatherwork and shoe repair shop in Vancouver, Canada that just so happens to be on our shortlist of Stitchdown-recommended cobblers.  She's also just an absolute hoot—we're pretty sure this episode sets the Shoecast "hey look at us, we're just sitting here cackling about shoe stuff" record by a country mile.

Tess is also a woman—who runs Awl Together with her non-binary business partner Ariss—in a field that's overwhelmingly male-dominated. We get good and deep into how she's successfully navigated that landscape, along with her toughest/most enjoyable/most loathed/craziest/weirdest repair jobs, dogs eating boots, the boot cookies she gives to dogs who eat boots, Tim Horton's coffee, Montreal bagels, and plenty, plenty more.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Summer shoes! Those are just...boots, right? Apparently not!

In a Shoecast episode for which we applied 120 SPF sunscreen (to our shoes), Ticho and Ben first figure out what a summer shoe really means, and then get down into dishing out recommendations on loafers, handsewn moccasins of all kinds, unlined bluchers et al, boot-shoes (obviously), Birkenstocks, and, um...sandals? Yes, sandals—at which point it's revealed just how horrified of his own toes Ticho is. 

We also break down the lifestyle choice that is socklessness in frightening detail—including tips and tricks on what to do and not to do if you want to keep your feet in once piece. Which is always a good idea, in any season. 

Summer's just heating up, so give it a listen below!

This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where it's always leather jacket season, even in 97 degree heat (but also they sell sick tiger shirts)

Theme Music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Rising bootmaker Nathan Florsheim's shoe-famous last name isn't a coincidence—the great great grandson of Florsheim Shoes founder Milton Florsheim decided over a year ago to become the first person in his family to actually make a pair of boots themselves in generations.

And man has he gotten good at it quickly. Under the benevolent tutelage our mutual friend Lars from Østmo Boots, Nathan has evolved into one of the most impressive one-person bootmakers in the US—NF Bootmaker—in basically no time flat, hand-making service boots with his trademark rivet using an impressively wide range of leathers. And he's committed to the craft—just before we spoke Nathan actually quit his day job to go full-time on bootmaking.

So how did he get started? What challenges did he face at the beginning? What's absolutely scared the hell out of him along the way? Why do his boots have such sexy butts? HOW IN THE WORLD DO PEOPLE EVEN MAKE BOOTS THEMSELVES?? And what's next for NF? Nathan gets WAY in depth (and wonderfully nerdy) about all of it, and is incredibly generous  with the level of specific detail he offers.

If you've ever considered making boots or shoes, or are just interested in the process that goes into it, you definitely don't want to miss this one.


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which is now stocking excellent Japanese footwear brand Rolling Dub Trio—which is a very good thing

Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Over a decade ago, Tull Price's job was to travel to the world's coolest cities to expand his massively successful sneaker brand, Royal Elastics.  Sounds pretty great, right?

Nope! The realities of the forces of globalization—and just how much landfilled-destined plastic waste the athletic footwear industry created—eventually became all too apparent. Tull sold his stake in Royal, and began traveling Europe and Asia with a different purpose: encamping in veg-tan tanneries and small workshops run by master shoemakers. To figure out a way to build footwear—and a brand—in a completely different way.

From that, FEIT was born—some of the most unique truly handmade shoes produced at a moderately industrial scale that exist in the world. 

Tull doesn't hold anything back while chatting with Ben from Stitchdown.com as they roll through the life cycles of Tull's two brands,  why he chooses to manufacture in China (maybe not the reasons you expect), what can drive sustainability in footwear (and what sustainability even truly means), how to evolve a brand that's committed to minimalism, and the ways micro-communities can sometimes have the largest positive impact of them all. 

This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Along with his brother Matt (the one with the mustache), Andrew Brodrick is half of Freenote Cloth, the near-decade-old denim-'n'-more brand (yes they sell boots!) that's committed to manufacturing its entire widening range of menswear in a small radius in and around Los Angeles.

Andrew came on the Shoecast to lay out his philosophy on which cuts of denim should go with which boots (be warned: he's gonna push you towards the wider stuff); how maddeningly hard—but also extremely rewarding!—it can be to make heritage goods in the USA; where vintage reproduction menswear draws its inspiration; why he wears the same boots every single day; and, naturally, the best way to surf on the job.

But without a doubt the most important part of this episode is Andrew's advice on how to break in a pair of raw denim, which includes a panel van, an airport parking garage, a giant pile of insurance money, and a near mass-kidnapping. We couldn't think of a better way to end Season 5 of the Shoecast.


Help support the Shoecast by joining the Stitchdown Discord today (unless you hate shoes and boots of course)


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

The bootmaking world is a strange one in 2022. The easy part for top makers: finding customers who can't wait to buy their boots. The hard part? Sometimes it feels like literally everything else. Supply chain breakdowns are slapping delays on leather and other materials. Recruiting and training skilled bootmakers: never simple.

So how's Wesco dealing? How's this whole thing get solved and what are the worries along the way? The 103-year-old Scappoose, Oregon bootmaker's sales director & more Chris Warren gets deep into it with Ben, along with running through Chris's 100%-Wesco personal collection, how you should size and fit and break in engineer boots, those dastardly four-wheeler injuries, what do to when Gen answers the phone at S&S, and plenty more.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which is now stocking excellent Japanese footwear brand Rolling Dub Trio—which is a very good thing

Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown are back with another good ol' fashioned Stitchdown Shoecast Shoebag episode, in which we answer probing listener questions like "are there any more rules with wedding shoes?", "how important is historical context when it comes to a pair of shoes or boots?", and "what's your ritual when you get a new pair?"—and we discover that Ticho's process is incredibly long, complicated, and full of olfactory satisfaction.

Also he's very happy to tell everyone how much he loathes the carving stations at weddings that everyone else finds to be incredible. Classic Shoebag stuff!!


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which is now stocking excellent Japanese footwear brand Rolling Dub Trio—which is a very good thing

Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

They call Jim McFarland America's Cobbler for a darned good reason—the third generation in a line of cobblers that has run McFarland's Shoe Repair in Lakeland, Florida since 1918, Jim has repaired more shoes than you've ever seen.

But the former president of the Shoe Service Institute of America—and Grand Silver Cup Award winner for excellence in shoe repair—knows what's going on with the industry as well as anyone, and he came on the Shoecast to discuss the disturbing decline in cobbler's shops in the US: from 120,000 in 1928 to around 3,500 today, the majority run by people rapidly approaching retirement age and without apprentices.

Luckily there are some bright sides, including younger cobblers who do excellent work and also excel at social media to raise awareness. But it may not be nearly enough. So we pick that apart from all angles, and discuss ways Jim sees to stem the tide—and potentially, with any luck, reverse the troubling trend. 

But hey we also had a ton of fun! We discuss the Grand Silver Cup and how the SSIA judges pick a winner,  plus the kindly man who had Jim seal a few grand in the sole of a shoe, which is totally normal. Oh and let's not forget that time he repaired the zipper on a body bag, or when he found a blunt in the ashtray of the Trans-Am he just bought, which has absolutely nothing to do with shoes. But, again, fun.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, which sells the type of boots you'll need resoled like 18 times, because you're never going to want to take them off.

Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course

Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

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The leather tanning process is an ancient one—almost 10,000 years old. And yet, it can also be a massive damn mystery!

So Ashland Leather's Phil Kalas—who put in over a decade at Horween Leather—stopped by the Shoecast to take us through the entire leather tanning process, and all its possible routes to creating beautiful leather for footwear (and everything else).

How does the veg-tanning process differ from chrome tanning? What's a base tan and what's a re-tan? How does grading work? Wet stuffing and hot stuffing? What are the different ways to dry hides and what does that affect? How does finishing go, and what's the deal with crust leather?? Phil lays it all out, in a beautifully understandable manner. 

Even if you feel you know every single thing about leather, my suspicion is there's a LOT to learn in this one.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

2021! 'Twas another extremely weird year! It really was. But man was it a wonderful one in in the world of boots and shoes.

This episode, Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown.com review some of the most exciting, surprising, and inspiring quality footwear industry trends we saw emerge in 2021—and also look forward, making bold some predictions on where the space will evolve in 2022 and beyond. And said predictions are definitely 100% right, which is great.

Enjoy!


This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

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The boot brand Kreosote is but one man—JD Gabbard—some wonderful vintage tools, a 1978 Airstream, and one of the most unique and curious spirits in all of the handmade footwear world.

After decades traveling the world as a fine art photographer, Gabbard found himself at a bench in a Texas cobbler shop, compelled to learn the trade of boot repair—the first step in his journey to making the things himself, from the last on up. 

Today, operating out of that Airstream, Gabbard hand-crafts some of the most singular boots you'll find anywhere, each of which combines his own American folklore roots and deep historical inspiration.

While in the research phase before designing his PaRLOR SkAR engineer boot, Gabbard went all the way back to 1814 to trace the history of the engineer boot forward—and let's just say he discovered some things that may rock your understanding of the style's lineage and uses over the decades.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Way back in some far-off distant boot past, Lars Jensen was the first-ever Shoecast guest. He came on to tell us his story, one of making truly incredible Østmo boots, 100% by himself, one pair at a time. Now, Lars is back to tell us about Østmo's future—and it's a very exciting one.

For the final episode of Season 4, Lars and some strange person I've never heard of before have been working since that first episode to find a way to bring Østmo boots to a larger audience. The first step: find a bootmaking partner that held the same passion and maniacal dedication to quality, precision, and uniqueness that defines Lars himself.

And guess what they've found it: Iron Boots, the small Chinese workshop run by Lars' brother from another motherland Kai, who has been making simply fantastic boots under Iron's own brand for a handful of years now.

We chat about how the partnership came about, why it just makes sense, the development process, and of course, what the Østmo x Iron boots will look like and when and how they'll be available (quite soon).



This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots, whose Buy With Confidence guarantee ensures you get the right size boot—every single time.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

There are few things more wonderful than a great customer service experience—especially on an expensive purchase. Unfortunately, they're also a bit too rare. But there IS A WAY to get fantastic, loving, oh-so-sublime customer service! Oh yes, there is a way. It just takes a small bit of work and thoughtfulness on your part. 

Which is why we brought in Neil Berrett, co-founder of excellent customer-servicer shop Standard & Strange to lay out for us a simple set of guidelines and philosophies that can make you happier with the majority of your interactions when buying boots, shoes, and other footwear. And if you also buy other things from time to time for some strange reason, those things too.



This episode is sponsored by Nicks Handmade Boots,  the Spokane-based maker whose Buy With Confidence guarantee ensures you get the right size, every single time. That's very good customer service!!


Theme Music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

All-time Shoecast champion guest Ron Rider—Rider Boot founder, person who may just know more about shoe sizing than literally anyone else in the world, and just all around unfathomably charming man—is back on the Shoecast.

This time, Ron lays out his Seven Damning Shoe Sizing Mistakes—from not focusing on heel-to-ball fit nearly enough, to assuming boots and shoes will stretch WAY more than they actually will—that we all, really, really, really need to stop making (Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown too).

But the sheer amount of sizing philosophy and hard, actionable info we get at outside those mistakes—including how to tell how if your shoes are mis-sized just by looking at them—is enough to fill up a 14 FFFF boot from our sponsor this week, Nick's Handmade Boots (that's a real size they offer!). 

Don't you DARE pick up a new pair before listening to this one...


Join the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of course


Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

The Shoebag is back! All hail the Shoebag.

This time, @tichoblancoshoes and Ben from @stitchdown answer all sorts of reader questions, including: Unstructured vs structured toes? Half soles vs. full soles? What makes a perfect engineer boot? What are the metaphysical differences between oxfords and derbies? (There are plenty.) How do you figure out what new brand to make a move on next as you continue on your shoe journey? Are shell engineer boots essential or insane?

Also for some reason we end up talking about freeze-dried gummi worms a lot. Lots of reasons, I guess.



 This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, king of wide-width shoes and boots (I lavish much praise upon my EEE Diesels in this episode)


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

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Meet Adele Williamson: Tricker's youngest bespoke shoemaker ever, and also Tricker's first female bespoke shoemaker—in the brand's 192-year history.

Adele's story is fantastic: unsure of what to do with her life, she enrolled in a shoe design class (not really the good kind), then applied for an internship at Northampton stalwart Tricker's shortly after. Fast forward honestly not that many years, and she's working  every day with customers in an endlessly personal manner to create the bespoke creations of their dreams.

And I have to say on top of all that, Adele is just an absolute joy to speak with—bursting with passion for shoemaking, humble, charming, and utterly aware how lucky she is to have her absolute dream job.

Oh and she made shoes for Stringer Bell. And Prince Charles! But more importantly, Stringer Bell.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in quality footwear that you can find absolutely anywhere


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Grant Stone's Wyatt Gilmore is one of the people we most love talking to in the entire footwear industry—so it was high time we had him on the Shoecast. While we spend plenty of time discussing how GS develops new models, and chooses leathers, and how wearing EEE in their Leo last has changed my life, and what Wyatt will be looking for as a judge of the Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome, the best part of this podcast is without a doubt the brand's origin story.

Grant Stone emerged a half-decade ago as a challenger to the norm: a brand based in Michigan that manufactured in China that was ACTUALLY making a legit incredible product. People were initially skeptical, but that has faded for anyone paying attention, or certainly wearing their products.

But to hear Wyatt tell the story of how he personally ended up at a shoe factory in China with no idea of what to do with his damn life, then learning the trade and truly becoming part of a family that wasn't his own...it's apparent why the decision to manufacture there was made, and why Grant Stone has emerged as such an important player making incredible shoes and boots in a price range that almost seems unfair to everyone else.  It's really a beautiful story, and an inspiring one.

Also: vampire GenFacts!



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Very special episode! The entire shoe world has been on the edge of its heels waiting for 2030th Shoelympics to kick off from Northampton, England, and the Shoecast has secured exclusive coverage of the opening ceremonies!

Esteemed bootcasters Tichblucho and Boot Robinshoe are all set up in Longwing Stadium to give you a first-hand view of the pageantry, the spectacle, and the SHOES, whose amazing stories will be told through an extremely thin veil of blatant unchecked corporatism. And of course to deliver a preview on which shoes and boots you should expect to see taking home hardware in events like Gaff-Standing, Mirror Shine, the Handwelting, the Steeplechasse, and plenty more. 

[Producer's note: this is by far the weirdest Shoecast episode ever. Also maybe the best? So uhhh...be sure to tell us which.]



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, multiple-time gold medalist in the Value event, and a rising contender in so many more.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Nick Horween is a fifth-generation tanner at the eponymous Horween Leather Co., the Chicago powerhouse that creates Chromexcel, shell cordovan, and an endless array of some of the best boot leathers in the world. So he, uh, knows a lot about leather.

Nick stopped by the Shoecast to talk about Horween's fascinating history, how the tannery approaches being environmentally conscious in an industry that hasn't always been historically,  what leather development looks like, the CXL lottery,  whether Alden rare shell cordovan is ACTUALLY rare, and of course, the actual correct pronunciation of "chamois". And oh so much more.

Also Ticho says incendiary things about Chicago-style hot dogs and pizza that probably mean he can't ever visit the Windy City again. Oh Ticho...



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

It's completely possible that Jesper Ingevaldsson knows more about shoes than anyone alive. Jesper IS Shoegazing, the seminal and just monumentally good blog covering quality footwear, mostly in the classic dress category. Over the past decade he's taken a keen journalistic eye and an endless sense of curiosity, and educated millions on shoe construction and finishing while also presenting a razor-sharp review of the industry at large.

The thing that I love most about Jesper is that he knows his stuff in a way few do in any field—and yet he's not someone who sees his personally preferred, dressier lane as the only correct course for a shoe-lover.

His appreciation of all quality footwear is beyond evident as we get into the crossover between his nerdy world and Stitchdown's: why aren't more people in his wintry home nation of Sweden wearing more rugged boots? (Well luckily they're starting to, actually...) What is and isn't truly "handmade," how should brands market their products honestly, and what do we need to understand as customers? Why are we all so obsessed with buying shoes and boots on sale when it threatens the very existence of the makers we so dearly love?  Why do we buy four or five pairs of expensive footwear that don't get worn enough when one bespoke pair might be the thing that we really need?

These questions and plenty more we discuss—including the correct pronunciation of Swedish shoe store Skoaktiebolaget—are relevant to everyone who loves any kinds of welted shoes. And Jesper's episode is an absolute must-listen.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

The very first episode of the Shoecast—and the most-listened-to episode of all time—was about Indonesian Bootmakers. To close out season 3, Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown knew it was high time to revisit that wonderful world of hand-welted boots and shoes.

Even in the year since that first episode, so much has changed in Indonesian bootmaking. New brands have emerged. Young makers have risen to crazy—and well deserved—levels of prominence. And the old guard continues to innovate, hone their craft, gain access to incredible new leathers, and just create a better and better product, seemingly every week.

So dive in to see where the scene is at today—we'll surely need another one of these episodes a year from now.



This episode is sponsored by Division Road Inc, the Seattle shop that creates some of the best Viberg, White’s, Wesco, and Tricker’s makeups you’ll find absolutely anywhere.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Brett Viberg is back once more on the Shoecast, to give us a detailed breakdown of Viberg's coming releases in the second half of 2021—there are a LOT, and we've got a full preview on Stitchdown.com.

Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown also get into how Brett is shepherding manufacturing and finishing quality forward, how Viberg's marketing and storytelling efforts play off that, how he approaches sampling random crazy ideas, what inspires him in terms of vintage shoes and machinery, and what the story is with the Bastion oxfords that people are definitely wondering about.

Pull up the exclusive Fall/Winter 2021 preview story and give it a listen below!



This episode is sponsored by Division Road Inc, the Seattle shop that creates some of the best Viberg, White’s, Wesco, and Tricker’s makeups you’ll find absolutely anywhere.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Five years ago, Jason Pecarich took his extensive experience in the menswear industry and opened Division Road Inc. in Seattle: a collaboration-driven menswear shop headlined by boot and shoe makeups from Tricker's, White's, Wesco, and what would quickly become hands-down the deepest Viberg lineup anywhere in the world.

So how'd he he do it? We get into Jason's uniquely in-depth footwear design outlook that leans heavily on long-term function and comfort in addition to style, what the extended process to truly develop multiple exclusive models—most notably the Shelby boot series—with Viberg looked like, if we'll see more Shelbies in the future, and what he thinks the future of physical retail looks like in general and for Division Road, Oh and Katz's pastrami sandwiches and how Ben hasn't somehow seen When Harry Met Sally. 



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, perhaps the best overall value in shoes and boots, period


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

If Ron Rider isn't the most interesting person in the shoe game, we certainly want to meet whoever is. Ron's lived his whole career in shoes, creating the cult favorite Rider Boot Co. and now acting as one of the behind-the-scenes straws that stir the private label drink for a crazy range of brands.

This week, Ticho and Ben talk to Ron about how private label works (it gets pretty weird!), his vision for how shoe sizing needs to be done correctly, what's going on with his latest project with Ledbury's sub-brand Tangier, and how many pints of Guinness you need to buy him to do a deal.

Ron is simply the best, and if you skip this episode, your life will be considerably worse.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, perhaps the best overall value in shoes and boots, period


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

While there are a handful of "name" leathers and tanneries out there, it's almost shocking how many of both go completely under the radar, even for hardcore boot & shoe lovers.

So this week, Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown.com get DEEP into tanneries around the world that really need to be more in the conversation, as well as specific leather articles from bigger-name tanneries that are definitely worth a look for a future pair. 



This episode is sponsored by Division Road Inc, the Seattle shop that creates some of the best Viberg, White's, Wesco, and Tricker's makeups you'll find absolutely anywhere.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

That's right, Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown.com are back to answer listener questions on another absolutely thrilling Shoebag episode.

What's the best way to break in engineer boots so you can get then on and off nice and easy? How many pairs should you have if you want to really get each wear in a rotation? What's the deal with Tyrolean shoes? And perhaps most importantly, if you had to wear leather underwear, what leather would you go with??? (Real question that we give a real answer to.)

All shall be answered! And plenty more.



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of Stitchdown's Best Value Shoemakers



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Two and a half years into its existence, Artisan Boot & Shoe—which sprung forth following the Batavia, New York P.W. Minor factory's unfortunate demise—is showing signs that while American footwear manufacturing might not be what it was decades ago, it's definitely got a fighting chance to show new growth alongside the Pacific Northwest and and Maine-based stalwarts we love over here at Stitchdown.

Artisan's owner Nicole Porter has shepherded the operation's emergence, manufacturing for Stitchdown favorite Parkhurst and Wolverine, and seeing an interesting influx of new brand partners especially over the last year. This episode, Ben and Ticho from from Stitchdown.com  talk to Nicole about how the whole P.W. Minor thing went down, how she constructed Artisan, her outlook on the broader US shoe manufacturing industry, and the challenges she faces being a woman in a male-dominated space.

It's an important and fascinating conversation, and an extremely fun one despite some very real moments. Also we eat a lot of Oliver's sponge candy, which is also very important.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

With an incredible range of outsoles available to choose from, how does a footwear lover narrow things down to just one? There are huge questions to tackle. How do you weigh looks vs functionality?  Durability vs traction? Comfort vs capability? WILL TICHO FINALLY ADMIT THAT WEDGE SOLES ABSOLUTELY RULE???

This week, we talk about our favorite (and a few of our least favorite) outsoles—from Dainite and some Vibrams we love, to Dr. Sole and Ridgeway—and throw more history and facts at you than you likely thought was possible. Get on in there and figure out the right move for your next pair. 



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Matt Gray came out of nowhere to become an instant Alden legend, and one of the Instagram kings of rare shell cordovan. Now Matt and partner Jim Pietryka—who has almost a decade of experience in the shoe biz and an insane vintage shoe collection—are about to celebrate the second anniversary of their Raleigh, NC shop Ealdwine.

In the first episode of Shoecast Season 3, Ben from Stitchdown.com and Ticho cover a ton with Matt & Jim, from how they cook up some of the best, most distinctive Alden makeups in the entire game, to Jim's oldest vintage shoes (from the 40s!), to what shell cordovan would look like with Matt's face printed on it (and how we might be able to make it actually happen.

Oh and they let the cat out of the boot-bag on a very exciting brand they'll be stocking soon....


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera 

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

The Pacific Northwest is home to the last remaining epicenter of quality bootmaking in the US (and Canada)—and the stories of how the makers White's Boots, Wesco, Nicks Handmade Boots, and Viberg came to be, and how they persisted, are quite honestly nothing short of phenomenal.

And you may know plenty about them! But Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown dug deeper than could possibly be considered sane into the archives of those four stalwart brands to uncover the stories that haven't been told before. We've got a man who made the very boots he walked in for SEVEN MONTHS to evade capture during WWII. We've got 100-year-old catalogs with the most colorful boot-language you've ever heard. We've got Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This is an illuminating history lesson worth giving, and an inspiring ride worth taking. Buckle on up.


This episode was sponsored by Nicks Handmade Boots: one of the most capable, indestructible boots available anywhere—and damn stylish too!


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Carl Murawski is a man of many facets—and many boots. Sure, he's the world's largest YouTube star (and definitely go check out his excellent channel right here), and a man with a genuinely impressive perspective on so much of the fashion world. But he's also a licensed electrician who puts his footwear through more than 99% of people—and has some fantastic boot stories to tell from every step of his career.

We also get into some really important boot-thinky stuff: Carl's deeply thoughtful outlook on the blue collar gatekeeping around workboots, how he views buying boots and clothing that are built to last forever...and then having a ton of them that don't get worn enough, and of course, the three pairs he couldn't live without.


And be sure to check out Carl's YouTube page (after listening of course)!



This episode was sponsored by Nicks Handmade Boots: one of the most capable, indestructible boots available anywhere—and damn stylish too!


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

2020: Interesting year! I feel like a few things happened.

PLENTY also happened in the shoe world. Far more certainly than one  could’ve anticipated given the circumstances. This episode, Ben from Stitchdown.com and @tichoblancoshoes run them all down and give a bit of perspective on where 2021 might take us (like, possibly wearing a ton of engineer boots, maybe?!?).



This episode was sponsored by Nicks Handmade Boots: one of the most capable, indestructible boots available anywhere—and damn stylish too!


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

It's Brett Viberg time! Few people have exerted as much influence over the quality footwear industry over the past decade as Brett has while he's reshaped Viberg Boot from an industrial boot manufacturer to arguably the most important lifestyle boot brand in the entire scene. 

This episode Ben and Brett talk about Viberg's future—what is it advancing towards as a product, and as a brand, and why?—as well as the new widths the Canadian manufacturer rolled out in the past few weeks, how he evolves boot patterns and lasts, his favorite and least favorite boots he's ever made, whether or not there will be a sample sale in 2021, and plenty, plenty more. Definitely an episode not to be missed. 



This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best overall values in fine footwear you can find anywhere. Check them out!


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Alden's Brett Klein is one of the true mensches of the footwear world. A huge part of his job is to help retailers—and humble shoe podcasters who devise Stitchup boots—dream up and refine the incredible makeups that define Peak Alden for so many of us. He's also one of the shell cordovan-fading kings of this world, having put in the time (in the sun) to beautifully alter his color 8 shell boots, and documenting the whole thing along the way with the instagram hashtag #thefadedboot.

This week, @tichoblancoshoes and Ben from Stitchdown talk to Brett about how to get those exceptional fades—and if fading black shell cordovan works—as well as some of the archive gems he's seen in the Alden factory, and how he's seen the American shoemaking industry sadly ravaged by private equity and other forces. And of course what he's got in his own closet, and the Alden boot he'd keep if he could only choose one forever.

Oh and one more big one: IS RARE SHELL CORDOVAN ACTUALLY RARE OR NOT??? Brett's got all the answers.


This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best overall values in fine footwear you can find anywhere. Check them out!


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Ahhhh, the Shoe Journey. The voyage from understanding essentially nothing about great shoes and boots to...GETTING IT. It's a path that winds in all directions, and no journey is the same for any two people.

But there are almost always similarities! Flashpoints and big mistakes and everything else that shapes a shoe lover into what they are today—an evolution which, if you're doing it right, continues essentially forever. And damn is it fun.

This episode, Ben from Stitchdown and @tichoblancoshoes track things all the way back to the beginning of their own shoe journeys, which involved trips to Sears, possibly fraudulent Nikes, Sparks Energyboozedrinks, and way too much Fun Dip, before beginning to see the shoe-filled light. 



This episode was sponsored by Mark Albert Boots, whose new Italian-made Chelseas are just hitting the streets right now. Check out the whole line!


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

WHAT ARE THE BEST VALUE SHOES I CAN BUY? It's the thing everyone wants to know. And while there are some sure-thing answers when it comes to pure bang-for-the-buck, finding the best value footwear, for you, and perhaps more importantly, extracting the maximum value from your shoes and boots, is a little more complicated.

This episode, Ben from @Stitchdown and @tichoblancoshoes get (as they tend to) dangerously deep on what value means, and lay out some crucial principles to understand and consider before you make your next pickup. Obviously, we also decide once and for all what the worst Skittles flavor is.


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Mark Barbera of Mark Albert Boots had a dream: make some Chelsea boots. Next thing he knew, he had an entire boot company, operating out of his hometown of Somerset, the little known maple syrup (and maple butter wings) capital of Pennsylvania.

Fast forward a few years and Mark has expanded his line to include a made-in-Italy range to honor his master cobbler grandfather, and has plenty more big plans in the works.

We get into the advice he would give to someone starting a boot company, the challenges the US footwear industry faces and where he sees it going, which other bootmakers he feels are working it these days, and of course, those wings.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

SHELL CORDOVAN! That most magical of shoe leathers. King of shine, paragon of durability, bastion of beauty. There really is nothing quite like it.

But shell cordovan also has its downsides! The cost, the maintenance, rolls gone wrong.  So is it truly the best shoe and boot leather? Oh, and is it even leather at all?!? @tichoblancoshoes and Ben from Stitchdown.com are here to engage in the most probing possible discourse to figure it out. 

They also tackle: what even is shell cordovan? When and where was it first created? How's it made? Who's making it today and what do you need to know about those tanneries?

There's a lot in this one! Give it a listen!

This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

"How do I get my hands on some Alden rare shell cordovan boots or shoes?" It's one of the questions we get asked the most. So Ben from @stitchdown and @tichoblancoshoes decided to crack it open, along with plenty of other listener questions you can learn a ton from.

What are the best ways to store your footwear if you don't have a ton of space? Why does roughout leather never need to be conditioned?  Who's making the best suede out there? What's the next big trend in boots???

We answer all those and more—give it a listen.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Neil Berrett, co-founder of the excellent Oakland booterdashery Standard & Strange, is many things.

A Viberg and Wesco makeup wizard. A dutiful procurer of Japanese fashion (including John Lofgren boots). A kind-hearted soul who legitimately cares about the people who work for him and the community around him. And perhaps most importantly, someone who spent his time detained in a Japanese police station bribing cops with whiskey and attempting to get his hands on a really cool cop hat.

In the latest Shoecast episode, Neil tells that (honestly 1000% fantastic) tale, talks about how S&S comes up with All-Name Team boots like the Axe Breaker and why nobody should be afraid of the wonders of engineer boots, and gets real on what retail life is like in a pandemic.



This episode was sponsored by the excellent Viberg retailer Withered Fig—we wholeheartedly suggest you check out their boots and impressive collection of clothing



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

After a rollicking first season, the Stitchdown Shoecast is BACK for number two. And to make the return even more special, this first episode presents the first-ever Stitchdown Bootbate, an extremely formal and rigid debate...about boots!...pitting Shoecast co-host @tichoblancoshoes vs the formidable wide-leg-trousered opponent Jake, aka @almostvintagestyle.

Let me tell you, over the course of the bootbate, these two get INTO it. Does the US or Japan make better boots? Horween vs. Shinki? Which kind of pants should be worn with engineer boots? CXL: very good, good, or less than good? How important is finishing on boots? All of these topics and more are viciously debated, and one winner will emerge—chosen by you.

I can say quite honestly that this episode is not to be missed.


This episode was sponsored by the excellent Viberg retailer Withered Fig—we wholeheartedly suggest you check out their boots and impressive collection of clothing



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

@tichoblancoshoes is many things: esteemed shoe collector, Harrison Ford appreciator, a man who knows his way around a pizza. He is also a scoundrel—but his very scoundrelness can help you get the secondhand shoes you want, at the exact price you want, if you follow Ticho's Outstanding Negotiating System, aka T.O.N.S.

Ben from @stitchdown and Ticho also take you through everything else you need to know about buying used shoes: where to look, how to search, what to look for, and most importantly, where you can go very right, and VERY, very wrong.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. 



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Quality shoes & boots—they cost some money! But it's completely possible to construct a well-rounded collection on the (relative!) cheap...you just have to approach it correctly.

Ben from @stitchdown and Ticho both have managed to pull it off, and this week they share their 5-point system for how to think about long-term value, collection fluidity, the best ways to get things on the cheap, cash management, selling and trading shoes, and how to build a sustainable master plan that will keep your feet very happy for years to come.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. 



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

If you were forced to choose only five pairs of boots and shoes for the rest of our life, and had to give away everything else...what would those five be?

Because we are masochists, Ticho and I decided to subject ourselves to this horrific—but enlightening!—thought experiment on the most recent Shoecast episode. It was NOT easy. We lost sleep. And we were both sickened by how similarly we thought about building a tight collection. But we did it.

And if you feel like driving yourself insane, In strongly recommend you try it too. If you're on Instagram, post them and tag #myonlyfivepairs, @tichoblancoshoes, and @stitchdown— we'll be reposting plenty.


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. 



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

This week, the Shoecast is actually the Larscast, as Ben from @Stitchdown and @tichoblancoshoes spend a whole bunch of time chatting with Lars Jensen, the one-man Norwegian wondermaker who creates—and indeed IS—Østmo boots.

Things you should know: 1) Lars is the best. 2) We talk about a lot of boots stuff, including his inspiration, his process for making a pair, and his favorite tool (a gift from none other than @rizkyafnan of @onderhoudhandmade). 3) He reveals the two things in this world that you can give him in exchange for skipping the lottery to get a pair of Østmo boots. 4) According to Lars we’ve apparently all been pronouncing @vibergboot wrong. 5) Lars is the best.

All in all it’s a really, really fun episode, and it was honestly a damned honor to have Lars on.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. 



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

In the last episode of the Shoecast, Ticho and Ben did a birds-eye view of the US handsewn moccasin construction footwear scene: how the shoes are made, and the rise and fall and rise again of the industry behind it, largely in Maine. It's a deeply interesting and often inspiring ride, and you can check it out right here.

This week, we go deeper on five brands crafting a truly amazing range of handsewns: Rancourt, Quoddy, Russell Moccasin, Maine Mountain Moccasin, and the most innovative and boundary-pushing of them all, Yuketen. We cover each brand's specific history, and of course, what they make. Also we say some things about Chicago-style hot dogs that will surely get us in trouble with the good people of the Windy City.


This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. 



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Handsewns—boat shoes, camp mocs, ranger mocs, guide boots, penny loafers, and other shoes and boots made with handsewn moccasin construction—are some of the most comfortable, and indeed truly handmade footwear that exists.

This week on the Shoecast, and Ticho and Ben from Stitchdown get into how they're made, and how the US industry—based largely in Maine—arose and turned into a powerhouse, then entered a troubling period of decline before being reborn in a legitimately wonderful new fashion over the last couple decades.

This is the first of two handsewn episodes; this one is more focused on construction and industry history, while in the next episode we'll get deeper into the USA-made brands we love, their histories, the unique models they make, and plenty more.



This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. 



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

It's time for the Shoebag, in which Ticho and Ben answer ANYTHING listeners want to know about. This week we talk about how to ensure you get the best possible patina on your boots, the importance of branding for shoe companies, which price point represents the best value, and plenty more—including why Tichoblanco is even called Tichoblanco. It's a fun one.


This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone—we wholeheartedly suggest you check out their lineup right here.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Last episode Ben and Ticho took 16 of Alden's best shoes and boots, debated fiercely, and narrowed them down to 8, tournament-style. This time, those 8 become 1—the greatest Alden model of all time. Listen in for the debate, even if it's just to let us know where we were right and wrong.

This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone—we wholeheartedly suggest you check out their lineup right here.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Alden is the last great American dress shoe maker—and their boots might just be even better. Ticho and Ben take on an impossible task: debating the best Alden model of them all. 16 enter, but only one will win. Get ready for a knock-down, drag-out battle.

This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone—we wholeheartedly suggest you check out their lineup right here.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Certain great shoe and boot brands are discussed endlessly. And others, well, not nearly enough.

This week on the Shoecast, Ticho and Ben get deep into four brands we think deserve a ton more play out there in the conversation—ZEB Shoes, TLB Mallorca, Parkhurst, and J.M. Weston—and get into their histories, unique offerings, value, how to size, and of course, how to get them.



Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

Exploring the world of made-to-order—or MTO—shoes and boots. How do you figure out what to make? Where do you start? Ticho and Ben break down their approaches and philosophies on MTO, plus which makers you should consider doing MTO with, and how much they cost.

Then as always, it's on to the Shoe Bag, in which we answer listener questions ranging from how to care for roughout boots, to the most versatile overall shoe for everyday wear.

Shoe/Bootmakers and Shops Mentioned in this Episode:
Viberg Boot
White's Boots
Wesco Boots
Nick's Boots
Frank's Boots
Drew's Boots
JK Boots
Mark Albert Boots
Onderhoud Handmade
Crockett & Jones
Sagara
Carmina
Vass
Truman
Thorogood
Grant Stone
Unmarked
Division Road
Baker's Boots & Clothing


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

While it may take a true boot geek to realize it, Indonesian bootmakers create some of the best values in handwelted footwear—and at their best, they are truly beautiful sights to behold.

But how do you navigate Indonesia's dozens of bootmakers? Who to go with? How to order? What are they charging? Ben from @stitchdown and @tichoblancoshoes go deep on Indonesian boot culture and how it arose, plus the makers you should be considering. And like in every episode, your questions about shoes and boots, leather, care, and more are all answered with disturbing accuracy, in the Shoe Bag.

Indonesian Shoe and Bootmakers mentioned in this episode:
Onderhoud Handmade
Benzein Shoes
Sagara Bootmaker
Txture Shoe & Bootmaker
Winson Shoemaker
Junkard Co. Boots
Prof Barnets
Santalum
Renav Goods Company
Kabayz Company
Imperium
Hidalgo Boots
Monroe Heritage
Panama Heritage
Tahura Boots Company
Hidalgo Boots


Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

2025 dates and location for Stitchdown's Boot Camp 3—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—coming soon.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Support the Shoecast and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/