The Stitchdown Shoecast

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Flora Knight on Guthrie, Oklahoma's Cowboy Bootmaking Lineage and That Time She Tried to Tan Her Own Leather Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

She was born in Canada and grew up in New Zealand, but few people could possibly seem more at home making bespoke cowboy boots in Guthrie, Oklahoma than Flora Knight. Learning the craft from two of the historic western city's best teachers imaginable—bootmaking legends Lisa Sorrell and Ray Dorwart—certainly didn't hurt things. Neither did her other obsession: old-time American fiddle-playing.
But Flora has most definitely carved out her own path to become a supremely talented bootmaker in her own right. On this episode of the Shoecast, Ben chatted with Flora about the most brutal days in the workshop being some of her best learning experiences, why you can't force artistry in bootmaking, and how to draw out a customer's personal vision, all while considering how the music and boots she creates reflect a pre-industrial society that might just have been a little bit better.
https://www.instagram.com/floraknightbootmaker/
This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots

Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

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A website. We have one.
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Tokyo Boot Scene—Japan's Incredible Footwear City Jul 18, 2024

Show notes

Phil Kalas of the Full Grain Podcast takes over the Shoecast this week to interview Ben about his recent trip to boots-and-shoes mecca Tokyo—expect a deep-dive into city's astounding footwear scene, why and how it exists, plus a preview of five upcoming feature videos that'll be coming out before too long.

Behind The Scenes of Footwear Development With White's Boots President Eric Kinney & Jason from Division Road Jul 09, 2024

Show notes

In long-overdue returns to the Shoecast, White’s Boots President Eric Kinney and Division Road’s Jason Pecarich sat down to pull back the curtain on what it’s really like to develop new footwear products, getting into every twist and turn on past collaborative makeups as well as some forthcoming never-before-seen construction + style combos.

We also hit on White’s lead times improving, very promising new boot-shoes, and what to expect at the White’s residency at Division Road this September 20th-21st. Also: what in the heck are “lifestyle” boots anyway, and do we need a new word for them??

Give it a listen through LINK IN BIO!
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Custom Shoemaker Amara Hark-Weber on Why She Makes a Different Pair Every Single Time Jul 02, 2024

Show notes

Amara Hark-Weber surely must be one of the most delightful people in this world—which anyone could likely tell just from looking at the remarkably unique and creative boots and shoes the Twin Cities, Minnesota-based custom maker creates.
This episode, Amara fought through a cold to discuss why she makes EVERY pair different from the previous, the incredible teachers who helped her learn the craft in very different ways, why she owns approximately 100,000 awls, not sleeping the night before a customer picks up their pair, her work spreading the gospel of great shoemaking in museum and academic settings, and slashing boots (which is exactly what it sounds like).
Amara's site: https://www.harkweberstudio.com/
Josh's written interview with Amara: https://www.stitchdown.com/the-stitchdown-conversation/amara-hark-weber/
Amara's Voices of Contemporary Shoemakers article: https://www.craftcouncil.org/post/voices-contemporary-shoemakers
Hand Made in America: Contemporary Custom Footwear: https://cdmc.wisc.edu/hand-made-in-america-contemporary-custom-footwear/
Between Dreams and Reality: Bespoke Footwear: https://penland.org/gallery/2024_horn_bespoke-footwear/

Chisos Founder Will Roman on How Cowboy Boots Will Save Us All May 03, 2024

Show notes

For the closeout episode of Shoecast season 11, Ben sits down with Will Roman, founder of Chisos Boots, a young and growing brand out of Austin, Texas that offers one of the best values in a legitimately well made, well designed cowboy boot.
They cover how Chisos in some ways started with a lemonade stand, how Will ended up in León Mexico and fell in love with a small father-son workshop that makes Chisos to this day, where Chisos veers from cowboy bootmaking tradition and where it's extremely firmly rooted in it, his take on cowboy boot gatekeeping, and the grander promise he sees in the iconic American piece of footwear.
This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone
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Exploring What "Handmade" Truly Means With Leatherworker and Bootmaker Bob Henderson Apr 16, 2024

Show notes

For the penultimate episode of the 11th season of the Stitchdown Shoecast, I’m quite excited indeed to be chatting with the just ridiculously talented man they call Bob Henderson. Bob is the operations manager at Popov Leather, the bustling leathergoods workshop over yonder in British Columbia, Canada—and over the last few years has been sucked up by the indomitable tractor beam known as bootmaking, operating as Bob Henderson Handmade Boots.

In a nice and rangy chat, Bob and I get into how Popov came to be and has managed to become a major player in the ever-more-crowded wallets, belts, and other small leathergoods space, what handmade really means in a world where the term is easily abused, his descent into bootmaking madness, old Toyota trucks (finally) and how they inspire his boot designs, why he wishes he could live at Disneyland forever, and plenty more—this one’s about bootmaking, and business-building, and why we care about what we care about.

Fritz Sr. and Jr. of Seidel Tanning on the Art, Science, and Challenges of Making Leather Apr 11, 2024

Show notes

This time Ben sits down with two, count ‘em TWO Fritz Seidels: Fritz Jr. and Fritz Sr., who every day are continuing on the tradition of the four-generation, 79-year-old Siedel Tanning Corp in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In addition to getting the lowdown on some longtime Seidel favorite leathers and overlooked gems, we get into Seidel’s history and fluid approach to tanning and meeting shifting market demands, what in the hell all that machinery in a tannery is doing all day long, why making heavyweight boot leathers is so damn tough—and of course, cows getting diaper rash.
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This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots
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Shoe Care Essentials, How Many Boots is Too Many, Brands We Want Back...It's The Shoebag!! Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

Before he bolts for a very important trip to the bread store, Ticho is back in the leather-smelly homestead for perhaps our most comprehensive Shoebag episode ever, in which we discuss what shoe care products are essential and which you don't really need, brands we'd love to see restored to their former glory, what to wear with Red Wings (vague hint: anything!), how many midsoles is just too many midsoles, what we'll look back at in 10 years and make fun of ourselves for, and plenty more!
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This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone
Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera

Bespoke Shoemaker Sebastian Tarek on West-End Outwork and Judging the World's Greatest Shoemaking Competition Mar 13, 2024

Show notes

When London (by way of Australia) bespoke shoemaker Sebastian Tarek began making shoes in high school, his grandmother let him in on a little secret: he had been preceded in his journey by 18 generations of family cordwainers.
After years of schooling—including at the famed Cordwainers College in Hackney, London—he eventually ended up settling into a role as a bottom-maker for some of Savile Row's most prestigious bespoke firms, both in an in-house capacity and also as an piece-work outworker.
Today, Sebastian continues his outwork...work...while also creating his own bespoke shoes and boots for clients, as well as select ready-to-wear collections for retailers in Japan and elsewhere. While the outwork keeps his skills sharp and focused, Sebastian's personal shoemaking style is a raw, anti-elegant ("I don't want the act of shoemaking to be the attempt to replicate and perfect something a machine can do") exploration of UK-based materials, all sprung from a love of old worn denim, centuries-old Japanese farmhouses, and possible overuse of the word "singularity".
To top it all off, Sebastian's about as delightfully affable and humble as people get, and there are few people more enjoyable to talk shoes and shoemaking with. So I did that!
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This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone

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Actor Adam Goldberg on His Lifelong Quest to Remake James Dean's Boots Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

Adam Goldberg has quite legitimately always been one of my favorite actors—and from Dazed & Confused, to the Fargo TV show, to A Beautiful Mind, he has always been EXCELLENTLY attired, right down to his boots.
But he doesn't just play a person who cares about boots on TV and in movies! Adam is a very real-deal obsessive who's neck deep in Clinch, Zerrow's, and quite possibly too much more.
In an episode that will surely open the floodgates to most-to-all of Hollywood coming on the Shoecast to confess their footwear compulsions, Adam and Ben discuss boots he wore in different roles—usually self-selected!—sings a lovely rendition of "Working My Way Back to Ropers", tells the twist-and-turn-filled tale of his decades-long quest to get James Dean's boots reproduced, and announces the "only"(ha!) pair of boots he wants, all while we attempt to figure out what the hell is wrong with us for loving this stuff so much.
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This episode was sponsored by Nicks Boots—who turns 60 this year!
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