The Stitchdown Shoecast

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Custom Cowboy Bootmaker Lee Miller of Texas Traditions Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

There are custom bootmakers—and then there's Texas Traditions. Opened in 1977 by “The Picasso of cowboy boots” Charlie Dunn, Texas Traditions has been run by Charlie’s apprentice Lee Miller since 1986.

In one of the great Shoecast interviews we’ll ever have the pleasure of publishing, Lee gets deep into the shop’s history, Charlie’s uniquely mystical approach to cowboy bootmaking, the Mexican bootmakers who shared their knowledge with Lee, what makes a truly great toe and heel shape, how to fit a custom boot, contending with people that you can’t do something, and the impossible, beautiful toil of making boots by hand.

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We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.
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A website. We have one.
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Edgy Albert on Which Shoes are Good and Not Good—and a Tribute to Denim Legend Roy Slaper Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

If you know Albert Muzquiz, it’s almost definitely as Edgy Albert, his highly accurate internet alter-ego.

Albert’s not just another menswearfluencer come-lately—he was also the first writer for Stitchdown.com, worked at LA’s iconic Self Edge, and wrote his college thesis on denim.

Of course we get Albert’s view on what kind of shoes people are wearing in LA, and play a typically opinionated little “GOOD OR NOT GOOD” rapid-fire game with his takes on brands and footwear styles.

And then there’s denim legend Roy Slaper, who unfortunately passed away last month.

I didn’t know Roy Slaper. I didn’t even know OF Roy Slaper until I watched Albert’s fantastic YouTube video about Roy and fellow handmade denim maker Tilden Yamamoto. I was taken with Roy immediately—his dedication to his craft, his knowledge of ancient machines, his desire to teach and share. I wondered why he stopped making jeans.

In this episode—which we recorded about two months before Roy’s passing—Albert went deep into his Montana trip to visit the two denim savants. What resulted is a truly lovely portrait of a slice of Roy’s denim-making life. Hopefully it can stand as a tiny little memorial to someone who cared about craft and its history as much as one can.

Keeping Maine Shoemaking Alive: The Rancourt & Co. Story Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

At one point, it was tough to find someone in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine that wasn't personally connected to the handsewn moccasin shoe industry. Today, few Maine shoemaking operations remain—but those twin cities on the Androscoggin River continue to house legitimately remarkable footwear manufacturing.
For 59 years, the Rancourt family has been a stalwart, crafting handsewn shoes in Lewiston—moccasins, camp mocs, beefroll penny loafers, and other iconic styles.
Mike Rancourt came on the Shoecast to dig deep into Maine's shoemaking genesis and lineage, the process and beauty of handsewn shoes, leather selection and cutting, sizing, and the ups and downs of a business and true community that was nearly decimated by offshore manufacturing and corporate takeovers—but thanks to operations like Rancourt, persists to this day.

How Can Wolverine Revive its Iconic 1000 Mile Brand? Justin Cupps Has Ideas. Jul 07, 2026

Show notes

Wolverine Worldwide is a footwear empire much bigger than just Wolverine 1000 Mile. Justin Cupps is six months into his role as President of the Work Group, which includes Merrell Work, Bates, HYTEST, CAT Footwear, Harley-Davidson Boots, Wolverine, AND Wolverine 1000 Mile.

Yes separating out those last two is essential, especially in the eyes of Justin—who sees huge opportunity with 1000 Mile as a distinct brand in every imaginable way.

The (Mostly) Complete History of Cowboy Boots, with Bata Shoe Museum Director Elizabeth Semmelhack Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

Last time Elizabeth Semmelhack—Director and Senior Curator of the Toronto's exceptional Bata Shoe Museum—was on the Shoecast, she ran down a (mostly) complete history of boots, overall. It was excellent.

This time Elizabeth is back to focus purely on cowboy boots—which is exactly what she's been doing for years while writing Rough & Ready: a History of Cowboy Boots, the most recent in a hugely rich (if far too truncated) pantheon of exceptional cowboy boot books.

Where did cowboy boots emerge from? The heels, the tops, the toe shapes—when did those come into play? What do we all have totally wrong about cowboy boots and the culture surrounding them, from the 1800s until the modern era? It's all right there in the book—and on this episode.

ACL's Michael Williams on Misguided Shoe Recs & The "Disappearing Middle" of Quality Footwear Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

Michael Williams is sometimes a “marketer who hates marketing,” who has helped many of the great US manufacturing brands, up to and including Red Wing. Other times he he’s writing his often menswear focused newsletter, the quietly massively influential A Continuous Lean.
A while back he pre-invented the idea now used by every single temporary market you now see everywhere, with his Pop Up Flea concept. More often than seems possible, he’s doing something or other with the bon vivant they call David Coggins, whether that’s recording their Central Division podcast, or putting together their new newspaper dubbed The Print Edition.
I’ve been bugging Mike to come on the Shoecast for years now, and every time I saw him he said the same thing: “I don’t know enough about shoes”.
Well this episode now exists to prove that Michael Williams knows plenty about shoes. And also the best stores that sell them worldwide, the quickly disappearing middle ground between cheap garbage and high luxury, travel shoe selection strategies, and how to see deep into someone’s soul, just from looking at what’s on their feet.

Carmina Shoemaker's Carmina Albaladejo on Family Tradition, Global Retail, and Custom Shoes Jun 16, 2026

Show notes

Carmina Albaladejo heads US operations for the exquisite Spanish shoemaker with the exact same (first) name as her.
In this Stitchdown Shoecast episode we discuss how six generations of family history led to the founding of the Carmina brand, manufacturing in Spain, Carmina's growing US and global retail strategy (and the crucial importance of physical shoe stores), the brand's top-flight online customizer tool, the new leveled-up Albaladejo Collection, and plenty more.

https://www.carminashoemaker.com/

The New Thing in Footwear Leather? 145-Year-Old Veg-Tanner Hermann Oak. Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

Hermann Oak has been tanning leather in St. Louis since 1881, and they pretty much still do it the same way—one way, which of course is veg-tanning. Traditionally a major player in the equestrian leather world, Hermann Oak is edging into the quality footwear space in a hugely exciting way.

So I chatted with Hermann Oak President Drew Gulick about the tanner's deep history, how making footwear leather is different from equestrian or tooling leather, and of course their core bridle, harness, and latigo products.

Come see Hermann Oak and PLENTY of other tanneries, shoe-/bootmakers, and more at Stitchdown Expo 2026 Chicago this Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events!

https://www.hermannoakleather.com/

https://www.stitchdownexpo.com/

Nathan Florsheim is Proudly Working Slower Than Ever Jun 01, 2026

Show notes

Back in 2021, I got a great email from a young bootmaker named Nathan Florsheim who wanted to chat. Boy am I glad I took that call.

About a year later I had Nathan—great great great grandson of Milton Florsheim, yes, THAT Florsheim—on the Shoecast. Four years and 130 handmade pairs later, Nathan is absolutely rolling as a custom bootmaker who has truly seemed to find his own space, one that so many clients want to inhabit as well.

So along with the man they call Ticho, we caught up about what’s changed in that time with his technical and ordering process, why slow is actually really good, how he finally set up a workshop that really works for him, the tallest man in the world’s Florsheim boots, and obviously, plenty more.

Also Nathan just so happened to open his order books right when this episode dropped, but it’s not THAT easy to get onto his client list. So of course we made a second bonus episode for subscribers in which Nathan shares the best ways to have success putting in for an order.

That one’s available on our Premium Subscribers feed—check out Stichdown.com to learn more about Stitchdown Premium, our very excellent private discord, and how to get access to that episode.

https://nfbootmaker.com/

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

Goods & Services' Rory Fortune on Red Wing Collabs and When to Pull Back on Customization Mar 25, 2026

Show notes

This week on the Shoecast we’re bringing back Rory Fortune, founder of Los Angeles-based Goods & Services, which continues to be one of the most interesting footwear operations out there.

We had Rory on back in 2024, and with the Goods & Services business and product range expanding like crazy, it seemed high time to get a closer look at exactly how Rory and team convert sneakers to a resoleable welted construction—yes the video version of this episode is up on Youtube—and catch up on plenty more.

How is the role of the modern footwear designer misunderstood? What’s going on in a rapidly shifting sneaker culture? How’d a collaboration with Red Wing lead to rethinking the Postman shoe? When does a workshop founded on customization need to pull back on it—and does that hinder creativity? How do you find and train the people needed to grow that workshop? And why won’t Rory customize your Birkenstocks, right now?

https://shopgoodsandservices.com/

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