The Stitchdown Shoecast

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 thingJoin the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of courseTheme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera This episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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 courseTheme Song: The Road by Punk Rock OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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 courseTheme song: The Road by Punk Rock OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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, periodJoin the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of courseTheme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera This episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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, periodJoin the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of courseTheme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera This episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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, periodJoin the Stitchdown Discord today, unless you hate boots of courseTheme Song: The Road by Punk Rock OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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 OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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 OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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 courseTheme song: The Road by Punk Rock OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/

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 OperaThis episode was sponsored by Coblr—the business management system powering the repair industry. https://www.coblros.com/ Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membershiphttps://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/Check out our site!https://www.stitchdown.com/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/