Stitchdown Shoecast

DEEP Behind the Patina Thunderdome Scenes With All the 2022-23 Judges

The six months of beautiful boot-aging mayhem known as the 2022-23 Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome is OVER! The esteemed judges have selected their 50 winners in... Read More...

Nicks’ CEO Shuyler Mowe on Explosive Growth, Developing New Leathers, and Spokane’s Uniquely Competitive Bootmaking Scene

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... Read More...

Taft’s Kory Stevens on How to Accidentally Start a Hugely Successful Shoe Brand

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 ev... Read More...

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Cobbler Lorena Agolli on Apprenticing Under a Bespoke Master, Her Red Wing Habit, and the Nice Way to Tell Customers Their Shoes Suck

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... Read More...

Grant Stone’s Wyatt Gilmore on GYW Shoe Addiction, Japanese Old Man Style, and NOT Grant Stone

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 e... Read More...

White’s Boots’ Eric Kinney on Bootmaker Shortages, the First MP, Stitchdown vs Handwelt, and More

When Eric Kinney took over as president of Spokane, Washington 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... Read More...

Red Wing’s Mike Larson on How the Heritage Line Was Developed, 100+ Year Old Shoemaking Machines, and More

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 He... Read More...

Talking to Rose Anvil (About More Than JUST Alden Indy Boots)

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 cutting all sorts of othe... Read More...

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The Shoe & Boot World’s 2022 In Review—and Some Predictions for What’s Coming in 2023

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 sustainabl... Read More...

Almost Vintage Style vs Tichoblanco: The Stitchdown Bootbate

It’s Ticho vs. Almost Vintage Jake in The Stitchdown Bootbate 2: Electric Boot-Galoo

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... Read More...