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The Most Important Shoe & Boot Happenings of 2020

2020: Interesting year! I feel like a few things happened. And despite all those, um, things, plenty also happened in the quality footwear world. Far more than I certainly could’ve anticipated given the circumstances. So Ticho and I ran them down ... Read More...

Viberg Service Boot Shinki Color 4 Oiled Horsebutt

Viberg’s First Drop of 2021 Features Some Very Serious Service Boots

Viberg's an ever-changing beast—which is exactly what Brett and I talked about on the most recent Shoecast episode. And while the Canadian super-brand's first release of 2021 flashes signs of what's may be to come later in the year and beyond—includi... Read More...

Brett Viberg on Where Viberg is Headed as a Brand, the New Widths, and the Worst Boot He Ever Made

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 ... Read More...

Alden’s Brett Klein on Fading Shell Cordovan, Creating Masterful Makeups, and His All-Time Favorite Boot

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 u... Read More...

Benzein x Stitchdown Rare Wine Reverse Chamois Chelsea Boot

How to Get the Benzein x Stitchdown Rare Wine Chamois Chelsea Boot

So I'll freely admit it: I've been trying, in fits and starts, to become a Chelsea Boot Guy—and for all the effort, it simply hasn't taken throughout my shoe journey. Until now. Benzein is one of the top Indonesian bootmakers, and considered by ma... Read More...

How Ticho’s and My Shoe Journeys Got Us Where We Are Today

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 similariti... Read More...

How to Find the Best Possible Shoe & Boot Values

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 th... Read More...

Mark (Albert) Barbera on How to Start a Boot Company, and the Future of US-Made Footwear

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. Fa... Read More...

Is Shell Cordovan Overrated or What??

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 t... Read More...

Black Friday Shoe & Boot Sales: All the Best From 2020

Black Friday: what a wonderful day month. And Stitchdown is here once again to ensure you can maximize all that extra Black Fridayness by cataloging the best shoe & boot sales from all over—and also, for the first time, some clothes and such, bec... Read More...