Stitchdown - Wear Better Shoes

SERES Founder Vanessa Arroyo on León, Mexico’s Remarkable Shoemaking Culture

My Shoecast chat this week is with Vanessa Arroyo, founder and designer of SERES Footwear, a focused line designed from the ground up with high-quality natural materials in a way that’s not often seen in the women’s space Once known as “the weird ... Read More...

Sprezza’s Clayton Chambers on Timeless Loafers, Gorpy Boots, and Quality

This week on the Shoecast my chat is with Clayton Chambers, founder of the Substack newsletter Sprezza and general menswear individual about the world. After running through the footwear signposts in his own life, from churchboy penny loafers to t... Read More...

Everything You Need To Know About How Leather is Tanned

Three years ago Phil Kalas, former Horween Leather employee and current owner of Ashland Leather, sat down with Ben on the Shoecast to tell us (almost) literally everything we needed to know about leather. Since then, we've found ourselves referri... Read More...

Ticho is BACK on the Shoecast to Talk Østmo x Iron Boots’ Lore—and Next Step

The one and only Tichoblanco, aka Tichoblancoshoes, aka just plain old Ticho, is BACK. Where’s he been? Well he’ll tell ya all about that. What’s he been up to? The biggest answer to that is: happily grinding on his Østmo x Iron Boots project alon... Read More...

Shoes ‘n’ Boots of the Week: Red Wing’s Time Capsule, White’s Chelseas, New Grant Stone Chukkas

Despite their recent excavation (check it out, it's wonderful), Red Wing are far from the first people to bury their boots. They're in the company of english mine workers, some extremely tall Romans, and the venerable iceman himself, among others. Mo... Read More...

Shoecast: Boot Camp 2025 Chicago Preview

In part two of a tag-team with the Full Grain Podcast (here's part 1), the ever-handsome/charming Phil Kalas of Ashland Leather grills Ben on what to expect at Stitchdown's Boot Camp Chicago 2025 mega-expo and footwear-loving community epicenter this... Read More...

Shoes ‘n’ Boots of the Week: Division Road x White’s Oxfords, Real McCoy’s Engineers, Viberg Drop 2

We're not quite breaking 20 boots/shoes deep this week, but we're close enough that you'll forgive us when you see what's actually in here. Thins are definitely heavy on staples this time: we've got chunky White's oxfords and a take on the Packer, co... Read More...

Alden x Brogue Jumper Boot Shell Cordovan

Shoes ‘n’ Boots of the Week: Red Wing Loggers, Shell Engineers, Bison Bliskavkas

The 2025 Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome is already fast approaching, and the best Dome boots this year... might just be the boots you already have? Amidst more than $50,000 in prizes, we have two new Thunerdome categories complete with their own li... Read More...

Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome—Nicks Builder Pro MTO Horween Tan Waxed Flesh

2025-26 Patina Thunderdome: New Categories, An Insane Prize List—and Registration Is Open!

The 2025-26 Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome presented by Grant Stone, Nicks Boots, and Standard & Strange starts in just 15 days! And you can pre-register in the Patina Project app today. Here's everything you need to know about the FIFTH edi... Read More...

Freenote Cloth x White's Boots Cutter in Burgundy Double Shot

Shoes ‘n’ Boots of the Week: Freenote x White’s, Attractions Engineers, Oldspeed GMTO

This week we've a new collab from White's and Freenote on the elusive Swing last, experimental attractions engineers at Standard & Strange, and what might just be Oldspeed's best GMTO yet. All that and more below. The archive of previous rou... Read More...