The Stitchdown Shoecast

Stitchdown
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  • FASHION & BEAUTY
  • EVERY TWO WEEKS

Exploring the wonderful world of quality footwear, how it’s made, and all the things we love about it. Check out Stitchdown.com for shoe and boot reviews, interviews with industry titans, profiles, release info, and more.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Why Making Things By Hand Has Never Been More Important, w/ Cowboy Bootmaker Emily Boksenbaum

    When I met Emily Boksenbaum at our Maker’s Day 2025 conference in Chicago, I knew I had to get her on the Shoecast. Emily’s always made stuff. First it was art growing up, which led to a focus on fiber material studies in art school. Next came leather tooling, prop-making and other “creative odd jobs,” before going into corporate footwear design. That didn’t quite hit for her, which meant it was finally time to figure out how to make some cowboy boots. After training under some of the great makers and teachers in the space, she moved to Boulder, Colorado to open a custom boot shop dubbed Underhill Leather out of her garage, which she shares with one of our favorite former Shoecast guests, fellow cowboy bootmaker Holly Henry. This one goes ALL sorts of places, as Emily gets deep into navigating different materials, machinery, and mindsets; the emotional and dare we say metaphysical layers of creation; that time she woke up to flood of DMs from eager customers thanks to a bass guitarist who loved her boots; and what it means to be a maker in a world that’s forgotten how to make things. Oh and Zagnuts! Of course we got into Zagnuts. Here’s Emily Boksenbaum, on the Shoecast 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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 29m

  2. 18 FEB

    Why It’s Harder Than Ever to Start a Shoe Brand, w/ the Shoe Snob Justin FitzPatrick

    Justin FitzPatrick aka the Shoe Snob on fiery times in the comments section, what a dress shoe customer even looks like in 2026, button boots (obviously), and why it’s never been harder to start a shoe brand than right now.  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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 30m

  3. 10 FEB

    Skip Horween & Nicks Boots' Shuyler Mowe—Live from Boot Camp Chicago 2025

    In November 2025, we did a thing. Stitchdown’s Boot Camp 2025 Chicago was a quality footwear mega-expo, a materials trade show, a crossroads of the industry we love, and one big ol’ multi-day party with my favorite community in the world.  As part of that weekend in Chicago, I sat down with Shuyler Mowe of Nicks Boots and the one and only Skip Horween for a live Shoecast taping at the excellent Hoste distillery.  Skip and Shuyler are both multi-generational leaders in their spaces, and getting them to open up about how they work together to develop products, challenges the overlapping industries are facing, and some fun stories from the tannery was about as enjoyable as way to spend a night as I could imagine. So here’s our chat, with some attendees questions as the end.  Also! We’re coming back to Chicago in 2026! Mark your calendar for November 6th and 7th for Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the same event but EVEN BETTER with a slight rebrand thrown in—at Artifact Events. Can’t wait to see you there.  Here’s Skip and Shuyler, on the Shoecast.  https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    53 min

  4. 16/12/2025

    Franklin & Poe's Andrew Li on Where Retail's Going, Malls, and The Perfect White Tee

    My chat this week is with Andrew Li of Philadelphia’s Franklin & Poe, one of the best shops in the US for serious quality footwear, denim, and more.  I got to know Andrew over the last few years the old fashioned way—seeing him in person, sitting down, and chatting entirely too deeply about some boots and shoes and denim. Which is pretty much exactly what Andrew and team have done every day since 2016 with customers in Philly’s Fishtown neighborhood, both at their original location and the new shop they had opened only days before we taped this episode.  On the episode, Andrew and I chatted about that dedication not just to customer service but also creating a place for enthusiasts to find a real community, how to build out a top notch footwear brand list, the quest for a perfect white t-shirt, where brick & mortar retail is going and how it might thrive again, and his three pairs he’d keep forever if it came down to it. Oh and malls. We talk a lot about malls. Also sandwiches. Philly does good sandwiches. https://franklinandpoe.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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 5m

  5. 10/12/2025

    Thursday Boot Co.'s Nolan Walsh on Their Own León Factory, Last Obsessiveness, and The Comfort Question

    The joke has always been that Thursday Boot Company’s Connor Wilson keeps his co-founder Nolan Walsh trapped in a factory working on the product. Turns out that joke actually true—except Nolan is the one very eagerly choosing to imprison himself.  That certainly hasn’t lessened since Thursday opened its own in-house manufacturing facility in North American bootmaking capital Leon Mexico—just 11 years after Thursday launched a Kickstarter campaign to try and sell a few boots. Pretty wild stuff. Nolan and I pretty much cover everything in this one—the full version of the Thursday origin story that had more twists and turns than I expected, how they develop product and manage production in factories on multiple continents around the idea of supply chain centricity, Nolan’s quality control mania, their online marketing you may or may not have seen, and how in the world, after more than a decade in business, their core product is still only $199.  And yes, of course, The Poron Question. Obviously we did that.  https://thursdayboots.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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 27m

  6. 25/11/2025

    Shoebag w/ Ticho: The Best Shoemaking Teachers, Arch Support, and a LOT of Butter

    If you came to this podcast about shoes and boots and leather hoping that you’d get to listen to extended conversations about imported cultured butter, you’ve made a fantastic call.  Because this, dear listeners, is the Shoebag, in which myself and the legend they know as Tichoblanco answer listener questions about roughout Chelsea boots, arch support in surprising lasts, who we want to teach us to make boots…and imported cultured butter.  And burritos. And bagels! And diners. And waffles, which were totally unrelated to the diner conversation. And, New Jersey Costco gas station Rod Stewart. It’ll all make sense, I promise.  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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 21m

  7. 06/11/2025

    Red Wing Heritage President George Curleigh on Retail, Time Capsules, and The Red Wing Way

    George Curleigh has been president of Red Wing’s heritage division since 2019, in which time he’s been able to enjoy a list of very fun things including a worldwide pandemic, a factory shut-down, a cyber-attack, a periodically dwindling labor force, a broken supply chain for US-made components, and his OWN CHILDREN stealing his boots.  So what’s the general feeling in Red Wing, Minnesota, according to George? Actually pretty fantastic. Retail expansion is going hugely well, especially in Asia. The European and North American markets are showing a ton of strength. A new factory recently came online. And after a massive contraction, a flurry of new styles are being released, and old classics everyone wants revived.  We get into all of that, plus why Red Wing buried a time capsule full of boots and manufacturing instructions to be dug up in 120 years, how that endeavor led to realizing Red Wing founder Charles Beckman survived a deadly shipwreck off Nova Scotia back in the 1900s, what it was like coming to old-school-as-it-comes Red Wing from Arc'teryx, one off the world’s most technologically driven apparel companies, how to get people loving working in a boot factory, and why that aforementioned time when his son swiped his 875s was actually a hugely meaningful moment, in the best way.  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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 2m

  8. 30/10/2025

    How to Revive The Cobbling Industry? Teach it in High School—and it's Already Working.

    This past fall, Matt Paisley launched a shoe repair program at Colorado's Thunder Ridge high school, with nearly two dozen students taking the plunge and immediately being drawn into the program, skill development, and practical hands-on cobbling work.  I had Matt lay out a blueprint for how he navigated making the shoe repair program happen, and the curriculum he’s been teaching in the first, legitimately monumental go-round.  The fact that Matt’s program exists is a wonderful and inspiring story on its own—as is all the remarkable help that’s been offered by the repair and quality footwear community. But potential for Matt’s idea and approach to spread to other schools is what makes this, in my humble estimation, one of the most important episodes we’ve ever published.  Here’s Matt Paisley, the guy who lit the spark that just might fix a broken shoe repair pipeline, on the Shoecast.  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 membership https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/ A website. We have one. https://www.stitchdown.com/ 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. https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

    1h 17m
See All (143)

About

Exploring the wonderful world of quality footwear, how it’s made, and all the things we love about it. Check out Stitchdown.com for shoe and boot reviews, interviews with industry titans, profiles, release info, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Stitchdown
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    143
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Stitchdown Shoecast
  • Show Website
    The Stitchdown Shoecast

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