Best Stitchdown Podcasts (2026)

1
Franklin & Poe's Andrew Li on Where Retail's Going, Malls, and The Perfect White Tee 1:05:20

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21d ago1:05:20

1:05:20

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 exactl…

1
Thursday Boot Co.'s Nolan Walsh on Their Own León Factory, Last Obsessiveness, and The Comfort Question 1:27:05

27d ago1:27:05

1:27:05

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 A…

1
Shoebag w/ Ticho: The Best Shoemaking Teachers, Arch Support, and a LOT of Butter 1:21:13

1M ago1:21:13

1:21:13

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 suppo…

1
Red Wing Heritage President George Curleigh on Retail, Time Capsules, and The Red Wing Way 1:02:27

2M ago1:02:27

1:02:27

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…

1
How to Revive The Cobbling Industry? Teach it in High School—and it's Already Working. 1:17:29

2M ago1:17:29

1:17:29

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 th…

1
SERES Founder Vanessa Arroyo on León, Mexico's Remarkable Shoemaking Culture 1:19:42

2M ago1:19:42

1:19:42

My 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 girl in high school making her own clothes” and thrown into shoemaking almost by chance, Vanessa fell in love w…

1
Sprezza's Clayton Chambers on Timeless Loafers, Gorpy Boots, and Quality 47:30

3M ago47:30

47:30

This week on the Shoecast our 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 the Clark’s Wallabees he just can’t quit, Clayton digs in on footwear brands in and outside the welted …

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Ticho is BACK to Talk Østmo x Iron Boots' Lore—and Next Step 1:18:05

3M ago1:18:05

1:18:05

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 along with Cheng and Kai from Iron Boots, and Østmo boots mad genius maker Lars Jensen. Lars was actually ou…

1
Boot Camp 2025 Chicago: Exhibitors + Events Rundown 1:23:47

3M ago1:23:47

1:23:47

In part two of a tag-team with the Full Grain Podcast, the ever-handsome/charming Phil Kalas grills Ben on what to expect at Stitchdown's Boot Camp Chicago 2025 mega-expo and footwear-loving community epicenter this November. Japanese and Indonesian boot brands? Tanneries galore? Truly excellent women's footwear? The world's best care products? Red…

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BONUS PREVIEW: Brett Viberg Community Q&A at the Viberg NYC Shop 13:35

5M ago13:35

13:35

Last week we had our Stitchdown community's first gathering at the new Viberg NYC store—an honestly fabulous-looking little shop in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood that’s full of Viberg’s core classic product like stitchdown 2030 and 310 last service boots, but also the loafers and monk straps and split-toe derbies that represent a wholly new—and o…

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(FREE) BONUS: A Look Inside China with Motiv & Arch Support Project's Samuel Wei 52:22

5M ago52:22

52:22

FREE Shoecast Bonus Episode—we've got plenty more for Stitchdown Premium subsribers Jason Pecarich of Division Road and Motiv/Arch Support Project co-founder Samuel Wei came on to discuss ASP's legitimately unique approach to footwear, how Motiv broke through Division Road’s no-China policy, and how Chinese customers are finding themselves more dra…

1
How Japan's Astounding Bootmaking Culture Grew—And Where It's Going 31:39

5M ago31:39

31:39

It’s not a stretch to say there is no quality footwear culture quite like Japan’s. But WHY does the Japanese passion for making and wearing great boot and shoes exist? Well, I had to go to Tokyo to find out. As the final piece of our five-part Sole Searching: Tokyo YouTube series, I sat down with Michiya Suzuki—ex-Red Wing Japan GM and co-founder o…

1
How to Do YouTube Product Reviews Without Losing Your Soul, with The Iron Snail 1:28:44

6M ago1:28:44

1:28:44

The Iron Snail, aka Michael Kristy, is one of my favorite YouTube inhabitants, thanks to his legitimately unique approach to reviewing, historicizing, and manufacturing crazily high-quality footwear and clothing. I sat down with Michael to chat about his favorite historical nuggets from the footwear he's covered, how he manages to deliver accurate …

1
Developing Leather for Red Wing and More with SB Foot's Lacy Schumann 1:28:16

7M ago1:28:16

1:28:16

Since 1986, SB Foot Tanning Company is most known as the tannery owned by Red Wing, and with good reason: every bit of leather used on Red Wing Heritage footwear is developed and made by SB Foot just a few miles from Red Wing’s US manufacturing facility. But the tannery itself and its relationship with Red Wing stretch much further back—to the late…

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Women's Shoe Icon Stuart Weitzman on Nudists, Aretha Franklin & The First Shoe He Ever Sold 1:03:32

7M ago1:03:32

1:03:32

No conversation about the all-time great women's shoe designers is complete without a very long segue into Stuart Weitzman. Born into a shoemaking family who manufactured for decades in longtime US shoemaking hub Haverhill, Massachusetts, Weitzman quickly established himself as the rare shoemaker to both the stars AND literally any woman who just w…

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How to Become a Bootmaker, With Oldspeed MFG's Dave Corey and New River Boot's Dave Mills 1:52:52

7M ago1:52:52

1:52:52

I had an absolute gas with Dave Mills of New River Boot, and Dave Corey of Oldspeed Manufacturing on this one. After years of being two of my favorite people on the internet to talk about footwear with, I was lucky enough to spend time with both of them last October at our Stitchdown’s Boot Camp expo—and I guess I needed more. Both Daves have in so…

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Custom Cowboy Bootmaker Jake Houston on Preserving Knowledge, León Mexico, and Zebra Races 1:46:54

8M ago1:46:54

1:46:54

About a half hour from Reno, there’s a place called Virginia City Nevada, where everything feels like it’s 1859 and the US’s largest silver deposit was just discovered. The bars say saloon and look the part. The cemetery is definitely haunted. And of course there’s a custom hatmaker—who shares a space in one of Virgnia City’s oldest surviving build…

1
Seiji McCarthy is Making Some of the World's Greatest American Bespoke Shoes—In Japan 1:31:00

8M ago1:31:00

1:31:00

Tokyo-based, half-American/half-Japanese Seiji McCarthy discusses his uniquely late path into shoemaking, the development of his vintage-Americana-inspired bespoke line, why he feels more American in Japan, and why it’s sometimes better if your bespoke shoemaker doesn't make your shoes entirely themselves. https://www.seijimccarthy.com/ Support the…

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Is Turriff Functional Footwear Making the Best-Quality Barefoot Shoe on the Market? 1:38:29

8M ago1:38:29

1:38:29

This week we've got a chat with Andrew Turriff, a Canadian shoemaker who studied at Cordwainer’s Footwear Design program in London, worked for some big sneaker brands, and did pattern work for fellow Canadians Viberg and time in the orthopedic world before deciding to make a zero-drop, anatomical, barefoot shoe with of top-end materials—and also ma…

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How Tariffs Are Already Impacting the Footwear Industry, with FDRA CEO Matt Priest 46:58

9M ago46:58

46:58

Matt Priest, President and CEO of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, came on the Shoecast the morning after 104% tariffs on Chinese goods into the US hit in a rapidly-moving-target trade war with the United States and just about every other country. What ARE tariffs? How might tariffs and general uncertainty impact massive shoe bra…

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All the Shoes & Boots Derek Guy Loves—and a Few He Really Doesn't—From Bespoke to Workboots 1:29:31

11M ago1:29:31

1:29:31

Derek’s an OG forum junkie turned menswear writer for Put This On, mass publications like The New York Times, and his own always-excellent blog Die Workwear!. In the last few years, Derek has become, to many, Menswear Guy on Twitter, where his sharp cultural insights on style and complete lack of brevity break every rule of the platform in such a w…

1
What Opie Way's Justin James Lost in Hurricane Helene—and What He Found 1:17:56

11M ago1:17:56

1:17:56

In 2019, Justin James started Opie Way, a recraftable sneaker brand made right in Asheville North Carolina, USA, using incredibly high quality materials—something that basically didn’t exist previously. Then suddenly, Justin's factory and brand didn't exist. In 2024, Hurricane Helene brought six feet of rampaging water tore through the Opie Way fac…

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Skateboard Legend Jamie Thomas Goes Inside a 300° Oven To Explain How Skate Shoes are Made 1:12:45

11M ago1:12:45

1:12:45

Jamie Thomas is one of the most revered skateboarders of all time—and also a footwear designer and serial skate shoe brand founder. The release of his latest brand Warsaw seemed as good an excuse as any to have Jamie take me through the history of skate shoes and the sponsorships that arose around them, how and where they're made (and with what mat…

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How to Make Your Leather Footwear Last Literally (Possibly) Forever, With Pure Polish's Andy Vaughn 1:11:47

12M ago1:11:47

1:11:47

The idea that well-made, resoable footwear can last almost literally forever is one of its core allures—but it’s a promise that simply won’t come true if it’s not cared for properly. Especially the leather. But what’s the best way to do that? And for different types of leather? Well you’ll know a ton more after my fantastic chat with Andy Vaughn, o…

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Shoecast BONUS Episode Preview: Shop Talk With Brett Viberg & Shuyler Mowe of Nicks Boots 45:17

1y ago45:17

45:17

It's our first-ever BONUS Shoecast episode—in a brand new format called Shop Talk. The idea is simple: -1 moderator (Ben from Stitchdown) -2 guests—this time, Brett Viberg of Viberg Boot, and Shuyler Mowe of Nicks Boots. -3 questions apiece—which can be about absolutely anything, and the other guest MUST answer meaningfully. And boy did it end up b…

1
Holly Henry on the Cowboy Bootmaking Community's Sustaining Power (Also: Saddles) 1:05:48

1y ago1:05:48

1:05:48

I will tell anyone who dares listen that handmade bootmaking—and perhaps specifically, cowboy bootmaking—is the highest form of leatherwork as functional art. And then I started paying attention a bit more to saddlemaking and was like damn ok maybe they’re tied. Parker, Colorado-based custom bootmaker Holly Henry knows a ton about both. Holly grew …

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Aki Choklat on Building a Shoemaking College Program From Scratch 44:03

1y ago44:03

44:03

In the US, there are schools for everything—of course you can study business, or to become a doctor. But also if you want to be an electrician, or an airplane mechanic—someone can teach you that. And then you’ve got UConn, which has offered an apparently quite intense puppetmaking major, every year since 1964. So why not for shoemaking? Examples do…

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Vintage King Brian Davis of Wooden Sleepers on Why Everything We Buy Sucks These Days 1:28:58

1y ago1:28:58

1:28:58

Often, vintage clothing and footwear's defining quality IS quality. As in, its actual construction and materials, how well it was made, way back when. In most cases, it wouldn’t even be here today if it wasn’t. The footwear world we explore on this podcast is absolutely the exception, and a beautiful one, to the core rule of the 21st century: most …

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Brett Viberg is Back on the Shoecast, and He's Bringing Loafers 1:27:37

1y ago1:27:37

1:27:37

15 years ago Viberg was pretty firmly Canada’s most hardcore logging and industrial boot company. Since Brett Viberg took over the reins of the nearly 100-year-old brand from his father Glen, Viberg has in many ways completely changed the high-end, recraftable boot market—most notably with its Service Boot, which became a legitimate game-shifting i…

1
Brian The Bootmaker May Actually Be Mister Rogers 1:20:40

1+ y ago1:20:40

1:20:40

To be honest I didn’t think I’d ever get Brian the Bootmaker on this show—he doesn’t do many interviews at all, and for whatever reason I was, quite frankly, kind of afraid to ask him. Which in hindsight is insane because he’s about as sweet and genuine and fantastic to talk to as people come. Working out of the central Los Angeles workshop he firs…

1
Molly Monahan, The Motorcycle Mechanic Turned Garlic Farmer Turned Small-Town Cobbler 51:15

1+ y ago51:15

51:15

When you grow up in a shoe repair shop directly next door to your actual house, it's hard to not catch the cobbling bug. But oh did Molly Monahan try to resist. After learning how to repair motorcycles and doing some farming for a bit, Molly one day told her mother "we're opening the shop back up!" and immediately put mom back to work making leathe…

1
Jess Wootten on Making Boots in an Australian Gold Rush Town, and Blake Rapid Misconceptions 51:41

1+ y ago51:41

51:41

This episode's chat is with Jess Wootten of…Wootten! The Ballarat, Australia boots and shoes and leathergoods maker that is doing some very interesting work. We covered how Jess somewhat tripped into a family tradition of bootmaking, ran down what Wootten's making in Ballarat and how, some common misconceptions about the Blake/Rapid (aka McKay welt…

1
Caswell's Kevin Wilson on How to Start a One-Man Boot Brand—and Bringing Back US Manufacturing 58:35

1+ y ago58:35

58:35

“The only way I learned was making many mistakes and losing a shit ton of money in the process” is how Kevin Wilson neatly sums up the never-simple process of getting Caswell Boot Company off the ground. In the past five years since saying "I'm going to start a boot company!", Kevin's stared down a failed Kickstarter attempt, his original US-based …

1
Shoebag!!! Best Boots to Travel With, Shoe Books, Wood Soles, and P'Zones 1:16:03

1+ y ago1:16:03

1:16:03

Ben and Ticho once again dip into the Shoebag to answer listener questions—and tap in some special experts along the way—including: how to size boots to match orthotic inserts? What are some of the best brands for Women’s GYW shoes? Our thoughts on revolutionary new sole materials? Initial footwear “hard pass” that you eventually learned to love? H…

1
Flora Knight on Guthrie, Oklahoma's Cowboy Bootmaking Lineage and That Time She Tried to Tan Her Own Leather 1:02:52

1+ y ago1:02:52

1:02:52

She was born in Canada and grew up in New Zealand, but few people could possibly seem more at home making bespoke cowboy boots in Guthrie, Oklahoma than Flora Knight. Learning the craft from two of the historic western city's best teachers imaginable—bootmaking legends Lisa Sorrell and Ray Dorwart—certainly didn't hurt things. Neither did her other…

1
Tokyo Boot Scene—Japan's Incredible Footwear City 1:29:24

1+ y ago1:29:24

1:29:24

Phil Kalas of the Full Grain Podcast takes over the Shoecast this week to interview Ben about his recent trip to boots-and-shoes mecca Tokyo—expect a deep-dive into city's astounding footwear scene, why and how it exists, plus a preview of five upcoming feature videos that'll be coming out before too long. Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episo…

1
Behind The Scenes of Footwear Development With White's Boots President Eric Kinney & Jason from Division Road 52:39

1+ y ago52:39

52:39

In long-overdue returns to the Shoecast, White’s Boots President Eric Kinney and Division Road’s Jason Pecarich sat down to pull back the curtain on what it’s really like to develop new footwear products, getting into every twist and turn on past collaborative makeups as well as some forthcoming never-before-seen construction + style combos. We als…

1
Custom Shoemaker Amara Hark-Weber on Why She Makes a Different Pair Every Single Time 1:07:43

1+ y ago1:07:43

1:07:43

Amara Hark-Weber surely must be one of the most delightful people in this world—which anyone could likely tell just from looking at the remarkably unique and creative boots and shoes the Twin Cities, Minnesota-based custom maker creates. This episode, Amara fought through a cold to discuss why she makes EVERY pair different from the previous, the i…

1
Chisos Founder Will Roman on How Cowboy Boots Will Save Us All 45:26

1+ y ago45:26

45:26

For the closeout episode of Shoecast season 11, Ben sits down with Will Roman, founder of Chisos Boots, a young and growing brand out of Austin, Texas that offers one of the best values in a legitimately well made, well designed cowboy boot. They cover how Chisos in some ways started with a lemonade stand, how Will ended up in León Mexico and fell …

1
Exploring What "Handmade" Truly Means With Leatherworker and Bootmaker Bob Henderson 1:09:20

1+ y ago1:09:20

1:09:20

For the penultimate episode of the 11th season of the Stitchdown Shoecast, I’m quite excited indeed to be chatting with the just ridiculously talented man they call Bob Henderson. Bob is the operations manager at Popov Leather, the bustling leathergoods workshop over yonder in British Columbia, Canada—and over the last few years has been sucked up …

1
Fritz Sr. and Jr. of Seidel Tanning on the Art, Science, and Challenges of Making Leather 1:03:46

1+ y ago1:03:46

1:03:46

This time Ben sits down with two, count ‘em TWO Fritz Seidels: Fritz Jr. and Fritz Sr., who every day are continuing on the tradition of the four-generation, 79-year-old Siedel Tanning Corp in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In addition to getting the lowdown on some longtime Seidel favorite leathers and overlooked gems, we get into Seidel’s history and flui…

1
Shoe Care Essentials, How Many Boots is Too Many, Brands We Want Back...It's The Shoebag!! 1:24:38

2y ago1:24:38

1:24:38

Before he bolts for a very important trip to the bread store, Ticho is back in the leather-smelly homestead for perhaps our most comprehensive Shoebag episode ever, in which we discuss what shoe care products are essential and which you don't really need, brands we'd love to see restored to their former glory, what to wear with Red Wings (vague hin…

1
Bespoke Shoemaker Sebastian Tarek on West-End Outwork and Judging the World's Greatest Shoemaking Competition 56:52

2y ago56:52

56:52

When London (by way of Australia) bespoke shoemaker Sebastian Tarek began making shoes in high school, his grandmother let him in on a little secret: he had been preceded in his journey by 18 generations of family cordwainers. After years of schooling—including at the famed Cordwainers College in Hackney, London—he eventually ended up settling into…

1
Actor Adam Goldberg on His Lifelong Quest to Remake James Dean's Boots 1:12:56

2y ago1:12:56

1:12:56

Adam Goldberg has quite legitimately always been one of my favorite actors—and from Dazed & Confused, to the Fargo TV show, to A Beautiful Mind, he has always been EXCELLENTLY attired, right down to his boots. But he doesn't just play a person who cares about boots on TV and in movies! Adam is a very real-deal obsessive who's neck deep in Clinch, Z…

1
Tony & Tobias of Wyatt & Dad Cobblers on Building a Shoe Repair Mini-Empire 1:03:26

2y ago1:03:26

1:03:26

Back in 1989, Tony Wyatt and his brother Lance launched Wyatt & Dad Cobbler Company (and even trained their retired-preacher dad to do shoe repair work, so no it's not just a clever name). Thirty five years later, the operation has seen endless swings in the cobbling industry, weathering them as well as any operation out there. The goal was always …

1
Goods & Services' Rory Fortune on Handwelting Sneakers, and the Shell Cordovan BIRKENCHONKS 54:10

2y ago54:10

54:10

The sneaker and welted footwear worlds are (very slowly) colliding, and Rory Fortune is smack in the middle of the two In 2019, Rory and his wife Lauren set up shop in LA's design district to open Goods & Services, a half cobbler shop / half sneaker customization pacesetter. Custom resoles—often accomplished via the tricky process of converting cem…

1
The (Mostly) Complete History of Boots with Bata Shoe Museum Director Elizabeth Semmelhack 1:25:09

2y ago1:25:09

1:25:09

In one of our favorite—and certainly the most sprawling—Shoecast episodes to date, Ben chats with Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada. Which I believe is safe to say—thanks to more than 15,000 shoes, boots, and related artifacts covering 4,500 years of human history—is the world’s preeminent dedicat…

1
Sagara's Bagus Satrio on the Indonesian Bootmaking Explosion 46:45

2y ago46:45

46:45

Sagara head man Bagus Satrio is one of my favorite people in the whole bootmaking game. I absolutely love the work he and his team do—his Cordmasters need to be at or near the top of ANYONE’S best monkey boots ranking—and he’s just a hugely interesting and wonderful man. Sagara’s almost 15 years deep doing exceptional work, and about a half decade …

1
Ken Diamond on the Rare Satisfaction of Making Boots by Hand 50:26

2y ago50:26

50:26

Back in the 2010s, Ken Diamond had a booming moccasin business in Vancouver—celebrities wore his shoes, which also secured a hallowed spot on the shelves of Istetan, the Tokyo department store that's home to likely the world's great shoe selection. But at the brand's peak, a bit burned out and seeking something fresh, Ken bailed on it all. Today, 1…

1
Curtis From Alden Madison on How to Size Into Any Last, and That One Time He Saw Harrison Ford 1:16:07

2y ago1:16:07

1:16:07

Alden Madison is one of the essential New York City shoe stores, stocking and selling more Alden shoes and boots than likely anywhere else in the world. This week, Ben and Ticho sit down with shop co-owner Curtis Bosch to talk about how he got sucked in by the good-shoe tractor beam in the first place, how their makeup program has taken off in wild…