Shoegazing Podcast

For episode 30 I sat down with Ben Robinson of Stitchdown. As you likely know, Shoegazing's focus on the site, podcast, events etc is on classic dress shoes, well Stitchdown is sort of the equivalent within the world of workwear boots, or heritage boots, or whatever you want to call it. In short, Ben knows a whole lot about boots and rugged footwear. So, apart from learning how Ben ended up in the shoe world and the journey with Stitchdown, we talked about the incredible boom that workwear boots has seen in recent years, the reason behind it and where it's going, we talked about why good quality footwear of all kinds will and need to continue to be popular, and much more.

For this episode, number 29, I visited the well-renowned shoe store Leffot in New York and talked to the founder and owner Steven Taffel. When the world entered the digital era, Leffot was one of the first influential multi-brand stores specialising in classic, mainly welted, men's shoes, and it has had a big impact both on its customer base and on other stores around the world that have been inspired by it. With Steven's long background in the business we went deep on the classic shoe industry in the US and how it has evolved and look to evolve going forward, but we also of course talked about his own journey.

In this episode, aim is to connect historic shoemaking with the present, and we do this together with William Efe Laborde. An independent bespoke shoemaker based in London, who has a huge interest in old shoes, tools and leathers which he both brings in to his own shoemaking, and as a side business he also refurbish and sell old vintage tools. Given that classic shoes in general use old traditional construction methods, of course a lot is similar in how shoes are made now compared to 100 years ago or so. But also a lot has changed. We talk about what was better back then than now, and also the other way around. Learn which area of shoemaking that William Efe Laborde thinks is at an all time high now in present time, why the best tools were made before World War II, and much more.

This is the second Q&A Special with Daniel Wegan, the first one was really popular, so we thought we'd do another round. For those who don't know, Daniel Wegan is a Swede who since many years live in the UK in Kettering, Northampton. He used to work for the bespoke department of Gaziano & Girling, but a few years ago he left to start his own brand Catella. Worth mentioning as well is that he won the World Championships of Shoemaking in 2019. We go through a bunch of topics in this episode, for example we talk about the differences between working at a bigger firm and running his own brand, about the challenges to find good leather, about the use of modern technology in shoemaking, what bespoke shoemakers need to do to continue to be relevant, and much more.

In this episode we are putting the spotlight on an integral part of the shoe industry, that aren't that known to the wider audience since it doesn't deal with the regular consumer: the leather wholesalers. One of the leading such for the shoe industry in the UK is Euroleathers, where Rob James is a Director. Earlier this spring I visited him and the family business in Northamptonshire, had a tour of the warehouse, and sat down with Rob to talk about the company, about wholesalers part in the shoemaking sector, about leather quality, about what types of leathers that are quickly on the rise, and much more.