The Stitchdown Shoecast

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

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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/

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/

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/

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/

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/