Canvas sneakers are a way of life. An attitude. For me, they are a refuge from the heat and stress of a summertime city. The classic Jack Purcell are available these days in many variations, two of which are acknowledged by ACL as acceptable: white and navy blue canvas with laces. The classics, pure and simple. I don’t need the slip-on laceless variety. I don’t need crazy colors. I don’t need work boot laces. Less is truly more.

This past week saw us on an adventure in Maine with a brand new pair of Jack Purcells on hand for all of the Gosling’s soaked excitement — It was high tide for summertime. Being near the sea and doing the things you did as a child make you appreciate when things don’t change. It’s amazing when a pair of canvas sneakers can do the exact same thing and take you back. Like I said, they are a way of life…

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News of Maine-made handsewns is hard to ignore. That’s what I realized when the guys at Oak Street Bootmakers told me about the launch of five new designs (above: Peanut Suede Vibram Sole Trail Oxford: $302.), the largest single update in OSB’s short history. Included in this offerings (which you get to see here first) are two new crepe sole styles made from all that good Horween leather that you know and love.

More info on the new releases from Oak Street Bootmakers founder/designer George Vlagos:

We used a honey crepe on the two crepe styles. Almost all crepe, even from US shoe manufacturers comes from overseas. We found a small company in the US (interestingly, whose focus is not shoe soling), and they make these soles for us. Our crepe as you can see from the photos is beefy, but not as chunky as what others are using. These honey crepe soled shoes are by far the most comfortable shoes we have ever made. The crepe literally has bounce to it.

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Whoever the person is who dreamed up the idea to attach Nike’s Lunar outsole to a Cole Haan shoe needs a promotion. First came the LunarGrand brogues and more recently the chukka varietal was released, which I think could be the perfect shoes for summer.

The LunarGrand chukkas are an ingenious hybrid between being dressed up and comfortable at the same time. To test this theory I wore them to a dinner I had at the 21 Club, one of the few places in the city that still has a dress code, and all went off without a hitch.

Have to give Cole Haan props for the innovation with Nike on the LunarGrand footwear. The bar has definitely been raised. I’m intrigued to see what else is to come.

Available for $298 at the Cole Haan SoHo shop — 128 Prince Street.

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It’s amazing how you feel once you take the leap from “commodity shoes” that are basically made from plastic which is designed to look like leather (at least that’s what it seems like), to the real stuff that Rancourt & Co. makes from Horween leathers. My affinity for Rancourt started last year with a pair of ranger mocs that quickly became my go-to shoe. After buying those shoes I was hooked. Over the past year I have also come to know Mike and Kyle Rancourt personally and even spent some time up at their factory in Maine witnessing first hand how they do business.

Wearing the shoes, knowing the people and seeing the process all leads me to confirm that Rancourt makes one of the best, if not the best handsewn shoes in the world. It’s a bold statement, but one I genuinely believe to be true. It was with this appreciation that, a few weeks ago, I ordered some new Rancourt shoes — a pair of ranger mocs with Vibram cristy soles and a Horween shell cordovan (#8) beefroll penny loafer. As you can see from these pictures, they turned out as perfect as expected.

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Back in April, the people at New Balance gave me an opportunity to test out the company’s new custom 574 program. I’ve done custom shoes from other makers previously, but never anything that was made in America, and never anything processed so quickly (about a week total). I loved how those 574s turned out, in fact I liked the customized program so much I couldn’t wait for the service to include the 993s, my sneaker of choice. Well, that time has now come, 993 lovers can rejoice and order their very own special pair — made right in Maine.

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Watching people hand sew shoes almost always seems to mesmerize me. To say shoes are “handsewn” doesn’t often elicit much of a response from people, but when you actually see the process of making these shoes one stitch at a time, handsewn shoes earn a whole different level of appreciation. If you attended one of the last few Pop Up Fleas you may have met Oak Street Bootmakers founder George Vlagos, who was on hand fitting people for shoes and answering questions about his handsome collection of shoes. Over the past several years the brand has garnered a lot of attention online, but for many the Pop Up Flea was the first time actually seeing the Oak Street shoes in person.

With the making of this video, Oak Street goes where many have gone before (into the factory), to better explain what goes into making its shoes. It is really the first look behind the scenes of a company that has developed a pretty remarkable following.  While this sort of approach is certainly nothing new (from either an ACL coverage or brand marketing perspective), it is still something I want to see. All brands that are making products in a traditional way, making shoes in a place that is cost prohibitive (read: onshore), should be telling this story. Frankly, it all wouldn’t really matter at all if Oak Street didn’t make such good looking boots. But they do, so just happily accept it as a win-win.

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My love of Red Wing began early one Saturday morning when I was thirteen years old. My father came into my room and woke me up and drove me to the Red Wing store in my hometown on the East Side of Cleveland to get my first pair of work boots. The excitement of the gift of work boots from my dad quickly faded when I realized that I was then being conscripted into weekends and summers of manual labor. What I leaned about working for my dad was sort of surprising to me; I loved working outside and I loved manual labor. When the job was done, you are done. And each day held huge feelings of accomplishment. It was through this experience that my life long appreciation and connection to the Red Wing Shoe Company was forged.

A great part of buying a Goodyear-welted boot was the fact that I could have them re-soled, and even have it done multiple times. When you are doing physical work on your feet all day, it doesn’t take you long to realize that breaking in new boots adds a seriously unwanted wrinkle into earning a paycheck. My solution was to own two pairs of Red Wings. When the soles on one pair would wear out, I would send them in to be re-soled and would wear the back up pair while they were away. So if a pair was at the factory being re-crafted, the other pair would be comfortably on my feet. For me, breaking in new boots on the job was a thing of the past.

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