Three generations of the Rancourt family have been making shoes in Maine since the mid-1960s. Over the years the company has made shoes for a variety of big American shoe companies, passing the hand-sewing skills down from generation to generation. Recently the company has moved into a new facility in Lewiston, Maine where, in addition to making shoes for a host of well respected brands, the Rancourts recently begun to more widely offer the shoes it makes under its own label, Rancourt & Co. To this end Rancourt just launched it’s own online shop where you can purchase the company’s fine handsewn shoes — everything from Horween shell cordovan beefroll penny loafers to traditional moccasin style leather shoes — direct from the makers in Maine.

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Ten years ago, at age 30, Shinya Hasegawa moved to New York City to attend design school and learn how to make clothing. Growing up in Tokyo he was always had a fascination with clothing, often spending hours scouring for the best vintage and seeking out the best outdoor and workwear goods from America. After earning his degree in New York, Shinya went to work for the vintage dealer What Comes Around Goes Around and then later spent four years working with Daiki Suzuki at Woolrich Woolen Mills.

During his time in Tokyo and New York, Shinya’s love of clothing paralleled his love of surfing and the outdoors. This is where the inspiration for Batten Sportswear — a new line of mens outerwear, sportswear and accessories that is launching for spring / summer 2012 — was born. Seeing the collection with Shinya in his showroom, it was clear from the outset what the concept of the collection was. Batten mixes a weekend adventure in Yosemite with a subway trip to The Rockaways, all encircled by everyday life in the city.

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The folks at Urban Outfitters in Philly landed another mini-exclusive by scoring a few dozen of the Filson Japan red label goods, available in the U.S. for the first time. These made in the USA canvas and leather bags are being offered in two styles — tote ($150) and zippered tote ($175) — and three special colors (red, white and blue — naturally) and have a nice red Filson label on the exterior. With the khaki Filson bags being so ubiquitous, these are a nice alternative. If you can get your hands on one that is.

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At a certain point in your life you accept the fact that you need a tailor—a real tailor, who makes a suit specifically for you. It’s going to cost more than $3000, and you respect (perhaps grudgingly) the fact that that quite serious amount of money is going to a craftsman who’s learned his trade over decades; it’s going to buy cloth woven in the finest mills; it’s going to a cutter who’s refined his pattern to create a refined silhouette. Your money is not going to underwrite a luxury goods behemoth, it’s not going to anybody who appears in his own ads—it’s not going to anybody who has ads. You seek a local tailor.

That equation is simple, but difficult to achieve. That’s why New Yorkers are lucky to have Miller’s Oath in our fair city. Kirk Miller, formerly of Paul Stuart and Thom Browne, ran Barker Black with his brother, Derrick. Over the years he’s met suppliers, tailors, and methodically plotted his own venture. He opened Miller’s Oath, late last year in a handsome narrow storefront on Greenwich Street—around the corner from the beloved Ear Inn. And the results couldn’t be better.

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Yesterday the folks at New Balance launched the company’s new custom 574 program which allows you to take to the internet and create your own specially designed sneakers. Last week we tested out the system at the launch event here in New York and it worked like a snap. In fact it shockingly only took five days for the special 574s (which were sent compliments of New Balance) to show up straight from the New Balance plant in Norridgewock, Maine. In anticipation of the launch of the custom 574 program, New Balance even dispatched a guy named Jake Davis and some other guy named Sean Sullivan to Maine to document the custom make up process at the factory. You can basically design the entire shoe all the way down to the color of the big N and the custom embroidery on the back of each sneaker. The possibilities are endless. [New Balance Custom 574]

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Hickey Freeman's Paul Farrington. Note the perfect shoulder.

It wasn’t long after arriving at Hickey Freeman’s Rochester plant that I was introduced to the storied American suit-maker’s secret weapon,  Mr. Paul Farrington. Prior to meeting Mr. Farrington I had heard quite a bit about him, heard rumors of his ability to make a suit with the perfect shoulder. Before being recruited to Hickey Freeman as the chief technical designer, Farrington worked for several well respected tailoring companies including, most recently, the clothier Samuelsohn (who, from what I understand, make a good deal of Paul Stuart’s suits). When it comes to clothing, nothing is more distinctively “American” than the natural shoulder, save maybe the sack suit with a natural shoulder. It’s amazing to think that it took a Mancunian that was recruited from a Canadian company to get Hickey Freeman to make a coat with a proper natural shoulder.

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Honest handsewn shoes for an honest price, that’s the way it is done at Wassookeag. The tiny company sells a selection of moccasins that are made by hand — one at a time — by proprietor Mark Wintle in the central Maine town of Dexter. “I have only officially been handsewing my own moccasins for about six months now,” he said. “However, I have been under the direct tutelage of my father who has been handsewing shoes for over 40 years and has been making moccasins for about 25 years.”

With the growing popularity of hand sewn American-made shoes, it seems like now is as good as time as ever to get into the shoe making business. “I recently quit my high tech career, moved back to Maine — where I grew up — to start my own business, making moccasins,” says Wintle. “I thoroughly enjoy working for myself and working beside my father every day.”

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Meet your new favorite tie maker, the General Knot & Co. Started by apparel industry vet (and friend of ACL) Andrew Payne, the company just opened its virtual doors this week with its online shop filled with great looking ties made from vintage fabrics. Because General Knot & Co. is using mostly deadstock materials, the quantities are limited on each style. So if you see something you like, better to act on those instincts or it could be gone.

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