The Rancourt & Co. shoe portfolio has been expanding beyond just loafers and blucher mocs recently. I’ve noticed a few interesting new styles have been popping up on the company Instagram and other social channels as of late. Intrigued, I reached out to Kyle Rancourt to find out more. Eventually this lead to a preview box of nine pairs of the Maine maker’s new styles —all made with a Blake welt construction—showing up at my office. They are great shoes, I didn’t get to keep any but getting a closer looked sparked this post to find out more about Rancourt’s new Blake shoes. These are their stories.

Part of this new crop of Blake styles is Hamilton boot, which is more traditional dress boot —as opposed to the handsewn styled moc toe shapes that Rancourt has become known for— made with the Blake welt process. If you like the shape but wanted something sightly different from what is seen here, Rancourt can also do custom orders of styles like these with the outsole and leather of your choosing. More on the Blake welting process and it’s similarity to Goodyear welting below.

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Cape Porpoise Outfitters is a new antiques store that is obsessed with all things military, nautical, Ivy League, booze, classic cars, books, watches, and all sorts of other great vintage oddities. Situated in an 18th century barn, CPO is the product of friend (and ACL contributor) Mr. Jared Paul Stern, who is as prolific collector of vintage “stuff” as anyone I know. It’s not just any kind of stuff, this is a shop for guys that want an interesting and edited mix. CPO is a very obvious reflection of JPS’ overall interests — be it nautical paintings, antique furniture or surplus racks for M-16s. That’s right, surplus racks for assault rifles — what home doesn’t need those?

Over the years I’ve done the antiques-drive from Wells, Maine on Route 1 many times stopping at the dozens of vintage, junk and antiques stores to varying degrees of success. Admittedly, CPO takes some of the hunt out of things, but all of the fun remains. Needless to say if you read this blog, you will like Cape Porpoise Outfitters. So if you happen to find yourself in Southern Maine, a diversion to CPO is worth it. While you are in town, stop by and see the nice ladies at the Cape Porpoise Kitchen and have a bite to eat, you won’t be disappointed.

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Last week Maine. This week I’m in NYC. Maine was better.

Lobster. Saltboxes. Becky’s. Springers in the sea. Dark & Stormys. Mabel’s Lobster Claw. Nice folks. Ice cream. Portland. Canoe trips. Harbor views. Wine. Good books. Salt water. Plank chairs. Baxter beers. Goose Rocks beach. Petite Jacqueline. The Tides. Lighthouses. Escape to Maine.

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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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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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