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.”
All of the Wassookeag moccasins are made to order from a variety of different leathers and styles. You can choose from Bullhide, Moosehide, Deerskin, Buffalo hide or Cowhide in un-lined, double sole construction. And nothing sells for more than $130. The company even offers fleece lined moccasins for children (as pictured below) and for the great price of $30. [Wassookeag]
Michael Williams
These are beautiful and a great price point for the quality. Looks like a great pair to invest in for sure.
Yeah! More American manufacturing jobs!
Nice. I’m fond of that Gold Nugget Bullhide.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
have purchased from them, great quality product and fast delivery
This is a beautiful, inspiring story.
I’m going straight to their website to check them out.
I wonder if they do any custom work?
I love to see enduring American craftsmanship. Thanks for the post.
Nice find – very clean. I like that they have kept the traditional vamp measures. Must place an order.
the only shoe you need:)!
Very excellent work. These shoes looks great.
Why all the mention of ‘hand sewing’ in the article yet the top picture there is a sewing machine being used?
@Lars: See the big, fat white thread on the vamp and at the heel? Those are the parts that are “sewn” by hand. It takes a lot of dexterity, finger strength and skill to do that. The rest of the shoe is held together by finer brown thread. That part is, indeed, “stitched.” But even there, as you can see from the top photo, he stitches each pair by hand — which also takes a lot of time and skill. Basically, he’s sewing the more sculptural (difficult) parts of the shoe and stitching the more straightforward (easy) parts. Very typical and totally worthy of being considered a handsewn shoe.
@Josh: Wow, great answer, could not have answered any better myself. Thank you!
Hi, my name is Mark Wintle and I am the Sole Proprietor of Wassookeag Moccasins. Now that I have a moment to breath, after the very welcomed rush of new orders since Michael’s Terrific article featuring my moccasin. First I would like to say THANK YOU Michael!! … and thank you to everyone who took a moment to read this article and was interested enough to come check out my handmade moccasins. Secondly, I would like to invite anyone who has questions, comments, suggestions, or would just like to chat, to stop by my website and click on the “contact us” link … and get the conversation started. http://www.wassookeagmoccasins.com/
Thanks again everyone!!