Wesco

What A Real Handmade Boot Looks Like

- 

WHAT WAS ONCE A THRIVING BUSINESS, THE AMERICAN footwear industry, leaves only the footprints of what was, with only a handful of companies still in existence. Wesco, founded in 1918 by John Shoemaker, is still up and running 99 years in, building stitch down boots in the Pacific Northwest. Chris Warren, sales manager of Wesco Boots, was destined to work here and keep the tradition alive. He grew up around the lumber industry in Northern California, where everyone wore either Wesco or White’s boots. His dad wore Wesco, and on a whim, Chris applied to work for them when he moved to Portland around 2001.

Unlike almost every other person in footwear that I’ve ever worked with, he started on the factory floor, stitching outsoles on a Rapid E machine. He progressed through the line, and has touched every moving part in the production of every pair of Wesco Boots. Even now, as the sales manager, he will still jump on the line to get a pair of boots out the door for a customer.

Jeremy Smith: Something that draws me to Wesco boots, in particular, is that you can see the process in the finished object, versus a pair where there’s no hand of the maker, where they’re impenetrable. When you pick up a pair of Wesco boots, it is clear this is a crafted object. You've worked a whole line, all the machines— do you agree?