This week on the Shoecast I had the outright pleasure of chatting with Jess Wootten of…Wootten! The Ballarat, Australia boots and shoes and leathergoods maker that is doing some very interesting work.
We covered how Jess somewhat tripped into a family tradition of bootmaking, ran down what Wootten’s making in Ballarat and how, some common misconceptions about the Blake Rapid (aka McKay welted) construction that Wootten often deploys, what it’s like to grow a boutique bootmaking operation (not easy!), why Australians are possibly overly obsessed with Chelsea boots, and plenty more.
Give it a listen below!
Or watch the full YouTube interview with Jess
NOTE TO LISTENERS: Jess recorded this episode in Wootten’s live workshop, part of which is a very lovely 3-year-old. So you may hear hear and some hammering, etc—but hey the boots gotta get made, right?
And you can listen to this and every Shoecast episode on:
Check out the Shoecast archives right here
Or watch the episodes—and plenty of other wonderful stuff—that we’ve also put on our YouTube channel