Rising bootmaker Nathan Florsheim’s shoe-famous last name isn’t a coincidence—the great great grandson of Florsheim Shoes founder Milton Florsheim decided over a year ago to become the first person in his family to actually make a pair of boots themselves in generations.
And man has he gotten good at it quickly. Under the benevolent tutelage our mutual friend Lars from Østmo Boots, Nathan has evolved into one of the most impressive one-person bootmakers in the US—NF Bootmaker—in basically no time flat, hand-making service boots with his trademark rivet using an impressively wide range of leathers. And he’s committed to the craft—just before we spoke Nathan actually quit his day job to go full-time on bootmaking.
So how did he get started? What challenges did he face at the beginning? What’s absolutely scared the hell out of him along the way? Why do his boots have such sexy butts? HOW IN THE WORLD DO PEOPLE EVEN MAKE BOOTS THEMSELVES?? And what’s next for NF? Nathan gets WAY in depth (and wonderfully nerdy) about all of it, and is incredibly generous with the level of specific detail he offers.
If you’ve ever considered making boots or shoes, or are just interested in the process that goes into it, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.
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