In 2019, Justin James started Opie Way, a recraftable sneaker brand made right in Asheville North Carolina, USA, using incredibly high quality materials—something that basically didn’t exist previously.
So of course right away covid hit and everything went crazy. Great way to start! But 2020 was nothing compared to Hurricane Helene rampaging through Asheville and the surrounding areas in September 2024.
Justin and his wife Amanda had spent the past five years setting up and optimizing a small factory, building a loyal following of customers who appreciated the unique product they were creating, and seeing real success with a footwear business few thought made any sense at all just a few years prior.
In a day, it was all gone.
Six feet of rampaging water tore through the Opie Way factory. Machinery, records, inventory, supplies—destroyed in a literal flash.
What’s it like to lose everything? What were those first moments and hours like? How do you build back in the face of cataclysmic challenges? When true disaster strikes is there, somehow, a positive, just waiting to be uncovered?
I can’t thank Justin enough for coming on the Shoecast to tell his story. It’s not easy to confront the kind of challenges he’s been through, especially publicly. But his tale is without a doubt an important one. So we did it. We both kinda knew we had to.
Here’s Justin James of Opie Way, on the Shoecast.
And here’s the Pearl Boot Company website, Justin’s newest venture we discuss quite a bit.
