Grant Stone‘s Wyatt Gilmore is one of the people we most love talking to in the entire footwear industry—so it was high time we had him on the Shoecast. While we spend plenty of time discussing how GS develops new models, and chooses leathers, and how wearing EEE in their Leo last has changed my life, and what Wyatt will be looking for as a judge of the Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome, the best part of this podcast is without a doubt the brand’s origin story.
Grant Stone emerged a half-decade ago as a challenger to the norm: a brand based in Michigan that manufactured in China that was ACTUALLY making a legit incredible product. People were initially skeptical, but that has faded for anyone paying attention, or certainly wearing their products.
But to hear Wyatt tell the story of how he personally ended up at a shoe factory in China with no idea of what to do with his damn life, then learning the trade and truly becoming part of a family that wasn’t his own…it’s apparent why the decision to manufacture there was made, and why Grant Stone has emerged as such an important player making incredible shoes and boots in a price range that almost seems unfair to everyone else. It’s truly a beautiful story, and an inspiring one.
Also: vampire GenFacts! Give it a listen below!
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This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don’t NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots…but it helps.