Tag Archives : Footwear

21/11/2025

Garmology podcast: Reviving dead sneakers – With Vinnie Tao at Sneakerpharm (#159)

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What happens when a lifelong sneaker lover refuses to throw away his favourite shoes — and ends up building a full sneaker restoration business instead? In this episode, we meet SneakerPharm’s founder, the craftsman bringing dead, battered, sun-bleached trainers back to life using skill, chemistry, and a whole lot of patience. From reverse-engineering damaged materials to perfecting the art of whitening,…

24/10/2025

Garmology: The Shoe That Fits the Foot — Not the Market – With Andrew Turriff (#157)

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This week on Garmology, we’re rethinking everything we thought we knew about shoes. From Nike internships and bespoke sneakers in L.A. to orthopedic labs in Canada, shoemaker Andrew Turriff has walked a long, winding path to creating Turiff Functional Footwear — a brand built on one radical idea: that shoes should actually work for your feet. We talk about his journey from art school to Fluevog…

27/09/2025

Whole-Cut Wonders: The Future of Heritage Shoemaking – Chris Woodford of Crown Northampton (#155)

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We’ve arrived at the 9th season of Garmology and this week, we step inside the heart of British shoemaking. Our journey takes us to Northamptonshire, where craftsmanship and tradition run deep. Chris Woodford—6th-generation shoemaker and the man behind Crown Northampton and E. Woodford—opens the doors of his family’s factory to share stories of heritage, innovation, and the enduring art of making shoes.…

23/06/2019

Rolling Dub Trio: Boots on sincerity

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Over the soon 7 years I’ve been writing this blog, I have been on something of an adventure. Or a treasure hunt, if you like. I’ve built up a decent collection of pieces and sold or passed on a fair number as well. It would also be fair to say that there has been an escalation in what catches the…

15/06/2019

Cheap Shoes For Life

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It’s a universal truth, that shoes made in the UK are good, very good. They are well put together, sturdy, made with materials far superior to that of a mass produced shoe that you would find in a High Street “Fashion Emporium. They generally look better too, are more substantial, a better shape, and a better and more standardised fit.…

08/09/2018

Fancy some almost unbreakable shoe and boot laces?

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I have to admit, shoelaces can be a major frustration to me. You’d think the ones included with a pair of shoes or boots would be the absolute pinnacle of shoelace technology, to match the outstanding footwear supplied by the dedicated craftsmen that have carefully and lovingly designed, decided and crafted the footwear you are holding, using all their years…

07/09/2018

5 shoes I would never wear

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These days I’m doing a fair bit of travelling for work, an arduous task that provides ample opportunity for doing a spot of people-gazing. Or as is more often the case in these days where you should not catch anyone’s eye, looking at what people are wearing on their feet. Seeing how many Norwegian men wear really awful shoes, even…

07/04/2018

A visit to the William Lennon & Co. boot factory in Stoney Middleton

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HebTroCo makes their Moto and Chukka boots at William Lennon & Co in Stoney Middleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire and I found myself there by their invitation on an overcast Wednesday in March. This is the first in a series of articles about the background and makers of the HebTroCo products. Stoney Middleton. It’s such a typically British name. Not uniquely so though, as…

10/07/2015

A few thoughts on caring for leather shoes

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An expression came to mind last week whilst preparing a new pair of rugged Red Wing boots for use, “tough as old boots”. It got me wondering where such an expression might have come from, and also whether there was any significance in the “old” part of it. Were boots stronger in previous times? I have observed that there has been…

16/11/2014

A comprehensive guide to Goodyear welted shoe soles

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In recent times I’ve had a couple of pairs of my quality shoes, the ones with Goodyear welted shoe soles, resoled. In the grand scheme of things makes me something of a know-it-all, with regards to what goes on on the underside of Gentleman’s footwear. First I found a pair of custom-grade Church brogues, which I then had resoled with Dainite soles, then…