Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship and Quality at Quoddy

For us, it’s pretty simple. Craftsmanship has many aspects, but there is one that is the most essential: pride. Because our people are so “hands on” in the making of Quoddy, and each shoe is a singular reflection of their skill and experience as a shoemaker (a profession that often goes back many generations in their family), they can’t help but take an tremendous amount of pride in what they make. This is the foundation of our company and our brand. As Kevin Shorey our resident fourth-generation shoemaker likes to say, “Attention to detail and no shortcuts”.

When the sewing is complete, the shoemaker becomes his own most exacting critic – if it’s not up to snuff, he cuts the threads and does it all over again. Because there are no glue, staples, plastic molding, or other more “advanced” processes involved, and because Mainers are by nature a very frugal bunch, we don’t throw perfectly good materials away in the name of expediency– we make it again until it’s right.

Quoddy harkens back to the time when hand-made was the norm, when output was measured in dozens, not thousands. In a large modern factory individual shoes pass through the hands of as many as seventy people before leaving the factory floor. At Quoddy, one person handsews your shoes at their bench - the quality of that pair is a testament to the individual skill that went into making them.

We also get asked all the time, “What’s a moccasin?” It’s a type of shoe construction, not a style or design statement. Simply put, handsewn moccasin construction surrounds your foot in leather – it’s the same affect as a supple leather glove on your hand. It enables the shoe to conform to your foot naturally – allowing your foot muscles, bones, and tendons to perform the way they were designed.

Hence the term “fits like a glove”. Most modern footwear constructions employ multiple layers of materials and stiff adhesives to hold the shoe together. Quoddy footwear is made with very few pieces of leather that are sewn together by hand. Quoddy shoes adapt to your foot, rather than the other way around. And, should you suffer a footwear mishap, or just plain wear something out, they can be repaired to as new. By the same people who made them in the first place.