Cobbler and Bootmaker Tess Gobeil on How Doing Things Differently Has Propelled Her Repair Business (and Also Tim Horton's)

The Stitchdown Shoecast

Former Dayton bootmaker Tess Gobeil is the co-founder of Awl Together Leather, a custom leatherwork and shoe repair shop in Vancouver, Canada that just so happens to be on our shortlist of Stitchdown-recommended cobblers. She's also just an absolute hoot—we're pretty sure this episode sets the Shoecast "hey look at us, we're just sitting here cackling about shoe stuff" record by a country mile.
Tess is also a woman—who runs Awl Together with her non-binary business partner Ariss—in a field that's overwhelmingly male-dominated. We get good and deep into how she's successfully navigated that landscape, along with her toughest/most enjoyable/most loathed/craziest/weirdest repair jobs, dogs eating boots, the boot cookies she gives to dogs who eat boots, Tim Horton's coffee, Montreal bagels, and plenty, plenty more.
This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone, one of the best values in Goodyear welted footwear, period
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Theme Song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera