On Alberta Boot Company’s 40th anniversary, we take a
sneak peek at how the boots — and the legacy — are made
BY RACHAEL FREY • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON DZIVER
BUILT
to LAST
If Ben Gerwing isn’t up front in the Alberta
Boot Company store greeting customers and
fitting them for the perfect pair of boots, you
might find him in the factory at the back of
the building cutting leather, or applying stain
to soles, or any of the 200 steps that go into
custom hand-crafting a pair of boots.
As the third-generation owner, Gerwing
started working at the company in his teens
and hasn’t looked back since. “It’s something
I always enjoyed doing, learning all aspects
of the job, whether it was helping people out
in the store or actually going in the back and
making the boots, or everything in between,”
he says.
It’s a point of pride at Alberta Boot that
nothing about how the boots are made has
changed over the past 40 years — why mess
with a winning formula? Every boot is made
almost entirely of quality leather, meaning
they can be resoled several times.
“We consider ourselves the best-made
western boot in the world,” Gerwing says.
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“We’ve got a lot of people who are wearing
our boots who’ve had them for 10, 15, 20
years or more and they’re on a second or
third sole.” Next up is the sewing room, where (2) the
uppers and lining leathers are hand-sewn
piece by piece. Then (3) the vamp and heel
counter is sewn into the shafts of the boots.
“You look at a mass-manufactured boot
and then you hold one of ours and even to
the untrained eye the quality is so different.
You can just see it,” he says. “We want to
continue to provide our customers with the
best footwear we can possibly make, and the
only way to do that is by continuing to use
these older methods, which anything new
just can’t match.” The boots are taken to the lasting and soling
room, where (4) the leather uppers are
matched up with the appropriate last and
insole before (5) the vamp of the boot is
pulled down tight and “lasted” over the mold.
Manufacturing the boots takes about four to
six weeks, (if you want a pair in time for the
Calgary Stampede, get your order in by the
end of May). Gerwing distilled the process
down to 12 key aspects of production to
give us an idea of what goes into each and
every pair.
The first stop is the cutting room, where (1)
the leather uppers and linings of the boots are
cut with dies and hydraulic cutting machines.
(6) Leather welting is sewn into the vamp
of the boot, and (7) leather corking and a
steel shank are added to the insole prior to
having the outsole sewn on. (8) The outsole
is nailed and sewn down as well as trimmed
and (9) the heel is attached to the sole of the
boot. Then, (10) the last is removed from the
boot and the sole and heel are trimmed and
sanded.
The final stop is the finishing room, where
(11) the inside of the boot is cleaned and
smoothed and (12) sole stain and finish is
applied to the boots. After a careful quality
check, the boots are complete.