Why Making Things By Hand Has Never Been More Important, w/ Cowboy Bootmaker Emily Boksenbaum

The Stitchdown PREMIUM Shoecast · Feb 25, 2026 · 1h 27m

When I met Emily Boksenbaum at our Maker’s Day 2025 conference in Chicago, I knew I had to get her on the Shoecast.

Emily’s always made stuff. First it was art growing up, which led to a focus on fiber material studies in art school. Next came leather tooling, prop-making and other “creative odd jobs,” before going into corporate footwear design. That didn’t quite hit for her, which meant it was finally time to figure out how to make some cowboy boots. After training under some of the great makers and teachers in the space, she moved to Boulder, Colorado to open a custom boot shop dubbed…