Craft and Build

Parkhurst has had the opportunity to work with a small handful of talented factories in its past on both development and production. Each factory and team have played crucial roles in getting Parkhurst to where it is today. Oftentimes, some shoe factories globally don’t always have the technology or labor force to produce every style of boot, or every type of build from start to finish, or are able to use certain materials. Within the USA, this technology and fundamental production capabilities are even more limited in scope and have become almost non-existent leading up to, and due to the aftermath of Covid-19 and the supply chain/labor crisis. This is why Parkhurst works with both vendors in the U.S., Spain and Portugal to ensure a quality build is delivered to our customers. We always keep a lookout for factories globally who can produce specific boots with specific builds and up to the level of quality customers demand.

Build 

*Note: While cutting a boot in half, the tension and power/torque created by the band saw can shift some internal components around or crack/break them, such as the steel shank or others.

Our build is focused on natural breath-ability, shock absorption and conformation to your foot using time-honored techniques and materials. Are our boots built perfect? No. You may even see some quirks of the hand-crafting and finishing process on your pair. But we believe in using materials to build our boots which will conform, endure, and perform. Our boots are built to be maintained, not disposed of. We create them like this by using a construction method (Goodyear-welt) which is easier to work with on repairs along with incorporating components which can be easily replaced over time once worn out.

So, what's in the boot?

Upper leather - Thick leather hides from Horween, Seidel, C.F. Stead and coming Fall 2022 - Parkhurst's very own leathers developed with our Spanish tannery. All weights start typically around 5/6 ounces for aniline bovine and other articles. Kudu however, due to the nature of the hide, will be right around 4.5-5 ounces due to the animal. Every upper is both hand and machine-lasted, using the assistance of the lasting machine for the toebox.

Lining Leather - Vegetable tanned leather usually in the 1.4-1.8 oz. weight range. Moc toe and Chelsea styles are vegetable tanned calfskin.

Welt - Vegetable tanned leather.

Midsole - Vegetable tanned leather made from outsole grade leather. Much like our welts, vegetable tanned leather tends to hold up the best over time for this particular type of component.

Outsole - Many styles will have Parkhurst custom soles on them because most branded outsoles don't fit the Parkhurst last, other than a very small selection of Vibram products, which don't fill the whole size range. By using our custom outsoles and heels, we can include every production size sole/heel in our boots offered and fill out the size range.

Heel Base/Stacks - Vegetable tanned leather cut from the same bends leather used for our insoles.

Heel Toplift - Parkhurst custom/rubber. 

Insole - 3.5mm vegetable tanned bends leather tanned using oak tree bark oils. This type of insole, being bends leather, is considered the gold standard of insoles due to its moisture wicking properties, conforming capabilities and longevity.

Insole Cavity Filling - Real cork with no fillers, rubbers, plastics, foams or additives. This filling is roughly 4mm thick. Cork helps conform to your foot the best because it's an all natural substance.

Inlay - Heel pad leather, and cushioning foam between the insole and heel pad leather, aka, the inlay/heel insert. Leather is cut from the same vegetable tanned lining leather used or in some cases, the same leather used for the upper.

Toebox - Structured.

Heel Counter - Full grain vegetable tanned leather.

Shank - Steel.

Sewing

The uppers of our boots are guided by hand through sewing machines designed for sewing leather and other thicker materials. This is contrary to what is widely done in the footwear industry today as most of the pattern stitching is automated through computers - a process which often requires extraordinarily little human interaction other than sliding a pattern into and out of a cutting/sewing machine and watching the computer run stitches. Yes, the way we do this takes longer and involves a bit more risk since it's more manual than usual, but we believe at the end of the day the human hand and eye play the most crucial roles in creating a quality, hand-crafted product. All of our upper stitches are locked by hand which adds to structural security.

When it comes to sewing the outsole, we use a method known as "lock stitching" which knots the thread internally. Sole stitching is seen on the welt. What does this mean for wear and longevity? If you wear out your outsole stitches either on the bottom of the outsole or on top of the welt, the outsole, welt and midsoles will not come apart because they are knotted internally. Should this happen over time, the welt is not affected by this specific instance because the welt is sewn through the upper leather underneath the insole.

Pattern Cutting

Patterns are traced and cut using laser-guided measuring and cutting technology. Using this technology provides a more accurate cut, more precise pattern fit and helps to utilize more of the leather hide, resulting in far less leather wasted or discarded.

Goodyear Welt

Each pair of boots is constructed using a genuine, vegetable tanned leather Goodyear welt. The main style of welt we use is referred to within the manufacturing industry as a split reverse welt - and it provides excellent water resistance. The welts are sewn through the uppers underneath the insole with waxed thread and held onto our boots via an insole rib which is attached to the bottom of the vegetable tanned bends leather insole, creating a channel. Cork is then filled into this channel. This process has helped to ensure the boots’ longevity for years to come while allowing for easy repairs and maintenance.

Our Lasts

The lasts are designed by the founder of Parkhurst who has spent years working with experienced last-makers inside the footwear industry, and within the specific niche of Goodyear-welt footwear. In an industry where it is common for brands to go to existing factories around the world and use existing lasts, Parkhurst has invested in the creation of its own and continues to invest in developing more.

Mid-soles and Outsoles

We use vegetable tanned leather for our midsoles, and outsoles when we run production using leather outsoles. We source this leather from two places: The first is a distributor in Pennsylvania who cuts and oils them if needed in house. They in turn source the leather from a tannery in South America who specializes in vegetable tanning soling leathers. The second is from our partner tannery in Spain who vegetable tans leather there. This type of leather tends to last longer and provides more comfort and conformity during the break-in process of the boot. Every midsole and outsole is applied, trimmed and sanded by hand. Once these have been applied, each boot is ran through the sole stitching machine, guided by hand.

Finishing

This is the final inspection to ensure everything comes together, looks good and is secure. Loose threads are trimmed and uneven edges are sanded and stained. Some of this is done by Parkhurst's founder here in Buffalo, NY before shipping to customers. Light heat is applied to bring out some color in each leather as well as to make sure any wax or oil from the leather is locked in.

The process of making a single pair of boots is quite labor intensive and requires  a heavy amount of manual interaction. Due to this, not every single pair of boots will come out looking exactly alike, nor will they come out looking "perfect." There may be minor quirks reflective of the manufacturing process associated with every pair of boots and these should be expected on any pair.

Build Questions

Below are some infrequent build questions we have seen come up during the past few years in business. Part of the reality of making a pair of handcrafted boots is that no two areas of the boots will ever look exactly, perfectly the same, millimeter to millimeter. There can and will be small, handcrafting-related nuances associated with the boots as part of the building process for making a pair, or as part of the use of organic inconsistent materials such as leather.

Why don’t my boots don’t sit perfectly flat on a level surface out of the box?

This has to do largely with the stored, fresh tension from assembly. Stitchdown boots can be a good example of this as well due to all of the sewing they have in bottoming. Once the boots are freshly made from the factory, there is stored tension from bottoming such as sewing the outsoles, sewing the welt, applying the heels, etc. It becomes very rare that a single pair of boots will sit perfectly level and flush to each other on a flat surface. Much of this is due to the stored, uneven tension from assembling and sewing this product with a heavily manual labor component involved. Some boots might just have it work out where they do happen to sit evenly and flush, but those pairs are the exception to the reality. Body weight and wear evens out this sometimes stored, uneven tension distribution.

Why don’t my welt joints match perfectly?

Welt joints are cut and closed by hand. This process is not an automated one and we do this the old-school way, which is by hand. A single person is guiding the boot through the inseam stitching machine and that same person is then cutting and closing the welts with their hands and a knife. While the vast majority of their closures oftentimes comes out consistently, not all welts on all pairs of boots will look exactly the same when it comes to their closure.

How do you build/align your toecaps? 

Part of the reality of making a hand-crafted product is that no matching part or pattern will ever be 100% accurate to the millimeter boot for boot. This reality applies to every part of the building process. Toecaps, especially now that we are using a double leather cap toe (as of May 2025), will not be 100% perfectly straight, millimeter to the millimeter. This is because they are doubled up with two layers of upper leather, pulled over and centered by hand. There will always be a slight angle to them on each boot. It’s the nature of the beast when it comes to manufacturing this build from doubling up the upper leather, pulling over by hand and centering by hand. Additionally, our 618 last is contoured and curved outward and away from the toebox (as you may be able to see in some pictures), which can sometimes make the toecaps appear to be angled outward without your foot inserted into the boots. To balance out this initial appearance, we suggest trying the boots on, lacing them up and looking at each boot individually, not together, and not side by side so as to compare a left boot to a right boot. Setting them side by side will always show some sort of deviation.