Fridays are for the shop. Where Tuesday's issue is one maker's story, Friday is the buying guide: a short, seasonal edit of small-batch American goods worth owning (some on sale, most just worth it), with the week's real deals at the bottom.
This week it is boots. Two new promotions landed on top of the seconds racks that run all year, so a lot of American-made footwear is marked down at the same time. Five pairs below, cheapest to dearest. Every one was in stock this morning and the sizes actually available are listed, because a seconds rack with one odd size left is not a recommendation. All of these are final sale. No returns, no exchanges, on any of them.
Three of the five are Rancourt. That is not favoritism. Rancourt's outlet was the only one this week with both real size depth and a country of origin printed on each product page, and I would rather send you to five pairs I could actually check than pad the list with brands I could not. The bottom of the issue says exactly how each one was checked.
The Boot Edit
🇺🇸 Dirigo Camp-Moc in Montoroso Harbor Blue, Rancourt & Co. (Lewiston, ME) ($188, from $228). Sizes 9 through 11.5. The Dirigo line is built from surplus and discontinued leather, so each run is small and a little odd, which is the good kind of odd. The product page says "expertly crafted in Maine, USA" and puts it on a natural latex outsole. → rancourtandcompany.com/collections/outlet
🇺🇸 Cozymoc in Cashew Grizzly, Easymoc (Lewiston, ME) ($225, from $330). Sizes 7, 7.5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 12.5, the deepest size run of anything here. Shearling lined, so buying it in July is the whole trick. Easymoc's page says handsewn one at a time in a small Maine garage, and names the US origin of the laces, thread and glue, which is more than most brands print. → easymocs.com/collections/sale
🇺🇸 Westfield Boot in black, Rancourt & Co. (Lewiston, ME) ($258, from $428). Sizes 9 through 11. The best number on the board this week: 40% off a boot the page describes as handcrafted in Lewiston on Blake welt stitch construction. A plain black leather boot at this price from a shop that will resole it is the easiest yes in the issue. → rancourtandcompany.com/collections/outlet
🇺🇸 The seconds rack, Truman Boot Co. (Eugene, OR) (from $340). 27 pairs live, every one a single size, so the rack is the pick and not any one pair. What makes Truman worth the click is that each listing names its own flaw in plain language, down to "small surface scuff on leather (right boot heel)." Goodyear welted, and the pages say "Made in USA with global components," which is the honest version of that claim. → trumanboot.com/collections/seconds-sample-sale
🇺🇸 Byron Boot in Chromepak brown, Rancourt & Co. (Lewiston, ME) ($378, from $478). Sizes 8.5 through 11. Chromepak is a water resistant leather and this is the fall boot of the group, handcrafted in Lewiston on the same Blake welt construction. If you want one pair to carry from October to April, this is it. → rancourtandcompany.com/collections/outlet
The one we are not running
The steepest discount I found all week was Easymoc's Merrimack boat shoe at $65, down from $295. That is 78% off a handsewn shoe from a maker already on this list, and it is not a pick, because Easymoc's own product page says it is handmade in Portugal by a second generation family factory. It is probably a very good shoe at that price. It is just not the thing this list is for.
How each of these was checked
Origin gets claimed a lot and verified rarely, so here is the actual standard behind the five picks above. Every one of them states its country of origin on its own product page, not on an About page, and I read each one this morning along with the live size list.
That is also why three big seconds racks are in the Sale Wire below rather than in the edit. Frank's, Nicks and JK all publish detailed spec sheets on each pair, including the reason it became a second, but none of the three prints a country of origin on the seconds listing itself. All three are well documented Pacific Northwest bootmakers and I have no reason to doubt them. They just did not clear the same bar this morning, so they are listed as deals rather than run as verified picks.
The Sale Wire
Live as of this morning. One-off inventory moves fast, so check before you buy:
🇺🇸 JK Boots (Spokane, WA): the warehouse blowout, 30% off, 355 ready to ship seconds and returns. Sizes are one-off and some pairs are mismatched, so search by your size first → jkbootswarehouse.com
🇺🇸 Nicks Boots (Spokane, WA): 70 factory seconds with another 10% off at checkout, from $400. Their page is upfront that the rack includes defects and used boots, not only cosmetic flaws → nicksboots.com/collections/factory-seconds-boots
🇺🇸 Frank's Boots (Spokane, WA): 29 one-off seconds, $300 to $700, each listing naming why it is a second, from a smudged heel counter to a size conversion done backwards → franksboots.com/collections/franks-factory-seconds
🇺🇸 Rancourt & Co. (Lewiston, ME): the rest of the outlet, 42 pairs, about 30 of them still in stock in at least one size → rancourtandcompany.com/collections/outlet
🇺🇸 Faribault Mill (MN): the warehouse clearance and factory seconds, 115 pieces, Trapper wool throws at $99 → faribaultmill.com/collections/warehouse
🇺🇸 Stormy Kromer (Ironwood, MI): the Outlet, with Original Cap seconds at $20. Note the outlet mixes in accessories that are not Michigan made, so read the item page → stormykromer.com/sale
🇺🇸 Gitman Vintage (Ashland, PA): the Summer Sale, 25% to 40% off. Gitman states on its About page that all production is in the USA; the product pages list fabric origin only, and much of it is woven in Japan → gitmanvintage.com
No brand paid to appear. Some links may become affiliate links; that never changes what gets picked.
The whole board is public and searchable at registry.quarterboard.co, every maker labeled and dated.
P.S. Have you ever bought a factory second that turned out better than the first quality pair, or worse than the photos suggested? Reply and tell me which maker. The best answer becomes a pick.
The Quarterboard · quarterboard.co · @quarterboardco