Blog

Rooted in Place We have reflected on why Rancourt & Co. remains in Lewiston, Maine when so much of the footwear industry moved elsewhere. Staying rooted has never been merely about geography. It has always been about commitment; to skilled labor, to community, and to the people who shape every pair. In The Path We’ve Chosen: People, we turned our focus to the individuals inside the factory. The cutters, stitchers, handsewers, and finishers whose skill and care shape our work. In The Path We’ve Chosen: Lewiston, we stepped outside the factory walls to visit the Maine MILL Museum, where the city’s...

Lewiston is a city shaped by movement. Water moving through the Androscoggin River. People moving across borders. Work moving from one generation to the next. At Rancourt & Co., every pair of shoes begins the same way: on the factory floor in Lewiston, Maine. Every pair is made here, and many are available now in our in-stock collection, ready to begin their own path. In Stock Collection. A mill town shaped by the river, Lewiston once stood at the heart of American manufacturing, where textiles, leather goods, and footwear defined daily life for generations. Recently, during a visit to the...

A well-worn path is built by those who stay. This chapter of Well-Worn Paths turns from process to people — the generations of shoemakers, mentors, and new craftsmen whose hands have shaped Rancourt & Co. for over 58 years.

In our Well-Worn Paths series, we’ve followed the journey of a shoe through our Lewiston workshop, tracing each step from leather selection to final finishing. That journey showed how a shoe is made. This next chapter turns to why that work still happens here. It explores the path we’ve chosen as a company and the family history behind the benches, the city that shaped the craft, and the commitment that has kept our factory doors open in Lewiston, Maine for more than five decades. Where It Started Rancourt & Co. begins with a decision made in the early 1950s. David...