The first shoe factory in all of Maine was the Minot Shoe Co., founded in West Auburn in 1836. By the turn of the century, mills on both sides of the Androscoggin River were producing 6 million pairs a year. 

From the beginning of shoe-making, it was hand sewers who produced the majority of shoes (moccasins), but the industrial revolution contributed to the rise of manufacturing in the Twin Cities. While the hand sewers continued to ply their craft, the majority of shoes were being mass produced using machinery.  

In the last 40 years, the shoe industry has “moved south” (overseas), said Herby Clavette as he hand sewed a moccasin at Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters in Lewiston.

His father was a potato farmer in Madawaska who came to Lewiston to find a better job in the early 1940s. He learned to sew shoes and found work in one of the local mills.

When Herby Clavette returned from the military, his father would bring home tools and material to teach his son how to hand sew. Some of those same tools his father used were handed down to him, and he still uses them every day. 

“It was like an audition. I went to the shoe shop and sewed a shoe for them. They liked my work and hired me,” Clavette said. That was Belgrade Shoe on Hotel Road in Auburn, 49 years ago.

With the demise of the shoe industry, Clavette moved from shop to shop as they began to close — nine different companies in all.

“I can remember sewing in a room with 135 other hand sewers. Today we are about 12,” he said.

It takes skill, concentration and stamina to do the repetitive work required to produce pair after pair of shoes each day. The tools and techniques remain mostly the same as generations ago.  Although the leather used is much better quality and the soles are more durable, the craftsmanship and quality has been the benchmark that sustains the reputation of Maine-made shoes.   

“I’m slowing down now,” Clavette said.  “I used to make 36 pair a day.  Now I’m making about 18 in an eight-hour day.”

A decade ago it looked like the end of the shoe industry in L-A was near. Slowly there seems to be a resurgence of hand sewn footwear, according to Rancourt & Co. owner Mike Rancourt.

“We can’t keep up with the demand,” he said.

The hand-sewn leather shoes are sold in stores such as Ralph Lauren and other high-end shops all over the world. The shoes sell for $200 to $500 a pair.

“The problem is, there are not a lot of young people coming up to replace these skilled workers who are starting to retire,” Rancourt said.