LEWISTON — Almost 11 years ago, Michael Rancourt sold his shoe company to Allen Edmonds, his biggest client for hand-sewn, high-end loafers.

Allen Edmonds is changing, and Rancourt and his son Kyle have bought the business back.

As part of the deal, they got private label contracts for names such as Ralph Lauren and employees who have been in the hand-sewing business for so long that some worked for Rancourt’s father, Dave.

Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters is working out of one wing of Allen Edmonds’ factory on Commercial Street, temporarily, on the hunt for new space.

“I sat down with every person I offered a job and said, ‘Look, we’re going to start over again,'” said Michael Rancourt, a Lewiston native.

In a phone interview, Allen Edmonds President and CEO Paul Grangaard said his company had decided to get out of the business of making shoes for other companies and had to reduce staff in Maine.

“It’s not easy to spin something back out,” Grangaard said. “A lot of people would have just shut that side of the operation down and said, ‘We’re not good at that anymore.’ We found a different solution which saves jobs and gives Mike (Rancourt) the chance to run his own business again, and keeps customers happy. We’re proud of the solution because it was not the easy road, but it was the right road, I think.”

Before that change came in October, Allen Edmonds employed 70 to 100 people locally, he said. Some remain Allen Edmonds employees and continue hand-sewing its shoes here. He declined to elaborate on specific figures but said the company had a layoff in November.

Allen Edmonds has a second manufacturing base at its Port Washington, Wis., headquarters.

The new Rancourt & Co. has 22 employees. Many of them worked at Michael Rancourt’s last company, Maine Shoe, that he owned with his wife. Some even worked for him and his father at Downeast Casual Footwear, a company that was sold to its biggest client, Cole Haan, in 1987.

“His father trained me to hand-sew,” said Ron Bechard, tacking black leather, the makings of a Foot Joy loafer, to a form on the factory floor Tuesday.

He’s been in shoes 30-something years.

“This is like a new beginning here,” Bechard said. “It’s better than being laid off. When he offered the job, I took it.”

Rancourt & Co. makes men’s shoes by hand for customers such as Ralph Lauren, high-end retailers in Tokyo and Japan and a retail group in South Africa, Michael Rancourt said. Its shoes retail for $200 to $500 a pair.

“We buy raw materials from around the world, bring them here to Lewiston and then we cut them, stitch them and hand-finish. They’re all higher end,” he said.

He envisions the company staying unique, and its volume small, but searching out new markets. His son, Kyle, 25, is interested in trying lines that reach out to consumers younger than the traditional mid-30s to mid-60s demographic.

Kyle approached his father about following him into shoes a little more than a year ago.

“I’d like to get into (designing) more,” said Kyle Rancourt, who now manages purchasing and procurement.

As a kid, he found himself spending Saturdays in the office with his father at Maine Shoe. Now, in his spare time, he likes to go into the factory and choose different leathers, patterns, threads and treads to design his own one-of-a-kind pairs.

“I saw my dad evolve into a very stylish person,” he said. “Creating something that was beautiful and also fashionable. I enjoy the style aspect of it. Also, I love shoes.”

Michael Rancourt stayed on after the Allen Edmonds sale and was vice president of design and development for that company. He said he’ll continue making new designs for his own company, updating classic looks and capitalizing on the “made in the USA” appeal.

“It’ll be a small company making great, handmade shoes,” he said. “No more selling the business now — it’s really about the legacy.”

Next, they hope to find a 10,000-square-foot space in Lewiston or Auburn for a more permanent home.

Paul Bedard works in the front of the factory floor, cutting patterns out of large leather hides, his specialty. He’s been in the shoe business 37 years.

“(Rancourt’s) done it before,” Bedard said. “If anybody can do it, I believe he has a shot.”

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Herby Clavette hand-sews shoes at Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters in Lewiston on Tuesday. Clavette has worked 48 years in the shoemaking industry.

Samples of shoes that Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters make for a Japanese company are kept on the production floor for reference.

Herby Clavette hand-sews shoes at Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters in Lewiston on Tuesday.

Kyle Rancourt talks with longtime employee Ethel Saucier on Tuesday morning as she laced collars on a shoe at Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters.

Ron Bechard tacks black leather to a form as he works on a Foot Joy loafer Tuesday at Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters in Lewiston.