Process of Handcrafting Rare Hiking Boots by 70-years Old Shoes Master

Watch how a single flat sheet of leather becomes a rugged, one-of-a-kind hiking boot, shaped entirely by hand for just one person's feet. Songlim, tucked away in Euljiro, Seoul since 1936 and now run by 4th generation of the same family, is the workshop that made Korea's very first hiking boots and is designated a Seoul Future Heritage site. Every pair starts with a precise foot measurement and a custom last, then moves through cutting, skiving, and stitching the leather upper before the sole is built up layer by layer. For the insole, the workshop applies its own long-developed paraffin-based waterproofing — a method created to keep cold water, and frostbite, off the mountain. From the first measurement to the final knot, there isn't a single part of these boots that a human hand hasn't touched.