Dan Freeman began hand-making custom leather shoes in the 1970s, and opened his Middlebury shop about ten years later. To learn the trade, he tracked down an old leather-worker in New Orleans, and spent days on Grey Hound buses traveling to Louisiana. After some persistence from Freeman, the New Orleans man agreed to teach Freeman his trade. Freeman estimates that there are around ten people left in the country that make the his type of custom boots and shoes.
