Ep. 31 - Jim McCormack, about life as a freelance bespoke shoemaker

For this episode I met up with Jim McCormack, a legendary bespoke shoemaker in England, who has spent over five decades in the trade. For more or less all of these years, he has worked as an outworker, doing bottom making for many different firms. England is the country in the world where the outworker system is the most extended. We talk a lot about the freelance system, how it works, the pros and cons and so on. But before that we cover Jim McCormack's own journey into the shoemaking world, hear stories from for exampleJohn Lobb back in the 70's, go through the different stages of the bespoke shoemaking scene in the UK the past 50 years, and much more.