Rancourt

When it comes to American-made handsewn footwear, there are really three names that consistently come up: Quoddy, Rancourt, and Oak Street Bootmakers. Over the last few years, each of these brands have grown from relative obscurity to being the faces of this classically American style.

There are few places as synonymous with a shoe style as Lewiston, Maine is to the beefroll penny. It’s like Detroit and the car, or Washington D.C. and politics – being born there seems to make you an inherent expert. However, like the GM vs. Ford battle in Detroit or the Democrat vs. Republican battle in D.C., battle lines exist in this small community. Turf wars break out between kids whose dad works at Rancourt vs. their classmates at Quoddy. Slings made of Horween’s Chromexcel can be seen in every grocery store.

Rancourt's Beefroll loafer is often one of the top recommended choices for people looking to get into the made-in-Maine loafer world. Often mentioned alongside the Alden Leisure Hand Sewn. If you’re looking to get a new beefroll, is this the right one for you? Let’s find out.

The one question I often get asked that I don’t answer in reviews is how I pick which shoes to wear. How I style them, when I pick one over the other, etc. With 100wears hitting the one-year mark, I thought it might be worth providing a mini update on the current collection from a personal viewpoint.

We first took a look at the Rancourt Read Boat Shoe back in November of 2020. Back then, we noted that this shoe was a classic design, but there were a few flaws that kept them from being perfect. Since then, these shoes have been worn 100 times and more than 100 miles. Let’s see if those concerns grew, or if they were blown out of proportion.

Looking back through Rancourt & Co’s archives on their website, the very first post about their company – before they even opened as an online store – was about Kyle Rancourt wearing a pair of Rancourt boat shoes boat shoes. Back then, to order a pair you had to email Kyle directly describing what you wanted and he would get a pair made for you (it cost $215, in case you're wondering).

To many, the bit loafer is a slightly garish middle finger in a wardrobe. The loafer version of Nantucket Red pants. To others, it embodies connotations of men who are the human equivalent of Pepe Le Pew – and not in a good way. Either way, bit loafers generally don’t fade into the background. Rancourt does a few things to try and put their thumb on the preppy/academic side, trying take it away from the more negative connotations this style of shoe might have.

Rancourt’s history is an interesting one. The current company is one of the newest companies making shoes within the United States, being founded in 2010, but that only tells part of the story. The Rancourt family has been making shoes in Maine for decades.