George Vlagos grew up learning shoemaking in his father John's shop, and noticing how little quality American-made footwear was actually on the market, started Oak Street Bootmakers in Chicago in 2009. The real trigger was a Trench Boot he wanted but couldn't find anywhere, so he set out to figure out how to make one himself. Boots are built by hand from Chicago's own Horween Leather, keeping the entire supply chain (design, materials and construction) local to the city.