The American boot and shoemaker D.W. Frommer sadly passed away this week, at the age of 76 after more then half a century in the trade. He has played an important role in the shoemaking community for decades, not least in his work with passing shoemaking knowledge on globally through his books and work online.
Through history, a huge amount of crafts, techniques and materials have been discarded when time has had its toll. The ones that survive as decades and centuries pass by do it because of a reason. Because they are better than new crafts, techniques and materials. To make shoes by hand, especially using the welted construction, in leather has lived on exactly due to this. This, and the fact that there are people who devote their lives to make sure that the knowledge is passed on to coming generations. People like D.W. Frommer.
D.W. Frommer doing what he loved.
D.W. Frommer II was born in 1946. After high school, a few years in the army and then university, he found his way into shoemaking in Oregon, first through work at shoe repair workshop but eventually he learned western bootmaking in Montana by Mike Ives, which then was what Frommer devoted his life to. The past decade or so he has also made bespoke men’s dress shoes. He has published three books about boot and shoemaking, and trained many shoemaking students.
Western boots was Frommer’s specialty.
In the 90’s he started working with The Honourable Cordwainers’ Company, the H.C.C., which is inspired by old medieval guilds, with the declared goal to “preserve the traditions and the techniques that inform best practices in shoemaking”. The largest impact it has had is through the website and shoemaker’s forum that Frommer built for the organisation already 25 years ago. Back then, information on shoemaking online was way more sparse than it is today, but here aspiring and established shoemakers could find loads of info on shoemaking, download free PDF versions of some of the most acknowledged shoemaking books in history, and talk, discuss and ask questions in the forum. It’s not updated as much in recent years and other forums have taken its place, but I know for a fact that many aspiring makers today still head to this site to gather info.
Speaking of forums, for many D.W. Frommer is mostly recognised for his presence on Styleforum, where he for over a decade spent impressively large amounts of time to educate and talk to other members about shoes. His posts and responses to questions here not only benefit those who asked, they will forever be available for people to read and learn from. For those who google on shoemaking questions, I’m sure you’ve often ended up on a Styleforum thread where Frommer has talked about the things you were looking for.
Bespoke balmoral oxford. Pictures: D.W. Frommer / Keikari (Top picture: 74 Footwear Design)
The forum is also where I got to know him, and through the years we’ve had many good talks but also heated discussions when in disagreement, although we always came back on good terms with each other. He’s also been one of the shoemakers I ask questions when I do research for articles on the blog, which he always took the time to answer thoroughly. He was also very happy when we introduced the World Championships of Shoemaking, and often praised the importance of such things for a craft like this.
On January 31st D.W. Frommer suddenly passed away, after suffering a heart attack. He was making shoes all the way, and actually had a meeting with the H.C.C. just the evening before. His children posted an announcement on his Instagram, and shoemakers from all over the world has shared their condolences and acknowledged his importance for the trade. The shoemaking community is a little poorer today.
The photo D.W. Frommer’s children shared on Instagram.
Sad to hear this. Anybody interested in the actual making of shoes should check out his contributions to Styleforum – it’s quite humbling to see the wealth of knowledge on display from a person who has been really immersed in their craft for so long, particularly compared to the fairly common internet culture of “I’ve read a bit about this topic so I consider myself an expert” that I think we can all be guilty of at times.
P.S. This thread in particular is a goldmine of info:
https://www.styleforum.net/threads/shoemaking-techniques-and-traditions-these-foolish-things.412909/page-199
What a sad day. I didn’t knew his face but I always enjoyed his insightful posts in styleforum and his war against gemming! 😂
He shared so much with the community and he was one of the few with real knowledge accumulated through actual work and not the internet like the majority of us.
I’m forever grateful to have stumbled upon him in this weird life
Sam and Fernando: Sad indeed.
What a sad day.
Bodenusa: Sad indeed.
Only see this bad news now. What a pity. I feel with his family!
I too made acquaintance with DW on Styleforum about 10 years ago.
When I had ordered a new pair RM Williams I had asked the Australian shoemaker if they were willing to subsitute the salpa stiffeners in the forepart of their boots with a real leather stiffener. Mr. Frommer supported me. Nothing changed in the end, RM Williams
referred to fixed procedures. “If you change those procedures, things quickly go wrong .” (quote from memory).
DW Frommer insisted: a good shoe has a leather stiffener. All other arguments are simply about saving money and making more money.
That was before the takeover of RM Williams. I was impressed by DW Frommer’s professional knowledge AND by his rock-solid belief in traditional handicraft.
Shoegazing wrote: The shoemaking community is a little poorer today.
Agree! However, omit “a little” 🙂
Thank you for your reflection, Jesper, it’s much appreciated.
I went and learned to make boots from DW in 2018 and he and his wife were special people. I would keep in touch and call ever so often and the conversation was always the best we talked about everything from Ancient Aligns (the TV show) to how the world is a throw away society and everything in between. I have been traveling and didn’t get notified until this week and I have to say that it is a crushing blow to boot making in America there are a lot of boot makers but not many of them tried to show the correct way of making boots. DW you will be miss for decades to come and for me I hope to see you again someday aloha a hui hou
Lucky Billy: Nice words!
Meeting D.W. @ his shop in Redmond . Oregon years ago I said I had heard he was the best boot maker in America . He kindly looked at me and said ” well , I am the slowest . ”
That was the only time I met him .
Before I left his shop I noticed a pair of green cowboy packer boots and asked the story ,
“I made those for me and as soon as I put them on I knew I had chosen the wrong color !
What a treasure of a fellow .
Corky @ Weasel Bob’s Boot Museum .
I found DW in the 80’s and bought his first book and went about making a boot. I drove to Redmond OR and showed them off to DW and got pointer and tips on what to do better. DW was proud to see that had packed enough information on paper to guide someone in the bootmaking process. I am very saddened to discover the bad news of his passing. RIP DW.