Report - Brass / Clinch Boots

Among the top Japanese makers of heritage workwear boots stands Brass, the company behind the revered Clinch brand. Founded by Minoru Matsuura, Brass has become synonymous with premium craftsmanship, doing handmade really high quality often vintage boots styles that are sought after by customers around the world.

The home of Brass and Clinch Boots is a nice old building in the Setagaya district, in western Tokyo. The store entrance has a lovely wooden front, while the backside of the house is really cool with large retro style mural painting with company info. The atmosphere follows along into the store which is filled with great boots on display, as well as some old stuff that has been used for inspiration.
– We’ve been here for many years, and slowly taken over more and more of the building. We have several floors and areas, says Minoru Matsuura, the company founder.

The front and shop entrance of Brass.

Shelves with Clinch Boots.

Minoru Matsuura.

Minoru Matsuura’s passion for craftsmanship runs deep. His mother worked as a tailor, and his father was an architect, which gave him an early exposure to both precision and creativity. After graduating with a degree in factory engineering, he initially worked in industrial manufacturing, but quickly realised it was not the path he wanted to follow. At 25, he shifted to shoe repair and worked as a cobbler for another company.

Minoru established Brass in 2007, and at the time focus was solely on shoe repair. Unlike many shoemakers who begin directly with manufacturing, Minoru Matsuura took the approach of first understanding footwear through repair. His reasoning was clear—by deconstructing and restoring boots, he could learn exactly how they were made, where they failed, and how they could be improved.

Five years later, in 2012, he launched Clinch as a standalone boot brand, made by the company Brass. So Brass is the business who do repairs and own the boot and shoe brand Clinch, that’s the setup, for those who find it a bit confusing. Minoru’s vision was to create classic workwear footwear that retained the spirit of vintage models, particularly those from the early 20th century up to the 1990s. However, rather than purely replicating historical designs, he sought to refine them, mixing handwork with machine processes to maintain an optimal balance between craftsmanship and affordability.

Unstructured toe boots.

Starting heel building.

Ready for outsole.

Brass operates on a small but highly specialised scale, producing only 800–1,000 pairs of Clinch boots per year. The workshop is split across multiple locations: here in the main facility where the bottom making and finishing are made, the upper-making area located on the top floors, and another space ten minutes away for cutting and preparation.

One of the defining aspects of Clinch boots is the exceptional leather selection. The brand sources hides from some famed tanneries in Italy, France, and Japan, and is very particular in their leather selection, ensuring that each pair meets high standards. The boots are hand-lasted, welted by hand in most cases, and then stitched using a sole stitching machine, making them 90% handmade according to the established Japanese definition. While Minoru values craftsmanship by hand, he believes that judicious use of machinery allows him to keep prices reasonable without compromising much on quality.
– And I prefer the welted technique. It comes from my years as repairman, I know what’s durable, easily reparable and gives best potential for a really long lifespan, he says.

The boots on Minoru Matsuura’s feet.

Parts for shoes.

Minoru Matsuura with Yoshi Minolu, the brand’s communication partner and international agent.

Tan roughout.

Brass has built a strong presence in the boot industry not only domestically but since many years also internationally, with demand for Clinch boots increasing steadily. Currently, approximately 70% of Clinch boots are sold internationally, with the United States accounting for half of those exports, followed by Europe and Asia.

Prices start from about €1,250 for low shoes, while boots start from around €1,800. To reach customers directly, Clinch try to hold trunk shows regularly in cities like New York, but have also been to London, Auckland and Taipei. These events provide an opportunity for enthusiasts to experience the boots firsthand, place Made to Order requests, and engage with the brand on a personal level. The MTO service comes with a 20% upcharge and a waiting time of 24 months, reflecting the high demand of their products.

The brand’s most popular models include engineer boots and jodhpur boots, both of which reflect Minoru’s appreciation for vintage designs. Customers often seek Clinch boots for their distinct styling, durability, and the attention to detail that goes into their production. Minoru personally tests his boots, wearing them on hikes and in various conditions to understand how they perform over time. This hands-on approach ensures that every refinement is grounded in real-world wearability.

Despite the brand’s success, expansion remains a challenge for the brand, for a particular reason.
– Skilled workers are difficult to find, and we only hire experienced craftsmen, as training from scratch would be too time-consuming, Minoru says.
The team currently consists of 10–11 members, with three are handling office duties and the rest are dedicated to production and repair work.

Parts of uppers.

Skiving machine.

Shoe boxes ready for dispatch.

However, one way the company do expand is in neighbouring product areas. They have some clothing, and they are producing heels and soles under the famous O’Sullivan name. For those who don’t know, O’Sullivan was one of the big, classic manufacturers of especially rubber heels but also soles and other rubber parts for shoes back in the days. They were huge in other parts of plastic and rubber manufacturing, but went through a big decline, and the remnants became part of Continental a few years ago. Brass has bought the rights to produce O’Sullivan’s heels and soles, which they use on their own shoes and now also offer to the market.

Looking ahead, Minoru Matsuura envisions expanding beyond just production. One of his long-term ambitions is to establish a shoemaking academy. With traditional shoemaking schools disappearing in Japan, he sees an urgent need to preserve and pass down knowledge to future generations.
– I’m worried about this situation, and what it will mean for the shoemaking knowledge in our country in the future. My idea is to start with basic workshops where participants learn repair techniques and gradually build up to a full-fledged shoemaking school. It’s just that lack of time that is the main challenge.

Engineers are some of the most popular Clinch styles.

Jodphurs is another Clinch classic.

Many of their boots have O’Sullivan soles.

Double soled grain leather boots.

While Clinch has become the primary focus, repair work for a long time has remained an integral part of Brass’s operations. Five years ago, the business was split evenly between new boot production and repair, but today, 70% of their work is dedicated to Clinch boots, with repair services making up the remaining 30%. Brass now specialises in complex repairs, often reconstructing boots from the ground up. An example is their work on Red Wing engineer boots, which they remade on Clinch lasts to enhance their fit and aesthetics.
– As an example we are currently working on a highly intricate restoration, where we’re rebuilding a button boot while retaining only the original shaft due to sizing constraints, says Minoru.

Worth noting though, that this visit was done a while back, currently they have experienced such a backlog that they temporarily closed accepting new repairs. It can of course be seen as a positive thing though, that a company like Brass and their products and services are so sought after nowadays. With a steadily growing international following and ambitious plans for the future, Clinch is poised to remain a key player in the world of high-quality workwear boots for years to come.