Yes, you read that right. We’re not only moving our huge classic men’s shoe and menswear event in the U.S. from New York to Chicago. We’re also joining forces with Stitchdown Expo, formerly known as Boot Camp, the world’s largest gathering for quality boots and other more rugged footwear, plus other quality goods and suppliers. November 6-7 at Artifact Events in Chicago will be a true banger of a weekend that you don’t want to miss.
In 2023 we hosted our first American edition of the Super Trunk Show. In a venue on Upper East Side in New York, we gathered some 15 shoe and menswear brands and had around 1,000 visitors each year, held the U.S. Championships of Shoe Shining and had loads of other shoe happenings. It’s been great days for sure, but we organisers – me Jesper Ingevaldsson of Shoegazing, Justin FitzPatrick of The Shoe Snob, and Kirby Allison with his self titled YouTube channel – are always interested in developments and trying new things.
So last year, we started talking with Ben Robinson of Stitchdown, about doing something together. He had organised three hugely successful editions of the Boot Camp event, two in New York and one in Chicago, and we’ve been in touch about things through the years given we all focus on quality footwear, albeit us more on the classic side and him on more rugged stuff. But some exhibitors and visitors were part of both events, and when Boot Camp was in New York we alway made sure to have them in neighbouring weekends. It could make sense to go closer.
From last year’s Stitchdown event in Chicago.
The venue in Chicago where Ben had the Boot Camp event last year was a great location, and it also has room to grow things even more. So, we’re quite thrilled that we today can announce that we are moving our event to Chicago and join forces with Ben, to do the Chicago Super Trunk Show at Stitchdown Expo 2026.
This will be a massive thing, where we aim to bring together 2000+ attendees and 50+ shoe brands and other quality goods makers and suppliers, for two spectacular days at Artifact Events in the northern parts of Chicago. Apart from the regular exhibitions, there will be a bunch of other happenings and stuff going on both at the venue and outside these days.
Saphir with a great setup at the event with lots of on-location shoe care sessions
Some of what you can expect is:
– The Americas Championships of Shoe Shining – live on stage, presented by Saphir Medaille d’Or. We expand the contest to be open for participants from the whole of North America and South America, more on that later.
– Expert sizing across hundreds of lasts from the world’s best makers
– Live shoemaking and high-end repair, on-site
– Friday Night Market – open until 9PM, DJ, drinks, the best community in footwear
Grant Stone’s popular Traveler Penny Loafers.
We will soon start selling tickets to the event, including some highly special VIP offerings with unique experiences part of it. Later this year we will announce the full line-up of exhibitors, but already now we can present a bunch of superb brands that will be exhibiting in November.
Presenting sponsors
Grant Stone (footwear)
Nicks Boots (footwear)
Saphir (shoe care)
Gold sponsors
Bedo’s Leatherworks (cobbler and leather repair)
Dimar Shoe Repair (cobbler)
Landis (shoe machinery)
White’s (footwear)
Silver sponsors
Blk Brd (footwear)
Hashimoto (leather wholesaler)
Herman Oak Leather (tannery)
Red Wing (footwear)
S.B. Foot Tanning Co. (tannery)
Shinki-Hikaku (tannery)
Tochgi Leather (tannery)
Bronze sponsors
Bridlen (footwear)
Caswell (footwear)
Charles Paige (clothes)
Divij Bespoke (clothes)
Peter Qu (footwear)
Shoemaker’s Corner
Emi Bespoke (footwear)
Some of the coolest boots of last year’s show, by Nick’s Boots.
And as mentioned, many more to come. Stay tuned for when we release the tickets to the event, and for our full line-up announcement later on. And do mark your calendars for November 6-7 and book your travels now, this true world’s fair of shoe and bootmakers is something you don’t want to miss!
The Chicago Super Trunk Show at Stitchdown Expo will be full of exhibitors and happenings.
This is truly exciting. I attending the Boot Camp last year and it was super impressive. I can’t wait to see what other brands are added as sponsors
Michael: Nice, hope to have you in Chicago again this year!