Mark Barbera of Mark Albert Boots had a dream: make some Chelsea boots. Next thing he knew, he had an entire boot company, operating out of his hometown of Somerset, the little known maple syrup (and maple butter wings) capital of Pennsylvania. Fast forward a few years and Mark has expanded his line to include a made-in-Italy range to honor his master cobbler grandfather, and has plenty more big plans in the works. We get into the advice he would give to someone starting a boot company, the challenges the US footwear industry faces and where he sees it going, which other bootmakers he feels are working it these days, and of course, those wings. This episode was sponsored by Standard & Strange, where you don't NEED an engineering degree to buy their engineer boots...but it helps. Theme music: The Road by Punk Rock Opera