Made in the U.S.A.

It was only a few months ago when I challenged our readers to put some thought in to what brand of shoes they choose to wear on their feet. Fast forward to today and I've found myself in a hypocritical predicament. Lately, we've been more about pancakes and soccer in our day to day lives than the usual pancakes and skateboards.

This helps explain why there has been less posting as of late as I'm not even photographing the games. Instead I've gone and volunteered my way on to the team bench as head coach. That sounds all fine and dandy, but where does the hypocrisy come in you might ask? Head coaches of our soccer club are required to don the complimentary neck down Adidas club gear. Don't get me wrong, I love to show club and team pride,but to do this I'm heavily adorned in Adidas. That is exactly the same type of activity that I wrote so negatively of just a few months ago.

I was wondering how I could redeem myself, when the right opportunity landed right on my lap ...or more specifically, right in my e-mail inbox.

This is our friend Dan McRorie.

...He's always been one to help us out with any project we were working on, just like the shot from the La Lucha series above. Unfortunately for us, Dan moved to away. Fortunately for the residents of Brooklyn, New York, Dan relocated to their neck of the woods. Dan has always been busy with creative projects from art exhibitions, film, T.V., skateboarding (of course), customizing cars and for as long as I've known him... repairing and making shoes from scratch!

Sterling Batson shot the images below for Dan's Rickard Guy handmade shoe line.

It turns out Dan's not the only one proudly making unique, "made in the U.S.A." items in Brooklyn. He's teamed up with some colleagues that fall under the umbrella of Knickerbocker. Here's their story...

Now this is where the redemption comes in for me running around town and on the soccer pitch looking like the long lost member of RUN DMC. Go to Knickerboker's Kickstarter Page and contribute to their goal of raising $15,000 to purchase two pieces of equipment that allow them to do 100% of their manufacturing in house without having to outsource the work. They're just about half way of reaching their goal and there are only 14 days to go! Many of the pledge levels will get you something for yourself, so be sure to check out their page and contribute!

This is our way of saying thanks to Dan for always helping us and thanks to Knickerbocker for keeping it real and keeping it made in North America!