Limmer Boots: A Tale Of Two Countries
Peter Limmer Brought Bavarian Skills To Company In Intervale
The Limmer boot, known for its quality, durability, and comfort, carries on the bookmaking tradition of old Bavaria where company founder Peter Limmer Sr. learned the trade from his father, Franz Xavier Limmer, at the age of 9. Now operating out of Intervale, New Hampshire, Peter Limmer & Sons makes custom hiking boots that are in such demand that the backlog of orders can extend as long as three years.
People are willing to wait because of the attention to detail, beginning with custom measurements in a consultation that can take as much as three hours. Armed with those detailed measurements of the feet, the bookmakers first build a “last” for each foot. The last — a word based on the Old English word, “las”, which means “footprint” — is a model of the customer’s foot that is used to build the boot around.
“I’ve got both left and right foot measurements,” explained the current owner, Adam Lane-Olsen. “We’ll also take imprints as well, [to show] pressure points. We can see the shape of the arch, and all those get considered as we’re putting that last together. Then we build up [the basic form] with scraps of leather.”
The last then gets sanded, trimmed, and ground to a point where it resembles the customer’s foot.
“So then that boot can then be built around that, and then the last will come out of the boot, and then their foot will go in, and it will fit like their foot,” Adam explained. “It’s a very important part of what we do, and we take great care to make sure that part is right, so that works. The boots will be something very special to them, and how it fits.”
The company holds on to the lasts so the customer can re-order when the time comes.
“We have lasts for hundreds of people,” Adam said.
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