Behind the Railtown Camp Moc

From the Workshop to the Trail

When we lined up the drawings for Volume 02, we knew we wanted to follow a different path. If Volume 01 was about navigating concrete in a heavy-soled boot, this chapter is about what happens when you step off the clock, drop the tailgate, and look for a softer footing.

Enter the Railtown Camp Moc.

Like every pattern we bring to the bench, the Camp Moc is our attempt to pull a classic silhouette out of the noise of disposable fashion. It is a footwear style born out of the Canadian wilderness — a true utilitarian moccasin engineered for West Coast life, but rebuilt for the city miles in between.

The Comeback Shoe

To understand the construction of this shoe, you have to understand the perspective of the hands shaping it. Every pattern tells a story, and for Jules – our head designer and shoemaker – the Railtown Camp Moc marks a deeply personal return to the workbench.

Before Archive, there were twelve years spent building and repairing footwear at Love Jules Leather. For a self-taught maker, those years were an intense, non-stop education. Every consecutive product was a direct accumulation of the lessons, mistakes, and triumphs that came before it. But a decade of that pace eventually takes its toll, and the journey ended – like so many – in burnout.

“There are some regrets that I carried for years after leaving, and one of them was that I wasn't done, I wanted to keep creating and designing. As an owner of Archive Leather, I now have an opportunity to continue this work. And this shoe is my first shoe back.” – Jules Symons

Archive became the second chance to pick up the tools again. The Railtown Camp Moc is the very first shoe designed for this new era, making it, in the truest sense, a comeback shoe. It represents a return to a silhouette that feels entirely familiar (coincidentally, a moccasin was the first style ever built in the old workshop), but approached with sharper instincts, and a distinctly adventurous twist.

The Slow Way to Make a Shoe

The default setting of the modern footwear industry is speed. Parts are stamped out by machines, bound with industrial adhesives, and hurried out of factories before the ink on the box can dry. We choose a different pace, by design.

To build the Camp Moc properly we needed a workshop of our own. Enter Railtown, Vancouver, and the namesake of this shoe. Tucked hard against the shipping docks and the railyards, this corner of the city has always been a place where things get made, loaded, and moved. It’s a neighborhood defined by industrial brick, low-key grit, and a community of independent designers and makers who understand the value of honest labor—the perfect anchor for our new chapter.

There are no shortcuts here. The leather is skived, stitched, and pulled over the last, adjusting for tension in a way that allows the hide to move naturally with your foot from day one. It is slower, more expensive, and harder than doing it overseas. We think it is worth it.

Sourced for the Long Haul

A casual shoe shouldn't mean a delicate build. For Volume 02, we meticulously selected two heavy-weight horse leathers. From the Maryam tannery in Tuscany, we select a vegetable-tanned Italian horsebutt. “Culatta Cavallo Vacchetta,” it starts light and develops a deep, personal patina dictated purely by your climate, your stride, and where you take it.

Our second leather is sourced from Chicago’s historic Horween Leather Co. This is a heavy-substance “double horsefront” leather built for a life of hard use. It has a distinctive shrunken grain that gives the hide a naturally rugged, distressed appearance right from the first cut. It is resilient against the elements and lightens up beautifully where the foot flexes, recording the story of your miles.

Underneath, this durable foundation is anchored by a natural leather midsole, solid brass hardware, and two world-class outsoles. For an uncompromising, heavy-duty stance built to handle rough terrain and concrete alike, the deep-grooved Vibram® Montagna 132 lugged sole provides maximum stability and classic, rugged utility.

If you prefer a softer, more fluid stride for daily city miles, the Aspen wedge sole from Lactae Hevea offers a premium, naturally shock-absorbing gum base harvested from hevea rubber trees in France. It delivers an exceptionally comfortable, flexible footprint without losing an ounce of heavy-duty resilience.

Intimacy Over Inventory

Volume 02 is strictly limited to a small, made-to-order run. Keeping our batches tight means we don’t hoard excess inventory or worry about warehouse space. Instead, it allows us to focus entirely on the anatomical precision of the build, offering widths and sizing care rarely found in ready-to-wear footwear.

When you order a pair, the process begins with a technical review of your measurements. We prefer to get the first chapter right before a single piece of leather is cut.

Pristine shoes belong in a box, not on the street. Our leathers are chosen because they respond to life. They will mark, they will crease, and they will collect the grit of the pavement. We don't hide from that wear; we build for it.

Bring on the patina.

Explore Volume 02 and the Railtown Camp Moc, or book a 1:1 virtual fitting with the team to talk through your pair.