What It Actually Takes to Make a Sneaker After 4 Years Away

Mark Strong spent four-plus years making his first shoe. Not because he was slow — because making a sneaker from scratch is genuinely that hard when you don't have a factory, a team, or a budget that allows for mistakes. In this episode, I sit down with Mark to talk through the entire process behind the Saint65 SV1 "Radici"... from a Garrison design contest he didn't win, to a Portugal factory that disappeared mid-sample, to finally landing 60 pairs with hairy suede uppers, Vibram soles, and laces from a Tennessee tannery that makes Rawlings baseball glove leather. We get into what samples actually cost, why China's manufacturing reputation is more complicated than people think, the indigo-dyed hemp tongues that almost didn't exist, and what the name "Radici"—roots in Italian—means to someone who grew up split between Alabama and Tennessee with Italian great-grandparents from Brooklyn. This is the conversation that doesn't happen enough in sneakers. It's not about hype. It's about the real work behind making something. 🔗 SV1 "Radici" (a few pairs left): https://saint65.com/products/radici-by-saint-sixty-five 📸 Follow Saint65: @saintsixtyfive 📬 The Sneaker Newsletter: https://thesneakernewsletter.com 🎙️ More episodes: https://sneakerhistory.com Timestamps: 0:00 — Why independent sneaker stories matter 2:51 — Meet Mark Strong and Saint65 5:19 — The Garrison contest, the first sketches, and what inspired the design 8:53 — Why Made in USA didn't work ($300/pair) 10:21 — T