HD Russell Boots was founded in 2019 by David, whose family has been making shoes for more than 60 years. David’s love of family is deeply connected to his chosen craft. He was a teenager at the time that the revolution in Iran took place in 1979, and in 1981 at the age of 19 when he was supposed to attend post secondary, all of the institutions of higher learning in Iran were closed and forced to re-write their curricula to support the politics of the revolution. David began to work in the family business of shoe making – 4 of his uncles were cordwainers and he learned the craft from them. He devoted the energy that he normally would have committed to post-secondary studies to furthering the family craft.

David and his brother Russell had always been close growing up – they had fun, got into trouble and supported each other in a close family. In 2003, David’s brother went missing under mysterious circumstances and the mystery surrounding his disappearance was never fully resolved. The lack of closure was layered on top of the grief and loss. In July of 2014 after years of reflection and as a response to that loss, David committed himself to founding HD Russell Boots to honour his family craft and his connection to his brother.

DAVID: “AFTER THAT HE WAS LIVING IN ME. HE’S NOT GONE, HE LIVES IN MY HEART. I FEEL LOVE FOR MY BROTHER AND I FEEL HIM ALIVE IN ME WHENEVER I AM WORKING. IT GAVE ME PURPOSE TO MAKE THIS BUSINESS AND MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Our team has overcome many obstacles since we founded the business. We all put our hearts and souls into everything we make and that dedication and love has seen HD Russell Boots through challenging times.