Process: Viberg

Although founded in 1931, Viberg remains entirely family owned and operated, and is still making boots by hand in much the same way they did nearly 90 years ago. Using the best materials from across the globe — tacks from England, insoles from Spain, Vibram outsoles, Swiss hobnails, and leathers from U.S. and Italian tanneries — the company's skilled team performs more than 200 steps on each pair of boots that goes through its factory. Some snapshots of the Viberg x Uncrate Hiker Boot above.

Photos: Guy Ferguson

Process: U-Turn

In the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, just a short drive north of Boston, a small team of workers is busy hand-building quality turntables at the headquarters of U-Turn, one of the few American companies building such machines. It all starts with the blank plinth, and the mix of CNC-routing and hand-drilling used to make the holes required for assembly. Elsewhere in the factory, specialized teams work on creating the tonearms, motor assemblies, cue levers, and spindles. Nearly all the components that aren't made in-house are sourced from within the USA. The main assembly line puts all the various pieces together to create a finished whole, while still others work on testing each and every unit before it heads out the door. In all, the company has 20 different stations working at once, a process that allows them to offer 200 unique turntable configurations, and accommodate specialized designs like our just-announced collaboration.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Process: Join Or Die

Craftsmanship is a word that is often thrown around in an unmerited fashion to describe the quality of work performed on any number of products. That's not the case with bespoke knife workshop Join or Die. Every knife produced in the Richmond, Virginia shop is made by hand by a single craftsman - Brent Stubblefield. His specialty is wooden handle camp knives, so there was no better place for us to have our bourbon barrel knife commissioned. We visited Brent at his shop and documented the meticulous process of making one of our knives, from the forge to the sheath.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Process: Grado Labs

Nearly 70 years ago, Joseph Grado, then a watchmaker at Tiffany & Co., began making phono cartridges inside his home in Brooklyn. Seeing the potential to do more with his craft, Joseph closed the family fruit store and turned it into Grado Laboratories. The decision turned out to be an inspired one, as by 1959 he was awarded patents for the first Stereo Moving Coil Cartridge and went on to enjoy three decades as the leader in the business as vinyl records hit their heyday. But by the late 1980's, as more portable methods of enjoying music came in to be, Joseph retired and sold the business to his nephew, John (who began sweeping the floors of Grado Labs at age 12). That's when Grado Labs began putting more time into the development of their now-acclaimed line of stereo headphones. Each pair of Grado headphones is built by hand in the same Brooklyn-based lab that doubles as the Grado family home. Now considered to be the makers of the first true audiophile quality headphone line ever built, we naturally looked to Grado when releasing a pair of headphones to compliment our turntable.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Process: Rancourt & Co.

Originally founded by David Rancourt, the Lewiston, Maine-based factory operated for over 40 years producing moccasins and other hand-sewn footwear for some of the best brands in the world, all under the direction of David and his eldest son Michael. But in 2008, the owners of the factory announced they'd be closing up shop. That's when Michael and his son Kyle Rancourt stepped in to purchase the entire operation back and put Rancourt & Co. under second and third generation ownership and direction. The family was kind enough to show us around the factory while working on the Rancourt x Uncrate Court Classic. Limited to 100 pairs, our sneaker is made by hand using the same techniques that started with David Rancourt a half-century ago.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Process: Billykirk

Chris and Kirk Bray of NYC-based Billykirk believe in not only making things in America, but making them right, every time. While putting together each of the three bags found in the Billykirk x Uncrate Stopover Collection, we visited the Bray brothers at their design studio and workshop to get a first-hand look at the collaborative collection being made (by hand, of course), as well as spin a few records and throw a few darts. In a design and manufacturing studio full of sewing, stamping, and clamping machines that could easily be at home in a different era, it's hard not to appreciate the sheer amount of time, detail, and ever-so-hard-to-find craftsmanship that goes in to producing just one Billykirk bag.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Process: Horse Brand Co.

Thomas Callahan is the type of guy who could probably build you a car from scratch if you gave him enough time. Inside his one-man Brooklyn workshop, he builds custom bicycles, handmade knives, and other goods under the moniker of Horse Brand Co. We visited Thomas and his feline friend to document the making of our limited edition Uncrate Bison Horn Knife, and came away with some serious workspace envy.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Process: Bugatti Chiron

Nestled in the small city of Molsheim, France is the place where one of the most advanced automobiles in the world comes to life. The sequel to the 268 mph Veyron, the Chiron is even more complex, requiring over 1,800 individual parts to build. In charge of assembling them is a team of just 20 people, who get to work in a special space at the company's headquarters.

Dubbed the "Atelier" and shaped like the company logo, it offers more than 1,000 square metres of pristine work space, with glossy white flooring and a striking design worthy of such an exclusive creation. 12 stations take the car from powertrain to fully-realized supercar, with only one electronic tool in use — a system that lets you know a nut has been tightened with the proper torque.

Once the monocoque and the rear end have been joined, the fluids filled, and the wheels installed, the car is rolled over to the rolling dynamometer. It's all-new for the Chiron, as the old one couldn't handle the increased horsepower, and sits in its own room, with its own ventilation system for vehicle cooling and pollution control. After that, it's time for installation of the bespoke interior and a test drive.

Before delivery, each car undergoes a cosmetic preparation that takes two days, then heads to the light tunnel. Inside, it's given an intense, detailed inspection that takes more than six hours. If it passes that inspection, it's presented before a team of executives who give final approval before handing the keys over to the owner. With a total production time of roughly two months, it's clear that the Chiron is a work of painstaking craftsmanship and engineering, and one of the few cars in the world to truly earn the title "super".

Photos: Bugatti

Process: Filson Bags

When you give a product a lifetime guarantee, you're showing a lot of confidence in how it's built. Such is the case with the Filson Original Briefcase. Added to the company's lineup in 1990 — a relatively new addition, considering they've been in business since 1897 — it's become an everyday essential for countless customers, from laptop-toting creatives to rugged outdoorsmen.

The process starts with the cutting of its rugged twill fabric body and North American bridle leather details. These materials help the bag hold up to years of use and abuse, as does the sewing, which is done inside out so that the interior receives the same amount of care as the exterior. In all, it takes over 70 steps to complete one of these dependable bags, each one done by hand to ensure quality. If you'd like to see the process for yourself, visit the first floor of the company's new Flagship store, housed in their headquarters at 1741 1st Ave S in Seattle, Washington.

Presented by Filson.

Photos: Luke Beard / Uncrate

Process: Filson Restoration Department

While every Filson product is made with outstanding quality and rugged materials, some bags lead a much tougher life than others. That's why each piece is backed by a lifetime guarantee. For those bags that were loved a little too hard but can still be salvaged, they get a new life at the Filson Restoration Department. Located in their Seattle Flagship store, they begin with the deconstruction process, removing every seam and salvaging every piece of leather. But these bags aren't exactly brought back to their former glory. The patches and stitches used to salvage each bag are purposefully made to stand out, keeping intact the story of the bag's previous life while making it functional once again. Once they're reassembled, they're re-waxed and re-conditioned before being resold with the same lifetime warranty as the company's brand-new offerings. As a result, each one is just as unique as the person carrying it, and like their former owners, each has its own stories to tell.

Presented by Filson.

Photos: Luke Beard / Uncrate

Process: Leather Head

Each and every Leather Head ball and mitt is handmade in a cramped workshop in Glen Rock, New Jersey. The workspace is full of leather and nostalgia. And it smells absolutely wonderful. Starting as beautiful leather hides of all varieties and colors, the small company's footballs start as die cut leather panels, which are then sewn, inverted, and filled with a butyl rubber bladder. They're then simply finished up with hand-threading the rawhide lace. It's not a quick process, but Leather Head founder Paul Cunningham wouldn't have it any other way.

Photos: Ruben Hughes / Uncrate

Process: Oak Street x Uncrate

For our new Oak Street x Uncrate Bison Hunt Boots, we spent some long days in Maine, at both the tannery where our bison hides were transformed and the factory where our boots were made. Collected as a byproduct of the bison meat industry, our American shrunken bison leather arrives at the Tasman tannery raw and salted. It's rehydrated, cleaned, and sorted. During the tanning process, Tasman shrinks the grain of the leather using a proprietary formula to enhance the natural beauty of the hides. It's re-tanned with fat liquors and vegetable extracts, and then colored and put through an extensive finishing process. From rawhide to finished leather, it can take up to three weeks. We then delivered the hides to the factory, which is home to fewer than 40 workers. They took the bison leather, and using templates from our friends at Oak Street, crafted 100 pairs of the boots. Each boot passes through the hands of many workers during the process, of which none are sweeter than Rosie, who has stitched more moc toes than she cares to remember.

Photos: Jay Gullion / Uncrate

Process: Shinola Bicycles

Like their watches and leather goods, Shinola's bicycles are made in Detroit. Just not at the Argonaut building. Instead, they're made at the company's retail store, where you can gawk at the ongoing assembly right behind the cash registers. While not every component is USA-sourced, they are all high-quality. The frames and forks are handcrafted from US-made True Temper tubing in Waterford, Wisconsin, the leather saddles are handmade in-house, and the Shimano internal hubs are known for the reliability. In other words, they're built to last years, just like the rest of the company's products — with the main difference being that you have an open invitation to watch them being assembled any time you find yourself in the Motor City.

Presented by Shinola.

Process: Shinola Watches

Manufacturing in Detroit has a rich history that predates Henry Ford's assembly line, and it's this heritage that lives on at Shinola. We decided we needed a closer look at the company's watch-making process, so we drove up to the Motor City to visit the Shinola watch factory. Housed on the fifth floor of the Argonaut Building — formerly known as the GM Research Lab — Shinola is bringing hand-powered watch making back to America one timepiece at a time. The workers hand-build each timepiece, meticulously seating and fitting together as many as 100 parts per watch — including the Detroit-built movement made with Swiss parts — until they meet the final, one-person quality test, creating lasting products that rival their European counterparts in quality but exhibit a strength that's unique to the place in which they're built. America. Detroit.

Presented by Shinola