Cade&Co

Every pair of Cade&Co baby shoes is sewn by the same person, and Mountain Park City put the total at about 30,000 pairs since 2003. Naomi Doyle makes them in Park City from cowhide that the magazine says is made to feel like lambskin. The lining is thin pigskin, and the sole is non-slip garment suede. "I've got the whole farm involved," she joked.

The idea came from behind a jogging stroller. After her two sons were born, Doyle spent long hours pushing them around Park City, and from there she could see which little shoes stayed on and which ones looked any good. "I thought, 'why is boy stuff so ugly?'" she told Park City Magazine in 2018. In 2003, as her second son took his first steps, she bought a sewing machine and stitched her first pair of leather slip-ons.

She sold a few pairs at the farmers market and named the company for the boys, Cade and Collin. By 2018 the magazine counted 18,000 to 20,000 pairs in more than 75 styles for boys and girls. The 2026 count means roughly another 10,000 have passed through her hands since, which is a lot of very small shoes.

The shoe itself is a soft-soled slip-on, cut for babies and early walkers. The company says the suede sole protects small feet while letting them feel the ground as they learn to stand. Doyle says the shoes form to a baby's foot after a few hours of wear, "so they feel like a sock and stay on really well." Mountain Park City notes a gentle elastic at the ankle and says they can go on without socks.

In January 2015 Cade&Co opened a studio and shop at 136 Heber Ave., across the hall from the Sundance ticket offices. Park City Magazine later reported that Doyle could often be spotted stitching shoes in the shop window. That August the Tour of Utah finished just outside her door, and Chris Horner, there with his teammates and family, accepted a pair of her "I Love Bicycles" shoes for his seven-month-old son. Few stage finishes hand out a souvenir that size.

The catalog leans local. Park City (navy) spells out the town in sand lettering on navy leather, and the shop says it has been a best seller with locals and visitors for years. Desert Tortoise salutes what its listing calls "Southern Utah's favorite resident, faster than expected." She also takes custom orders and corporate gifts, Mountain Park City says, and the designs include one called Monty the Montage Bernese Mountain Dog.

Most designs cost $56, and most sizes cover a six-month window, so each pair has a short working life. After the 2 to 3 year size, the customer graduates to shoes sewn by strangers.