Red Wing Works to Fit Shoes to the Job
A worker places irregularly shaped dies on the heavy tanned cowhide as if he were laying cookie cutters on dough, then lowers the pressure arm to cut.
He raises the arm and places the dies again. Lower. Cut. Raise. Move. He works around an area where a cattle brand damaged the leather, saving the scraps to be recycled into fertilizer.
About 3 1/2 hours and 150 to 225 operations later, the full-grain leather pieces will be a pair of Red Wing boots or work shoes.
While the U.S. shoe industry has been consolidating for decades as it loses market to overseas manufacturers, Red Wing Shoe Co. has continued to grow in its niche, specialized work shoes.
In addition to two factories in Red Wing that produce about 10,000 pairs of shoes daily, the company in 1994 purchased plants in Potosi, Mo., and Danville, Ky., that together make about 12,000 pairs of shoes each week.
Bill Sweasy, chairman and chief executive, said the company has experienced slow but steady growth. Although he declined to release specific figures for the privately held company, he said estimates of 1996 revenue approaching $300 million were “in the ballpark.”
Red Wing has more than 2,500 employees, about 2,000 in its shoe manufacturing operations, 400 at its tannery in Red Wing and 150 at the downtown St. James Hotel, also part of the company.
While Red Wing’s growth has continued, overall American shoe production has dropped about 5% annually over the past 10 years, according to Footwear Industries of America. About 90% of the shoes bought in the United States last year were imported, mainly from China.
One reason for Red Wing’s growth is the focus on work shoes, Sweasy said. Only about half of the work shoes sold in the United States are imported, he said.
“What we offer would be very difficult to offer as an import item,” Sweasy said. “We have 150 styles of just work shoes in sizes 4 to 18,” he said. At least 85% of the Red Wing line is work shoes, though they may look like wingtips, loafers, athletic shoes or hiking boots.
“A lot is built into our shoes that you don’t need for fashion,” Sweasy said of the rugged, sturdy shoes designed for people who spend the day on their feet and want their shoes to last.
Many of the styles have been in the line for years. Red Wing’s original Irish Setter 9-inch high lace-up boot was introduced in 1948. The boot that cost $12.65 in 1955 now retails for $182 and remains popular, Sweasy said.
“You can get a shoe that matches your use. A welder doesn’t wear the same type of shoe as a person who works in a warehouse. Some shoes are better on rocks, some on mud. Some can work with caustic chemicals, some with metal chips,” he said.
Red Wing has shoes designed for letter carriers, loggers, factory workers, farmers, firefighters and electrical linemen. There are shoes with steel toes, boots with metatarsal guards and boots with gaiters designed to jam chain saw teeth on contact.
Some boots have soles designed to protect against electrical hazard; others have metal plates in the soles to protect firefighters when they step on nails in burning buildings.
“There’s no way you could offer that and source overseas,” Sweasy said.
All Red Wing brand shoes sold in the United States--at prices ranging from $90 to $250--are made in the country, Sweasy said. Red Wing’s Irish Setter hunting and outdoor footwear, to be spun off as a separate division this year, also is made in the United States.
But the company has hedged its bets. Some Red Wings sold outside the United States are made in Mexico and elsewhere, Sweasy said. All of its popular Vasque hiking boots (about 10% of the company’s sales) are made by contractors overseas.
About 15% of Red Wing Shoe Co.’s sales are outside the United States, with Japan the biggest customer, Sweasy said.
Building Red Wing boots and shoes remains a hands-on craft, just as it was 92 years ago when the company was founded. About 90% of the shoe is done by hand, said Mark Sweeney, a factory manger.
“It’s a very difficult process to automate,” he said. “Every cut and every piece is different because you’re working with natural materials.”
Workers still use many of the same machines used by their grandparents in the 1940s and 1950s to sew, tack and trim the footwear.
“It’s not just a place to work,” said Chris Anway, who has run a sewing machine in the factory for 20 years. “We have many laughs. The money’s not bad. I’ve been treated very, very nicely.”
Most of the factory workers, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, make more than $12 an hour, she said. Workers have only gone on strike once, for 5 1/2 weeks in late 1980.
Red Wing traditionally hasn’t done much advertising, but the company recently began a national campaign in magazines and on radio, television and billboards.
The television ads, featuring a cowboy, an electrical worker and a floor sander on the job, focus on brand recognition with the message: “Comfort that never quits--Red Wing Shoes work hard.”
“We put a big chunk into building the product. We put $3 to $4 a pair into advertising. Other companies maybe put $30 a pair into advertising. That’s $30 they don’t have to put into the shoes,” Sweasy said.
“It’s a different philosophy. Both are selling people exactly what they want and what they’re expecting,” he added.
“Our typical customer is somebody who depends on their footwear to perform their job. As a general rule, they’re not bought as an accessory,” Sweasy said.
