Sunday, April 19, 2015

Baby's got new shoes


     Shopping at Nordstrom's Rack on a Saturday is not my idea of fun. But it was mid-afternoon. I'd been working away since 5 a.m. My wife invited me to come along. It seemed a festive outing. 
      Now, it just so happened that these patent leather Oxfords with red stitching were just sitting there, in my hard-to-find size, 8 1/2EEE. Which normally I wouldn't touch, but as it is, I'm master of ceremonies again this year for the Night Ministry's fancy black tie charity ball at the Standard Club—June 4, if you're interested—and it struck me that I should get formal shoes to go along with my tux.  Street shoes made me feel, well, not quite dressed to the 9s as a master of ceremonies should be.
    The red stitching threw me off. I'd have to wear them with a red bow tie and cummerbund.  Some consultation was in order.
     "Honey," I asked my wife, holding up the shoes. "Do you think I can get away wearing these with my tux?"
     "You don't have to be boring all the time," she replied, and I must have looked like a puppy that had been stepped on, so she elaborated: "When I met you, you would wear these bright-colored shoes."
     Boring AND a shadow of my former flamboyant self. Thanks honey.
     That sealed the deal. Well, that and the fact they were 2/3 off, and made by Allen Edmonds, whose Wisconsin factory I visited five years ago, and developed brand loyalty toward, if you can have brand loyalty for a product you don't actually own.  This is the report I filed:

     Precisely 120 miles due north of the Wrigley Building is the largest men's shoe factory in the United States, the Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. in Port Washington, Wis.
     There—not in China, nor in India—sheets of calfskin, miles of thread and gallons of glue are turned into about 1,000 pairs of men's shoes every day. Shoes whose given names — Bradley and Kendall, Grayson and Maxfield, Ashton and Powell—evoke both boardroom elegance and, at least to me, the class roster of a North Shore preschool.
     I spent hours prowling Allen Edmonds on Monday, and the good news is there's absolutely nothing moribund, doomstruck or woebegone about the place—it is perhaps the cleanest factory I've ever visited, with the possible exception of a flatbed scanner plant in Taiwan, and there we had to wear white paper suits and go through an airlock to blow the dust off our clothes, so it's an unfair comparison.
     A quality shoe is constructed around a foot-shaped form called a "last." But I must pause, before getting bogged down in the 200 steps it takes to make a shoe, from the person who circles imperfections in the hides so the pieces that become a shoe can be puzzle-cut around them, to the man who grinds away a small corner of each inner heel, so it doesn't catch on the cuff of your suit (as someone who has wrecked his share of pants cuffs on the knife point heel of my Church's wing tips, I particularly admired that detail).
     The true wonder of Allen Edmonds, beyond the fact that they will custom make a pair of size 21 AA brogues in purple leather for you, if you so desire, is that it's still in Wisconsin, since 1922, despite the triple whammy that gutted most of the American shoe industry.

WHAT WE DO MAKE: DEBT, FANATICS


      First, cheap foreign labor. Since 1968, some 98 percent of America's shoe production has tap-danced overseas. The Brown Shoe Co.— which made St. Louis into a shoe-making center, introducing Buster Brown Shoes at the 1904 World's Fair there—closed its last American factory 25 years ago. Cole-Haan stopped making shoes in Maine in 1999. Florsheim began in Chicago in 1892 and closed its last Illinois plant 100 years later
     You get the picture.
     Allen Edmonds employs about 300 people at the factory—with another 300 at stores and warehouses—and was purchased in 2006 by a Minneapolis private equity firm for $123 million. Its most dramatic change since then has been to open a small hand-stitching operation in the Dominican Republic—not, spokesman Colin Hall vows, as the vanguard for any overseas move, but to boost its casual line.
     American manufacturers survive by working the niches, and Allen Edmonds capitalizes on the fact that human feet range greatly in size.
     "Most guys are between an 8? and 11, most are D widths, which is the medium width in America," said Hall. "So people manufacture in that core size, and if you're a brand, and don't do your own manufacturing, you're basically buying from a company in China or India. You're going to buy heavy on the center of that bell curve, because you know you'll sell the most there. We'll have the bell curve, but we'll also have the extremes, we have 6AA, we can make you a size 23 EEE."

BUT THESE KLEENEX BOXES WORK FINE!

     The second blow has been style -- a young man who a decade ago went to work in khakis, a dress shirt and penny-loafers is now showing up in cargo shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops that cost a penny to be shot-injected into a mold in Szechwan.
     Allen Edmonds has been trying to surf this trend by creating a range of casual shoes, such as white slip-ons stitched in red, meant to resemble baseballs.
     The third factor scuffing the shoe industry, whether domestic or foreign, is the recession, which hit quality men's shoes especially hard, since one of the attractions of a well-made shoe is that it lasts, and when times are tight you can give yours a quick buff and get by for another few months. Allen Edmonds shoes are not cheap—they start at $125 a pair and sail off to $500 and beyond.
     How tough has the recession been on the shoe business? In 2008, 2,300 shoe factories closed . . . in a single province in China.
     Allen Edmonds fights to stay alive through an intriguing blend of high and low tech. It might be applying the name of each shoe in gold letters, one sole at a time, by a worker at a machine, or burnish the finish of each toe over an open flame, but a running tally of the current daily production quality is displayed on a big electronic board on the factory floor.
     
     Who'd have thought that a shoe factory would exceed my one topic/one column policy? But I haven't even told you about the guy who requested that his father's ashes be molded into the soles of his shoes. Nor about Barack Obama's regrettable bow to Chinese totalitarianism at his inauguration, and how Allen Edmonds struggled to stop him—a true treat for all those readers who spend their days searching for things to blame on Obama, with the added bonus of actually being true.
     —Originally published in the Sun-Times March 26, 2010

This, obviously was the first of two parts. Since I don't want to overwhelm you with any given topic—I learned my lesson with the puppets—I'll leave it up to you whether we go with the second half of my Allen Edmonds visit tomorrow or feature whatever I write for the newspaper instead. Thoughts?

46 comments:

  1. Please Neil, the second part of the Allen Edmonds column. Quite sharp shoes you picked up today. I agree that shoe shopping is not pleasant, though Nordstrom Rack is the place, it seems, to find some spectacular shoes at a great price as long as you're willing to put forth the elbow grease. I'm a 12 EEEE with very,very flat feet (shoes with arch support make my feet hurt!), so I feel your pain.

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  2. Dude: 8 1/2 EEE? My condolences. My old man was 6 CCC. "Tapdancing overseas," "scuffing the shoe industry," LOL as the Cool Kids Say. Encore...

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  3. Ouch, "boring all the time." How could you be with your great writing wit and literary background? Don't get cocky with her though back or you are in for it, grin.

    Well sometimes I take hubby for granted too and we shouldn't with spouses.

    Florsheim might make some special sizes, if you can find them. Love the wingtips.

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    1. Good to see something of quality made in the U.S. One shoe store clerk was once bragging how his shoes were from Europe. Oh, Italy perhaps, no Romania he said. Not quite the same.

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    2. Too bad the profile doesn't offer Facebook choices to post with.

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  4. I once saw a similar, fine shoe that an African-American student was wearing to prom.

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  5. Yes, I think some here would be interested in more about an American manufacturing of a fine product-since we are inundated by Chinese goods. Let's see part II please. We wish them well and hope they hang in there.

    We can't afford Nordstrom's but my spouse found some good ones at DSW.

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  6. This is a lot better than puppet info.

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  7. The shoes would be perfect if they had a black shoe lace instead . The red lace a bit gaudy. No, I'm not a senior citizen, just a couple of years older than the host. (born-1959)

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  8. Bet you can't find those at Payless.

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  9. 8 and a half? You must not be very tall.

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  10. I'll read both, but why not just post both of them? I love the Bonus posts on day when something sparks you to share a thought or
    An obit.

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  11. Yes, please give us Part II of the walking tour. Stopping midway would mean you have no sole.

    Though I remember reading and enjoying your piece when it first appeared, I don't recall if you mentioned AE's renovation service. For about $100 they'll take back your totally beaten-up, worn-out shoes and turn them into looking new. Sounds expensive but you get $350-equivalent shoes back. AE's durability make them a great value. On that point, AE also has sales of irregulars once or twice a year, to which they obviously don't give much publicity, but with big savings, and the imperfections are absolutely invisible. I've bought a number of pairs this way over the years -- I'm a big fan of AE but can't/won't spend 300-400 for shoes, regardless of value.

    The thing about shoes -- two pairs will always last more than twice longer than one pair.

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  12. "Please sir, I want some more."

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    Replies
    1. ah, poor Oliver

      and what awful condtions in industry and housing in the west at turn of the last century and sooner

      now the underdev. nations going through the growing pains

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    2. Maureen o Donnell did nice job with that obit. on the Greek bartender.

      And Mary Mitchell hits it right today about Chiraq.

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  13. Love your new shoes and hope to read part 2. Does Allen Edmonds only make men's shoes?

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  14. 1989 I was finally able to fork over a couple of hundred bucks for two pairs of Florsheim's. One pair of black wing tips and a pair of very comfortable slip-on loafers. I wore them until my feet decided they were going to keep growing. In 25 years I've gone from a 10 1/2 D to a 13 EEEE.

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  15. How about an anecdotal description of how you met spouse.

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  16. Come back and play, NS.

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  17. Sorry, writing column for tomorrow (it never ends). Full description of meeting spouse to be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Were-Never-Chicago-Visions-Revisions/dp/022610415X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429459507&sr=8-1&keywords=You+were+never+in+Chicago

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    Replies
    1. well, at least they need you at the ST, too bad you don't have a Sun. column in paper

      but you prob needed more time off, with all other projects

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    2. Okay, I'll bite. Ordered a used one through Amazon from some place called New England booksellers. It's a good deal for those on a budget. My acct is registered there anyhow so it's quick.

      I always meant to read one of your books anyhow. I'm sure it will be enjoyable.

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    3. I'm naturally nosy.

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    4. Your family must not see much of you with your being so busy.

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    5. Actually, they see me more, as I work at home more than most jobs permit.

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  18. In addition to certainly perking things up at your MCing gig, I think those shoes would be a swell choice for your next Bulls game...


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    1. From lines 6 to 9 of Neil's post today: "...as it is, I'm master of ceremonies again this year for the Night Ministry's fancy black tie charity ball at the Standard Club—June 4, if you're interested—and it struck me that I should get formal shoes to go along with my tux."

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    2. thanks, that's what I get for speed reading

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  19. Years, ago, NS even if they had blogs, you'd have no time for this since had to help with the kids, though I'm sure you and spouse needed nanny help and rightfully so , if in big career, worthwhile.

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    1. I'm fairly certain NS would've been able to manage this, Anonymous. We all had careers, kids and hobbies. Wish I'd had housekeeping help, though :)

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    2. well only some can afford that

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    3. men often don't help as much as they could, Sandy, they must be made to, wink

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    4. Good luck with that...

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    5. I do have luck with it, maybe you are too appeasing. Unfort. women are taught to be
      non assertive, unless they are from the youngest generation. If a guy is assertive it's good, for a woman it's bitchy-and no I'm not a man hating feminist.

      If your guy won't cooperate, work pt only then, that will get attention-it's only fair.

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    6. Having a strong Italian temper helps too. That doesn't mean the guy should have no say, but don't be a stepford wife.

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  20. I don't see how one would delete a post once it's on the blog, other than the host deleting it?

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    1. I believe the poster can also delete their own comments. I've seen people do it. Or if you post a duplicate, I'll notice the correction and take the first one off.

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  21. It is possible to be fiscally liberal in politics and socially conservative. These days we need a 3rd party(no not libert one) if the dems got too lefty and repubs too right. Though I find dems lesser of 2 evils. But then 3rd parties in modern times never worked too well in our history.

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  22. NS-if it may be asked- how tall are you?

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    Replies
    1. No secret, since I begin a chapter in my failure book discussing my height. Five foot nine, nearly.

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  23. My spouse doesn't follow the column but he loved the shoes.

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  24. As per Orwell, I prefer the message in Animal Farm over 1984.

    Not sure if you ever reviewed those older books.

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