Allen Edmonds

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Allen Edmonds is an American shoe manufacturer and retailer headquartered in Port Washington .

history

The company was founded in Belgium , Wisconsin in 1922 . It has 32 sales outlets in 17 states in the USA and produces the majority of its shoes here, although Italy and the Dominican Republic are also used as production sites. With E. Vogel, Oliver Moore Bootmakers, Alden, Johnston & Murphy, Rancourt & Company and Esquivel, the company is one of the seven US shoe companies that still manufacture men's footwear domestically, and offers several men's collections for business shoes and business casual Shoes, casual-and-golf shoes out.

In 2006, 90% of the shares of the company were from the investment company Hawn Johnson & Morrison for 100 million US dollars bought. In 2013 the company was acquired by private equity firm Brentwood Associates .

brand

As a shoe maker for the US Army and US Navy, Allen Edmonds acquired a large clientele during the Second World War , who remained private customers after the war.

The company offers repair services, for a fee the replacement of the sole and heel, the reconditioning of the cork base, lasts and the finish.

The Horween Leather Company supplies the company with leather for their footwear.

American manufacture

A pair of Allen Edmonds oxford shoes

98.5% of footwear sold in the United States is made outside of state borders. Allen Edmonds is one of the minority shoe manufacturers and companies that manufacture their shoes domestically. John Stollenwerk, formerly owner and chairman of Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation, made a commitment to keep the company manufacturing domestically. In 2003, the company invested $ 1 million, or 1.1% of its sales, in retrofitting the manufacturing department to save 5% on the cost of manufacturing each shoe. The company has replaced manufacturing stations with people working in groups, whereby each employee works through several manufacturing steps.

The new work system reduced overtime, made it easier to replace missing employees, reduced the error rate and shortened the production time that resulted from employee changes in the processing of a shoe.

Working guidelines

The company is said to pay its employees well, which puts it at a competitive disadvantage in the market. Wages, grants, government labor orders, taxes, health insurance costs, and the cost of securities expenses are separate liabilities that would be reduced if manufacturing outside the United States were moved to a developing country. John Stollenwerk recognized a 60% improvement in the company's economic situation by outsourcing production to China, but expressed concerns that this step could lead to a decline in quality. He noted and recognized the difficulties of globalization on the social impact of the United States, resulting in low wages, bankruptcies and company closings.

Manufactured in the Dominican Republic

Increasing manufacturing costs due to concerns about not remaining competitive in the handcrafted productions market, the company decided to downsize production at its Lewiston, Maine site in 2006 and moved some of its production to a new company-owned factory in the Dominican Republic. Pieces of the hand-sewn collection are sewn together from the United States and then shipped back to a factory in Port Washington, Wisconsin, for final manufacture. This step legitimizes that they continue to regard their products as "Made in the USA". On the other hand, shoes or parts of the collection are completely made in the Dominican Republic and are sold with the label “Made in the Dominican Republic”. The factory there is also used to process parts of the Goodyear welted shoe collection and then these cut and sewn shoe uppers are soled and finished in Port Washington.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "US: Goldner Hawn buys majority of Allen-Edmonds", just-style.com, July 21, 2006.
  2. ↑ Rick Romell, "Port shoe firm sold: Investors pay $ 100 million for Allen-Edmonds," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , July 21, 2006.
  3. ↑ John Kell: Deal Struck for Men's Shoemaker . In: The Wall Street Journal , November 5, 2013, p. B2. 
  4. ^ A b c Aaron Nathans Allen-Edmonds Keeps Its Shoes on an American Factory Floor , New York Times , May 29, 2004.
  5. ↑ Style File: Taking care of business women , The Denver Post , March 19, in 2009.
  6. ^ "A Brief History" Horween Leather Company . Horween.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  7. ↑ Horween Leather Company . encyclopedia.com, (Accessed March 26, 2013).
  8. ↑ Barbara Rolek: Horween's leather bound by tradition . In: Chicago Tribune , October 27, 2003. Retrieved March 27, 2013. 
  9. ↑ Eric Wilson: At Their Feet, Crafted by Hand . In: The New York Times , April 20, 2011. 
  10. ↑ Rich Kirchen: Allen-Edmonds to open shop offshore . April 29, 2007.