My Red Wing Pecos boots next to a Revolutionary War Cannonball that was unearthed in my Jersey City backyard last summer.

Dan Dahl, the Senior Director of  Red Wing Lifestyle, emailed us a while back to say that he liked what we were up to at Billykirk and if we would be be interested in a trade.  “Does a bear shit in the woods?” is what I was thinking,  so we soon worked out a nice trade including Black Beckman Boots, Copper Engineer Boots and some Hawthorne Muleskinner 8181’s. In our emails I had also mentioned that I had an old pair of Red Wing Pecos Boots that needed re-soling and was hoping to have them replaced with crepe soles like the ones on a pair of 875’s.  Dan said that wasn’t an issue.  Finally, I asked if it were possible to get a photo-montage of the boots’ transformation.  Done and done.   Needless to say, I am very pleased with how my refurbished Peco’s turned out.

Making quality boots and shoes is an art and to continue to do it day in and day out for over 100 years is a testament to Red Wings unyielding commitment to their customer. They are also one of the last remaining shoe and boot manufacturers in the USA.

The slide-show below from Dave Hill, Red Wing’s Design Director, shows you the re-soling process including cork-filler paste!  Place your cursor over an image for a brief description and use the + symbol to speed it up.

Growing up in Minnesota, like I did, one basically has an obligation to support Red-Wing Boots of Red Wing, MN -  It’s sort of like a right of passage when you get your first pair as kid.  And why not?  The price is right, they are built to last using top notch materials, they look great and wear-in perfectly.  Back in the day, everyone who worked in the building trade,  hunted,  or was in farming had a pair of Red Wing boots.  That hasn’t changed one lick, except that in the last 20+ years the brand has captured a completely new urban audience and one that is as passionate about their boots as a big game hunter.   So, I posed a few questions to Dan:

1) Describe a typical day for the Senior Director of Lifestyle at Red Wing and what does your job entail?

I oversee the brand managers in three markets, Japan, North America and Europe.  This included budgets, design etc., pretty much anything it takes to help the brand succeed.  Not too exciting really but a lot of fun. I get to meet and work with a lot of great, interesting people.  Travel quite a bit which is both good and bad as I have a family with 4 busy kids.

2) How, when and who got the Red Wing Japan movement started and can you elaborate on what that relationship means to Red Wing?  Is it considered successful or wildly successful to the bottom line?

Japan really looked to the US for fashion inspiration in the 70’s.  In the US during the 70’s, wearing overalls with work boots was popular.  This trend carried to Japan and then during the 80’s expanded exponentially.  Kimuya Takuya, a famous movie star, wore Red Wings in his role as a character in a popular TV series and Red Wing sales exploded.  Since then, boot sales have fluctuated but the “realness” and authenticity of Red Wing resonates with the Japanese like no other boot.  Red Wing is very successful in Japan thanks to a great Red Wing Japan office who love the brand and take wonderful care of our customers.  The “Americana” trend is big in Japan and we are lucky to be the boot pared with authentic American and American inspired clothing.

3) Who decides on what boot or shoe to re-visit for the Heritage line or who to collaborate with?  How much time and money goes into bringing back these old Heritage items?  In other words, do you have a vault of old lasts you can utilize so there really is not a great deal of investment?

Aki Iwasaki is our creative lead.  We have on archive all the catalogs from 1905 forward.  Aki spent several weeks and scanned all the catalogs so we now have a disk with all this information.  Aki has a long term plan of looks he likes and wants to bring back.  His latest is the 101 Postman shoe and Postman Chukka.  I can send pics if you want.  We do have some old lasts and lots of old machinery to help make the old styles authentic.  Some of the machines we use come from the early 1900s.  Beckman is another Aki design.  As the generation of fans in Japan from the 1980 matures, he wanted to offer something more formal to this 40 to 50 year old group.  Beckman started Red Wing and owned a high end shoe store so a Beckman collection just made sense.  Dave Hill is our design director and product lead in the US.  He is the narrator of the latest Complex Magazine video. Dave is a 35 year veteran of SB Foot, the tannery owned by Red Wing.  His knowledge of leather is unmatched and he helps Aki come up with authentic leathers to match with Aki’s style designs.

4) Where does the Beckman Boot and other Heritage styles fit in % wise to the overall sales at Red Wing?

Heritage styles make up about 15% of sales at Red Wing.  The rest is either Red Wing work which includes some heritage styles or Vasque or Irish Setter.

5) I assume the bread and butter of the Red Wing collection is still blue collar working guys and hunters so when the powers that be see Red-Wing mentioned on all these fashion blogs and the GQ’s of the world, do they truly embrace this new demographic or see it as a passing fad?

I think they worry it is a passing fad but we have been selling strong in Japan for 20 years so I think they are starting to embrace the Heritage division.  Also, we are dedicated to US made which makes us popular at the factory.  Bill Sweasy is the owner of Red Wing and he is certainly a fan.

6) Are there any interesting, obscure stories at Red Wing from the past that might be interesting to the Selectism readers?

Cool story about Eric Clapton who insisted on having the clutch pedal on a new Ferrari re-worked so he could wear his 875’s.  He refused to wear the driving shoes recommended by Ferrari and would only take delivery if they would change the pedal so he could drive with 875’s on.  They quickly cut off the pedal and re-welded to accommodate.  There are tons of stories but I am probably too new to offer the best ones.  I will try to dig some up and get more to you.

7) What does the future hold for Red Wing?  Any glimpses you can share on what you guys are working on would be great.

I mentioned the postman shoe and chukka above.  New for Fall 2010 is also a Beckman Chukka.

Contact info for re-soling:

E-mail address  -  shoe.repair@redwingshoe.com

Phone     651-385-1448

Current turnaround time,  9 days when the product is received in the repair shop.

Shipping and handling instructions will be determined when customer contacts repair shop.

In the market for a new pair of winter boots? Schnee’s has a nice alternative to the famous LL Bean Maine Hunting Boots and they are handmade in Bozeman, MT.

Winn Perry of Portland, OR, arguably one of the finer men’s shops in the NW, just got his first shipment of Colchester Rubber Co. high-top basketball sneakers and he sent us a couple of pairs.   I am always a bit intrigued when an old brand re-surfaces.  I remember meeting Michael Cassel from Stronghold Denim at a  Project Tradeshow 5 or 6 years ago and hearing how they found the remnants of an old pair, did the research and were now trying to rebuild the brand that was likely the the first denim brand in LA.  Colechester is really no different – a guy finds an old pair of sneakers in a Victorian era trunk at a estate sale for $2, does the research and tries to re-build the brand.

Oddly enough, Gary Pifer, the man who bought the shoes, has received quite a bit of flack because there are some who think the shoes he unearthed are fake and his claiming that these were the first basketball shoes was simply one big marketing hoax (a) and hoax (b.) You be the judge.  Gary, in fact, responds to the hoax allegations with a pretty plausible explanation but does not have proof to just how old they really are:

“I am the owner of the sneakers. Yes they are real. Converse has known about the sneakers for 4 years. Calling them a hoax without meeting me or seeing the actual sneakers is very lame.  So I will invite David Prescovitz to come to Oceanside, Ca. to view the Original Basketball Sneakers, and while he is here, I will show him other original Colchester Rubber Company’s 1880’s Tennis Sneakers, Rubber Work Boots, Original, Catalogs, Advertisements.  So as a hoaxer, I figured out an old obscure company, hatched a plan, came up with the old Basketball Sneakers idea then with no footwear experience, I was able to create an old looking shoe, by using natural gum rubber, I was able to inject red mold into antique twill and button weave adobe colored canvas along with adding mold to the cotton and celluloid shoe laces and tips. Then I was able to vulcanize the sole into a solid slab of rubber leaving in the impurities, then I poured melted rubber into a hand-carved turkey feather design mold while hand carving the cooling rubber with finer details.  Earth to David, I may have a Moderate IQ, but I ain’t that smart.  It was much easier, finding the Original 1892 Sneakers.”

It’s a pretty intriguing story and hopefully someone will come along  to adequately pin-point when they were made.  I tend to believe the shoes are indeed old but seem more modern than what shoe companies were churning out in the late 1800’s especially since the shoes CRC was offering at the same time were quite a bit different.  Perhaps another person tried to revive the brand in the 20’s or 30’s.  All speculation and hearsay of course…..

An e-mail to Gary has not been anwered as of yet.  I will update the post if I get one.

**UPDATE

I received an email from Craig Huck, Strategic Advisor at Sneaker LLC, Inc.

“I oversee operations for Sneakers LLC which holds the license to Colchester and several other heritage shoe brands for Gary. Will see if I can answer your questions to your satisfaction.

Your analogy is a good, regarding the futuristic prototype. These shoes are indeed original, and dated 1892. The working on the sole alone predates technology from the 20’s or 30’s. Regarding the “hoax” theory floating around, we believe that it can be shown to be fueled by a competitor in the marketplace, who made some statements to one of the sites, but failed to disclose his own shoe line which bears a stricking resemblence to what he has denouced as fraud. The uppers to his shoes are a different material but the basic model is very very similar. We have chosen not to respond any longer, rather are letting our shoes speak for themselves.

The shoes actually cost 50 cents, which is one of the best purchases I have ever heard of!”

I got to thinking about my 20 year old Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars recently.  That’s right, these were purchased in Mankato, MN in 1989 while visiting my friend Michael’s hometown one weekend during my first year of college.   They have been a trusty companion all these years and logged a lot of miles.  My wife, myself and my daughter all wore our Chuck Taylors to the latest rainy and muddy All Points West Music Festival in Jersey City.  This photo was taken in front of The Black Keys stage.

I am not one to wear shorts with LL Bean duck boots or wellies and we both figured we would just throw them into the wash later anyways.  So we slopped through the mud and muck with nary a thought.  When all was said and done they came out a lighter shade of black than they used to be but I was fine with that.

Most of us have owned a few pairs.  I think I have owned 4 pairs over the years.  My first pair came from Sears in the Goldsmith’s Shopping Center in Memphis, TN.  I was in 2nd grade and saw these gold canvas shoes with a blue star and remember thinking how cool they were.  They even beat out the red, white and blue Bruce Jenner tennis shoes that were also there.  That day I am sure I also got a few pairs of Sears Toughskins and some football jerseys.  As you can see below, I tend to get good use out of my purchases.

The history of the Converse Rubber Co. (also known as the Boston Rubber Shoe Company) is pretty interesting and if it wasn’t for Chuck Taylor, a sales rep that came on in the early 20’s, the company would be nowhere near it is today.  With 800 Million pairs sold it is clearly heads above the rest.   Formed in 1908 in Malden MA by Marquis Mills Converse, his first offerings were winterized rubber soled footwear for men, women, and children and soon after also made tires.  A few years later they started making tennis shoes then finally in 1917 they started manufacturing the canvas All-Star basketball shoe.  In 1921 Chuck Taylor was hired to do sales but ended up being integral in the development of the canvas basketball shoe.  Not only did he suggest fabricating the shoe differently for greater flexibility and support, he’s the one who came up with the idea of stitching on a circular patch to protect the ankle.

The All-Star logo went on the patch immediately, and by 1923, Chuck Taylor’s name was on the patch as the shoe became the “Chuck Taylor All-Star.”

Chuck Taylor, a basketball player himself, would take his shoes on the road and introduce scores of Americans to the sport, do clinics with the shoes and pitch them to teams and stores.  Sales soared and the Chuck Taylor All-Star became standard issue on pro, collegiate and high school courts nationwide.  Oddly enough, Chuck, who catapulted Converse to epic heights never made a dime on his shoes aside from his salary.

During WWII, Taylor became a fitness consultant for the war effort, and soon GI’s were doing their drills in the olive or black high-top Chuck Taylor’s that became the official sneaker of the US Armed Forces.  During the war Converse also produced parkas, rubber protective suits, ponchos for pilots and troops and the A6 Flying Boot, which the entire U.S. Army Air Corps wore.

In 1947 white high-tops originated for the 1948 Olympics.

By 1950 virtually all pro players are wearing Chuck Taylor All Stars.   Hollywood also helped the wildly popular Chuck Taylor All-Star (a.k.a. “Chucks”, “Cons”, “Connies”) transcend the sport to become deeply entrenched in popular American culture, like Levi’s and Coca~Cola.

The 60’s and 70’s saw Converse producing new athletic performance footwear, apparel and accessories for basketball, tennis, football, track, wrestling and other sports.  In 1962 Converse developed the low cut version of its All Star, called an “oxford,” which soon became the shoe of choice for pro players.  By the time the mid 70’s rolled around the company was using more leather on their basketball shoes and Dr. J put his stamp on the Pro Leather series.

That’s where I will cut it off.  One sad note – in 2003 Nike bought Converse and the era of the 2 ply cotton canvas upper ended.

Bass Pro Shops has these on clearance for $19.94.  Not a ton of sizes left……

Click boot for details.

Also a great buy are these 6″ pull-ons from Cabela’s. My brother, Kirk can vouch for these having had them for the last 3 seasons.  $37.95

Click boot for details.

Toms Shoes is one of those rare companies that not only makes a quality, well designed product but is also trying to make the world a better place. Case in point, since 2006 Toms Shoes has given out 10,000 pairs of shoes to kids in Argentina and 20,000 pairs of shoes to kids in South Africa. Right now Toms Shoes has a goal of giving away 30,000 pairs of shoes in 30 days. That is where you step in. For every pair you purchase, Toms will give a pair of shoes to a child in need.

2/8/09 Very Nice of Toms and Element Skateboards