July 13

Friday was a moving day, as well as a trip through Red Wing, home of Red Wing work shoes, and Red Wing Pottery.I'll deal with the pottery first. It is grey stoneware and made here since the late 1800's. We can tell it's good because there is a group of collectors who were having a convention in town this weekend! It's expensive, and while we were offered a tour of the pottery works, we opted not.

Which leaves me Red Wing shoes to describe. The company was formed in 1905, by a man who could not buy a good pair of work boots. He began producing his own, and the company grew by making high quality shoes tailored for a particular job. The most notable was the 877 a crepe sole boot that everyone recognizes.



The process of making a boot hasn't changed much over the years. A cowhide is tanned, died, and shipped by a subsidiary to Red Wing's three plants, one here and two in the south. Then a worker, here Barb, very carefully lays out her cutting plan, keeping in mind the parts of the boot she is cutting, the leather's quirks. etc. It is an extremely skilled task, requiring years of experience, to maximize her yield, and get the appropriate pieces of leather for the particular boot being made. She then rotates the grey press over the platen and hits the switch, die cutting her part.
Most of their machines are vintage sewing machines. They are experimenting with a laser cutter to do Barb's job, but with her judgement of what part needs to look great, and what part needs to be strong, their people are doing a more efficient job than the computer controlled laser machines. The can buy commercially produced Brother sewing machines, but they cannot do the job that these pictured examples can. Their engineers modify the Brother machines, often rebuilding them with whole new components. When they believe they have reworked more than half the machine they add a Red Wing label beside the manufacturer's label!
The plant was  not operationg at capacity. Our guide said they adjust hours and peoples schedules quite a bit to handle the fluctuations in business. Most of their shoes, particularly the work boots are made in this plant which is union, and two others. All in America. They have a plant in China primarily for the Vasque line of recreational boots. Foreign plants and markets are difficult for them to handle. They felt they had to have a Chinese plant, and put their own proprietary machines into it. I remember the discussions that went on in the company I worked for around this subject. There is great concern that any proprietary process will be lost to a foreign competitor. 

A size 638 boot dwarfs Liz

They have found that the offshore markets, when selecting a Red Wing product, prefer those made in the US. For example Europe wants the classic 877 boot, but in funky colors. So we saw some blue, and green leather in their shop.

 The picture here (I can not figure out how to get a portrait orientation in this new blog program!) is of Liz with a giant two story version of their famous 877 work boot displayed in their store.
We then headed up to St. Paul for their 2 week long summer celebration, Aquatennial.