Allen Edmonds

History

Allen Edmonds gained much of its following after providing shoes to the US Army and US Navy during World War II, with many of the recipients of the shoes being loyal to the brand for the rest of their lives.

Allen Edmonds is a moderately expensive brand of shoes that men typically wear for a very long time and repair rather than replace. The company offers recrafting services, rebuilding a pair of shoes for a fee, replacing soles and heels, creating a new cork base and strip, and reapplying the finish. The Horween Leather Company supplies leather shells for footwear to Allen Edmonds.

Manufacturing

As more than ninety-eight per cent of shoes sold in the U.S. are produced overseas, Allen Edmonds is among a small minority of companies that produces shoes domestically. John Stollwerk, Allen-Edmonds's retired chairman and former owner expressed a commitment to keep manufacturing in the U.S. In 2003, the company invested one million dollars—1.1% of the company's sales—in refitting their factory, which is intended to save 5% of the cost to produce each shoe. The factory has replaced assembly lines with teams of craftsmen of which each member performs several tasks. The new system reduces overtime, makes it easier to cover for absent employees, reduces the time spent picking up and putting down shoes, and reduces the number of spoiled shoes.

In 2006, concerned with rising manufacturing costs and endeavoring to compete more directly with the boat shoe and handsewn market, Allen Edmonds discontinued their Lewiston, Maine manufacturing plant and moved the handsewn production to their new, company owned factory in the Dominican Republic. Currently, shoe uppers for the Allen Edmonds handsewn collection are cut and sewn in the Dominican Republic. The raw materials are sent there from the U.S., where the uppers are sewn together, then shipped to the factory in Port Washington, Wisconsin to complete their construction, thus allowing them to be labeled "Made in the USA." Alternatively, styles from the "ae by Allen Edmonds" collection are produced entirely in and sold as Made in the Dominican Republic. In addition to their handsewn collection, Allen Edmonds also utilizes the Dominican Republic factory to cut and sew the uppers of their Goodyear welted collection of shoes. Similarly to the "American Made" handsewns, these welted uppers are shipped to the factory in Wisconsin, where the remainder of the lasting, welting, and soling are completed.

Labor policy

Allen Edmonds pays their workers well, which puts them at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. Wages, benefits, government regulations of the workplace, emissions permits, taxes, and healthcare are all significant costs that could be drastically reduced by locating production overseas in a developing country. Stollenwerk remarked that moving the operation to China could save as much as 60%, but expressed concern that such a move could lead to a decline in quality. He also expressed concerns about social problems brought on by globalization, such as low wages and factory closings in the U.S.