Page 33 - Shoeman no ch 1

Goodyear Welted Plant 29
with cowboy sole characteristics such as cut in heel and correct toe shape. This was successful but the problem was that all the legs had to be folded down to t on the moulding machine foot forms. We didn’t use camel leather as it was too inconsistent in substance for the moulded process.
GOLF SHOES
In 1988 we were contacted by the UK division of the American golf product company, Titlist. They have a golf trolley manufacturing plant at St. Neots and use the site as a distribution base for the UK. They had a Goodyear welted Titleist product called Footjoy that is exclusive to the UK, being mainly brogues, with some in two colours. We quoted and our quotation was accepted and I had several meetings with the UK CEO Graham Guy, who, like me, didn’t play golf. But he, also like me, looked at the product as an engineer and I am sure he liked our set-up. To make the golf shoe we had extra operations within the making to accommodate the studs and a degree of water-proo ng or really water-repelling and several other normal operations were not needed.
I studied the situation in relation to our welted track balance and decided the only way we could make this order was to set the track up and make only golf shoes. I had a meeting with Titlist and told them we could set the plant up but would need to make the year ’s sales in one go. Graham agreed and we set up at the beginning of the year and made 15,000 golf shoes in three weeks. We did this for three years and then they considered buying in India, but never did, as the market became high-tech and not traditional and the demand for the product receded. For this project Titlist sup- plied all the tooling, knives, cut-out dies and lasts. There were suf cient lasts to run the making track on one shape – which was the advantage of a track. Our investment was very little and it was nancially rewarding. During the time we made ‘Footjoys’ Titlist built a new of ce and showrooms at St Neots. I was invited to the lavish open- ing with a marvellous lunch in a luxury marquee in the presence of many famous golfers who, needless to say, were unknown to me. I did have golf lessons but, to me, it was unpredictable and frustrating – conditions I can’t deal with.
BARBOURS COUNTRY RANGE
Through an ex-buyer from Next we met with a member of the Barbours (as in green waxed jackets) marketing team. He had been briefed with the help of Chris Turner the ex-Next buyer to form this range of shoes appropriate to their brand. The shoes were mainly welted with waxy nubuck uppers and Commando featured soles which is a rubber sole with a pattern tread and a very long life. The upper leathers were from Barrow Hepburn and Gale water-resistant leather. In other words, a high spec- i cation for an established brand. It was a time when Barbour coats were worn by celebrities and the country set before it was a more developed market.
The product was well received at retail level in spite of having a margin of around 300%–400% over our factory price. The project lasted about 3 years, at the end of which, I think the buyer was red. They can’t have reached the budgeted volume and this was because the price at retail was far too high. But we were more than