Last week, Wisconsin’s Gov. Jim Doyle visited our plant and made some great comments about Allen Edmonds. While he spoke, I was able to see his staff-prepared notes and noticed he wasn’t really using them. So his remarks were especially impressive and uplifting, given that they were so well delivered in his own words. Our production people take great care and pride in what they do. Having the Governor praise their efforts the way he did was just terrific for them to hear. Below is the link to a video of his visit…

The occasion was to announce a $1.5 million Economic Development Loan that the State of Wisconsin and Ozaukee County together have awarded to Allen Edmonds to help fund investments in our manufacturing capacity and increased employment in Port Washington. If we hire 200 or more people, the loan will be converted to a grant. Currently, we have about 285 full time employees in our Port Washington facilities, so an additional 200 represents significant growth in jobs in the area. Here’s what’s happening:

We’re expanding manufacturing capacity with an entirely new shoe production line that will be located in our building on the west side of Interstate 43. This line brings handsewn shoe production to Port Washington for the first time (it’s a different construction than our existing welted shoe manufacturing), and we’ll be able to produce some 50,000 handsewn pairs a year. With the growth in demand for our welted American Classics dress and casual shoes, we will be expanding employment on our welted line as well. We’re also adding employment in Wisconsin to our Recrafting, shipping, inventory management and headquarters operations as we grow our business.

None of this would be happening, of course, without the support of our loyal customers. We’re grateful to the Governor, the State and the County for helping us make these investments more aggressively than we might have otherwise. And we’re grateful to you, our supporters, for the momentum that makes this growth possible. It’s a great feeling to be growing American jobs again. Thank you!

Best wishes,



Paul D. Grangaard
President & CEO
Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation



Read the Press Release

With the leaves turning color and fall upon us, I thought I’d revisit some themes of this summer one last time for this month’s blog.

In mid-July I wrote about learnings from my various travels during the first half of the year. I can say that the three months since then have reinforced those experiences. First, about the economy. There continues to be a dire tone to newspaper economic reports these days. But one of the apparent advantages of being close to actual daily consumer activity is that we can read the economic pulse pretty well, maybe better than the newspapers that seem always to be looking back a few months and highlighting bad news. Based on what we’ve seen, I feel confident that the erudite (yet very pragmatic) economist I heard in L.A. in May was right – the average employed American consumer is recovering to a New Normal of spending behavior. The craziness of a few years ago has not returned, of course, and most likely never will in my lifetime, but the consumer is again driving economic growth.

A week ago, I was in our store in an upscale mall in suburban Detroit – a place where economic woes have hit especially hard. Well, our store there has had an upsurge in the past few months and the entire mall was much busier than I expected on a late Saturday afternoon in early October. The Starbucks upstairs from us had a constant line of people extending out the store’s doors, despite it being past the time to switch to decaf. The entire mall had almost an early-December vibe to it. Improving consumer confidence with 90% employment seems a powerful force, and that’s good news for everyone in the U.S., I hope.

Second, I mentioned in July that international fashion trends have turned decidedly toward authentic American Classic styling. The Fall Collections that have now made their debuts in stores across the nation certainly bear that out. Pictures tell the story better than I ever could. Here is a link to some photos of a Spring 2011 runway show by fashion designer Marlon Gobel, who used Allen Edmonds shoes throughout his collection. You see plainly here the trend toward traditional brown dress shoes paired with very casual apparel, even shorts. I had a customer ask me recently what to wear with khakis and jeans and I told him to look at walnut Strands or McAllisters, burnished brown San Marcos or the Players Shoe that we made for the PGA Championship.

Speaking of the PGA, the golfers in that tournament liked our shoes so much that the PGA asked us afterward to makes shoes for the entire U.S. Team competing over in Wales. If you look at photos of the opening ceremonies a couple weeks ago, you can see the team wearing our walnut Lombards with their suits. At the closing celebration, when tuxes were the order, the team wore black Park Avenues. Some men like patent leather shoes more with a tux, but Park Avenues work just as well or better at today’s formal events, and they’re much more versatile additions to the wardrobe.

Best wishes,



Paul D. Grangaard
President & CEO
Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation