Category: Mon Valley Miscellany || By

The current debate over our trade imbalance with China, and news stories about lax quality control in Chinese factories, came home this month.

My two pairs of Florsheim shoes, each about one year old, fell apart in the same week.

Like most American men, I suspect, I only have a few pairs of shoes. For work I have --- well, I had --- the brown shoes and the black shoes. I've been buying Florsheims since high school, first at Rubinstein's on Fifth Avenue, and then via the Internet after Rubinstein's closed.

Florsheims used to be American-made, and then they were made in South America. The last two pair were made in China.

In the past, I always wore the soles out --- in fact, one pair was resoled twice. But I never had Florsheims split apart along the upper until I got these latest, Chinese-made shoes. The talented Anthony Macchiaroli at Valley Shoe Repair in North Versailles says they're unsalvageable.

So, to quote "South Park": "You go to hell, Florsheim! You go to hell and you die!"

. . .

Where could I get a good pair of American-made shoes (actually, two) at a price I could afford?

My preference is to buy locally, but finding a locally-owned shoe store in the Mon-Yough area isn't easy. Gordon's Shoes at the Homestead Waterfront is about the last option. There's also Ponsi Shoes in North Huntingdon, but they sell mostly orthopedics, and while I may act like I'm ready for the nursing home, I'm not quite there yet.

The next step was to find a shoe company still manufacturing in the United States. It's not easy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 98 percent of the shoes sold in this country last year were imported, mostly from you-know-where.

A website called U.S. Stuff helped, but it's not being updated very often, and unfortunately most of the updates are of this nature: "out of business ... closed the factory July 2005 ... closed its only US operation ... now importing all shoes ... all made outside USA."

. . .

Naturally, the companies' websites try to hide where their plants are located. Plenty stress "American style" or "American tradition" or "American craftsmanship" or talk about how their founder opened his first shoe factory in Maine or Michigan or Minnesota in 1898.

They don't brag about the fact that they laid off 1,400 workers a few years ago or shipped all of the machinery to China.

To learn which companies still made shoes here, I looked for articles in newspapers; doing Google searches for "(company name)" + "shoes" + "factory" + "closed" was, sadly, very helpful.

. . .

Price and value are important. One company that makes almost all of its shoes in the United States is Allen Edmonds. They also make an excellent product. But you pay for that quality, and I can't afford shoes that cost $300 per pair. I needed something in the Florsheim price range of $100 to $150.

I also didn't want horribly ugly shoes. I found a lot of steel-toed work shoes and boots made in the United States, but I wasn't about to clomp around all day like Herman Munster.

. . .

Well, believe it or not, I found one pair of shoes not only made in America, but made in Pennsylvania, and only about two hours away. The Cove Shoe Company of Martinsburg, Blair County, makes private-label dress shoes as well as Corcoran and Matterhorn boots. I ordered a pair of black dress Oxfords from them.

Cost? $120, or about what I paid for the last pair of Florsheims.

Cove's products are aimed at the military, police officers, postal workers, and other public employees who have to buy American-made shoes, so the pair I just got will win no awards for cutting-edge style. But they're handsome, fit well, have a thick, Vibram sole, and feel really sturdy.

And after a day or two to break them in, they are comfortable. (They have to be ... cops and postal workers are on their feet all day.) Places that sell uniforms might have them; I ordered mine through a website called Shoeline.com.

Shoeline.com is owned by H.H. Brown Shoe Co., which is controlled by Warren Buffett. If you search on the keyword "USA," you'll find all of the items they carry that are made in the United States.

That led me to another of Buffett's companies that's still making shoes in the United States, Dexter Shoe Co. Many Dexter shoes are sourced from overseas, but some are still American-made; so I ordered a spiffy pair of American-made brown dress shoes from them.

. . .

If you need shoes and want to buy American, first, rots of ruck, and second, I hope this information helps you.

One thing frosts me, though. Cove Shoe can make a comfortable, solid, good-looking product right here in Pennsylvania, and sell it at a competitive price.

That tells me that Wal-Mart, Target, DSW, Payless, etc., could stock American-made shoes --- and other products --- if they wanted to.

They'd rather lower their manufacturing costs and their quality, and keep the money they save rather than pass it along to consumers. Because the prices of, say, Florsheim shoes haven't dropped in the last 10 years. In fact, they've gone up significantly.

Where does the excess money go?

Did you say "executive compensation"? Shoe better believe it.

. . .

To Do This Weekend: McKeesport Little Theater, 1614 Coursin St., holds auditions for "Over the River and Through the Woods" from Sunday and Monday night. Men and women ages 25 to 35 and 55 to 75 are needed. Call (412) 673-1100 ... Resurrection Church, 3909 Donna Ave., West Mifflin, holds a chicken parmigiana dinner and bake sale from 12 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Call (412) 461-8087.