Shoes Blues

Perhaps it's because I Was a Teenage Shoe Factory Worker, but I've always had a warm spot in my heart for those who work in what's left of the New England shoe industry. There used to be a lot of shoes and boots made here. Converse (think Chucks). Bass (Weejuns). Timberland. LL Bean. Frye. New Balance. 

The factory I worked in that one summer, H.H. Brown, made work and combat boots. We made chartreuse leather boots with red topstitching for nuclear plants. The thinking was that no one would accidentally wear such outrageously colored boots home from work. This was in 1967. In a few years, chartreuse boots with red topstitching wouldn't have gotten a second glance.

We also made paratrooper boots for the Vietnamese Air Force. They were way tinier than the combat boots we made for the U.S. Army.

I think the old H.H. Brown factory is now condos. (I will note that any number of old factories, churches, and schools in these parts have been turned into condos. Not that I'm moving any time soon, but I've always got a partial eye on a couple of converted Catholic churches, one in the South End (way pricey) one in South Boston (more affordable).)

As for keeping my eye on the shoes I buy, I'm not obsessive about it, to say the least, but I do like to purchase goods that are made in the U.S. (preferably by union workers, but that's another story). Unfortunately, most shoe manufacture takes place overseas. Still, many brands produce a USA-made line or two.

Averaging 5+ miles a day on my walks, I go through a fair number of shoes a year. Make that sneakers, because 99% of the time, what's on my foot is a sneaker.

Given my sneaker thang, and given that I like to by American, I always have a pair or two of New Balance on hand. Sometimes they're even ones that are made locally.

I like New Balance because they're good and sturdy, providing a lot of support, and they come in narrow widths. The downside is that they're kind of boring in terms of the colors that are available, especially in narrow width. For my more colorful shoe needs, I prefer Asics. They no longer come in narrow width, but they run narrow and, given that they're a tie-shoe, narrowness is less of a big deal than it is in non-tie shoes. 

Alas, it was just announced that New Balance will be closing its factory in the Brighton section of Boston. Sixty-three folks will be losing their jobs there. Before the holidays is a really awful time to get the word, but at least they'll have work until February. 

Chief executive Joe Preston said he went to the Brighton plant, at the end of Newton Street above the Mass. Pike, to break the news to factory workers on Friday morning. The company, whose headquarters offices are less than two miles away from the plant, is also cutting fewer than 50 non-manufacturing jobs in the United States. Taken together, these job cuts represent 110 or so employees out of a global workforce of 7,700, including about 3,500 in this country. (Source: Boston Globe)

Well, first off, kudos to Joe Preston for making the announcement in person. There are altogether too many instances of the big mahoff sending a minion, even if the big mahoff is just around the corner. Worse are those who let the workers know when they see it in the news, or - even worse - on social media. So I give Joe Preston credit for stepping up here.

The good news is that New Balance is adding up to 150 manufacturing jobs at other New England locations, including a new factory in Methuen Mass, which will be opening up in mid-2021. 

The displaced Brighton workers are encouraged to apply to these new positions. Preston said shifting work to Methuen from Boston puts it closer to its manufacturing plant in Lawrence, where the company also does research and development. In total, New Balance employs about 900 manufacturing workers today among the Lawrence and Brighton plants and its three factories in Maine.

Being able to work in Methuen is great and all, but it puts the workers on unemployment for half a year, and - if they lived close to the plant in Brighton - also sticks them with a 40+ mile commute.

But a job's a job, and there aren't a ton of them if you're a shoe factory worker. A shoe factory worker in America, at any rate. 

New Balance remains unusual in the industry because of its emphasis on US manufacturing, although the majority of its shoes continue to be made in Asia.

“At the core of it, the commitment of the company to domestic manufacturing is as strong as ever,” Preston said. “That may not seem like it today, but that’s an absolute fact.”

I'll take Preston's word for it. The next pair of sneakers I buy will be from New Balance, even if they are boring black or boring white. Promise.