Firefighter gear maker Globe Mfg. finds new niche in Maine

Tag : magnum boot
One-hundred-year-old Globe Manufacturing Co. has added a fire bootto its product line, giving it a foothold in a shoemaking industryunder increasing pressure from overseas manufacturers.
"Who goes into footwear manufacturing, right now?" saidRob Freese, a fourth-generation owner of the company. "Notmany companies, but this is niche manufacturing and it's alreadybeen profitable."
Globe has sold 45,000 pairs of fire boots at $350 a pair since itacquired the old Falcon Shoe company of Lewiston, Maine, and thecompany has expanded its offerings to five models. Opportunity calls
The demand for features such as resistance to chemical andbiological agents, blood born pathogens, extreme heat and cold, andfalling objects created demand for a high-tech boot, Freese said.
Globe has been making pants and jackets for firefighters andprotective clothing since 1901 when Courtland Freese purchased thecompany and adopted Pittsfield as home base to sell the world'sfirst "firefighter suits."
The company never had a boot in its product line despite itslocation in the cradle of tanneries and boot and shoe manufacturingcenters in Maine and New Hampshire for much of the past hundredyears.
Garment makers made garments. Shoemakers made shoes.
For shoes, Maine claimed Knapp, Abington Shoe Co., Timberland,Allan Edmonds, Cole Hahn, and Falcon Shoe Manufacturing. NewHampshire was also dotted with numerous shoemakers.
But in recent decades shoemakers restructured operations undertrade pressures as overseas manufactures with cheaper labor costsbegan exporting footwear to the U.S.
Timberland and Cole Hahn shifted manufacturing overseas. Iron AgeCorp. bought Knapp before filing for bankruptcy last year. Magnumbought Falcon in 2005 before it filed bankruptcy last year. Boots: Must-have items
Globe began a partnership with Falcon when the Department ofHomeland Security asked Globe to create firefighter clothing withresistance to chemical and biological agents.
And then, Freese said, "We realized boots were an integralpart."
Globe contracted for a high-tech fire boot from Falcon, withfeatures that fire boots did not have before -- a ceramic toe-capand shank to replace steel structures susceptible to extreme heatand cold; resistance to chemical and biological agents; and arunning shoe-type ole to replace a welted, work boot sole.
It also had half the weight of a traditional fire-boot, weighing 3pounds, 5 ounces. Partnership
Operations consultant Carl Spang, 58, of Durham, played a largerole in development of the high-tech boot business for Globe.
Spang found that Magnum had been using a Chinese supplier toprovide flexible soles for the Falcon fire boot, at a significantshipping cost to the company. He also found other inefficienciesrelated to space and energy at the Lewiston plant, which wasstraining the company.
"There were not any good numbers in the plant," Spangsaid.
But what Spang did see, he said, was a value-added product hebelieved could achieve a niche in footwear markets.
"Firefighters were telling us, We need a boot thatflexes well for running and crawling on knees,'" he said.
The company determined that the high-tech fire boot held sustainingmerit in a niche market, despite the troubled times for U.S.shoemakers.
Nine months ago, Globe purchased a 45 percent share of Falcon inLewiston, Maine, Spang quit his consulting job and purchased 45percent, and two Lewiston plant managers purchased a 5 percentshare each.
The investors bet on the preference of 1.1 million firefighters fora better engineered boot, and Falcon set out to specialize inhigh-tech leather boots that began to sell for $350.
The company cut its costs by shifting to Massachusetts-basedsupplier Quabaug Co. for its soles.
Falcon is now preparing to vacate its rented plant in Lewiston in2010, and build a new, $2 million, 40,000-square-foot plant withphotovoltaic and wind energy systems, cutting electricity coststhat account for a quarter of its overhead.
Falcon operators of sewing machines and leather cutters, numberingaround 70, retained their jobs and did not lose work during thetransition of that company's ownership to Globe.
"Some of these people have been making shoes all of theirlives," Spang said.
Spang said the transition shows New England can still be a leadingmanufacturing site in niche markets, citing Falcon and AllanEdmonds, maker of top-of-the-line dress shoes, selling near $400 apair.
"It shows niche manufacturing has its place for customers whoneed specialized products in a relatively short time," Freesesaid.
Globe added 18 jobs, unrelated to shoemaking, to its Pittsfieldplant this year, he said.