Inside Red Wing: The Boot Company That Refused to Leave America

#american heritage workwear #documentry Between 1968 and 1978, American shoe production fell 37%, imports doubled, and nearly 76,000 people lost their jobs. By 2000 the United States had dropped off the list of the world's top ten footwear producers entirely. Today around 99% of shoes sold in America are made somewhere else. Almost every company that closed its factories was making a defensible decision. This is the story of one that didn't — and what that refusal actually cost before it ever paid anything back. This video does not give Red Wing a clean pass. The company closed a Kentucky plant in 2010, and its Irish Setter, Worx, and Vasque lines are largely manufactured overseas. That nuance is in the video, not buried. A note on one discrepancy: Red Wing's corporate timeline dates the S.B. Foot acquisition to 1986; its consumer site says 1987. Both are cited in the video rather than picking one silently. #RedWing #MadeInUSA #BusinessHistory #Manufacturing #WorkBoots