Made in USA - Cape Shoes looking to double workforce

They still make shoes in the United States, and in Cape Girardeau.

Last year on Nov. 27, the final shoe rolled off the assembly line at Florsheim Shoe Co. A year later, shoes are still rolling off the lines, just under a different name.

Florsheim joined the lengthy list of American shoe manufacturers who moved to overseas operations. The local factory's work orders are now completed in India.

But Eli Fishman, a Chicago businessman, hardly let the machinery shut down at the plant before he reopened a shoe-making operation, which is at Southern Expressway and South West End Boulevard.

"When we heard of the Florsheim closing we looked into the shoe manufacturing business," said Fishman, a native Missourian. He operated a small plastics factory in Chicago until he sold it to pay for his shoe-making venture.

Fishman couldn't use the 300 or so workers who lost jobs when Florsheim closed, but he did provide jobs to about 20 workers for the nation's newest shoe manufacturer.

Now he's looking to double his workforce.

Fishman's fledgling shoe business is still going and he's still insisting that everything used in his operation be made in U.S. factories.

Fishman recently signed a deal to so some subcontracting work for a big bootmaker for the U.S. military. "We'll be doubling our work force for that contract alone," said Fishman.

Some other things are starting to happen. Sales of the local shoes are picking up in Cape Girardeau and in the Midwest. Shoe sales are now up to about 15 percent.

Fishman, who is president of the company, called the opening of his shoe factory here unique in view of the closings of U.S. apparel and shoe manufacturers in favor of production in low-wage countries like Asia, India, Mexico and China.

Cape Shoe is expected to sell fewer than 15,000 pair of shoes and boots this year, which is not enough to make money.

The plant is capable of producing as many as 3,500 pair of shoes a day, said Fishman. At one time, Florsheim Shoe employed 500 workers and produced 3,500 pair a day.

"We'd like to see our production get up to 5,000 pairs of shoes a month," said Fishman. "That could put us into the profit column."

Cape Shoe also would like to add a women's line to its current "work shoe" and "Oxford" men's lines. The plant is equipped with enough shoe-making machines for three assembly lines.

Cape Shoe's one-story building, which was constructed for Florsheim, has 92,000 square feet of manufacturing space. But, only a small portion of the plant is being used these days.

"Things are coming along," said Fishman. "We started as a no-name company. But, people throughout the Midwest are learning the name Cape Shoe. And, we make a good shoe."

For a while, when the new plant opened, it produced some shoes for Florsheim, before starting production of Cape Shoe products.

Fishman at one time was plant manager, marketer, and sole sales representatives. Now he has six representatives pushing his products into stores.

Fishman has an experienced staff at his plant, using workers from the previous Florsheim operation.

Margie Eastwood is one of the newest employees at the plant. Eastwood had worked at the facility before with Florsheim for 26 years.

"Before that, I worked 26 years with Brown Shoe," she said while she stitched one of the new military shoes.

In between jobs at Florsheim and Cape Shoe, she took time to further her education. "But, I'm glad to be back here," said Eastwood.

Fishman pays workers up to $12 an hour, plus medical benefits.

Fishman said he has a lot of money in Cape Shoe, and has received a $1 million loan from Bank of America.

"Cape Shoe's business looks a lot better than it did a month ago," said Jay Knudtson, a senior vice president at the local branch of Bank of America, who Fishman calls his partner.

And Fishman isn't cashing on the Sept. 11 tragedy, said Knudtson. "He is merely emphasizing something he has believed in since he started the new business -- buying U.S.-made goods."

Fishman is a true believer in his "Made in U.S.A."

He is so adamant about using U.S. goods, he refuses to have his leather tanned in Mexico or to buy cutting tools made in Canada, moves which could save his factory thousands of dollars.

He has even checked into the origin of the cardboard that goes into his shoe boxes. It comes from Oregon. His personal and company cars are both Chevrolet.

Fishman is encouraged by the surge of interest in his U.S.A. shoes.

The local factory makes a number of basic models of work shoes, boots and oxfords. The Cape Plant work boots are priced in the $95 to $110 range, slightly less than comparable well-known brands, but twice as much as what some big chain stores charged for non-name imported shoes.

According to America's Research Group of Charleston, S.C., the number of people who will go out of their way to buy U.S made products has jumped sharply since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Britt Beemer, the company's chairman, says the proportion of shoppers in surveys who support seeking out such products has traditionally been about 24 percent.

But in a survey of 1,000 consumers conducted the first weekend after the terrorist attacks, that number jumped to 30 percent. And, in early October, it jumped again, to 36 percent.

Beemer said he is surprised with the big jump so quickly. The research company defined anyone who wants to buy U.S.-made goods as a person who will go to at least two stores in search of a given product.

rowen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133