Florsheim Shoes is a

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture t ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

Florsheim & Co. was founded in 1892 by

Milton S. Florsheim Milton S. Florsheim (July 27, 1868 – December 22, 1936), was the chairman of the board and founder of Florsheim Shoes. Biography Florsheim was born to a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada on July 27, 1868, the son of Henriette (née Nusbaum) ...

. He and his father Sigmund Florsheim made the first shoes in Chicago.

Eventually, some stores were owned by and selling only Florsheim. By 1930, Florsheim was making women's shoes and had five Chicago factories and 2500 employees, with 71 stores partly or entirely company-owned and 9000 stores around the US selling Florsheims. Milton Florsheim died and was succeeded by his son Irving in 1936. His younger son Harold became president in 1946 as the elder brother became chairman. Florsheim Shoes newspaper ad

In 1953,

International Shoe Company Furniture Brands International, Inc., was a Clayton, Missouri-based home furnishings company. Some of the brands it owned in the furniture industry included Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Laneventu ...

, the world's largest shoe maker, bought Florsheim for $21 million. Three years later, Florsheim became a division, operating as a separate entity. During its first ten years, Florsheim was International Shoe's most important unit, doubling its sales, and responsible for a quarter of the parent's sales and more than twice that fraction of earnings. Florsheim had 70% of high-quality men's shoes and succeeded when its parent company was struggling. Florsheim eventually sold women's shoes through Thayer-McNeil stores, also owned by International Shoe (by this time called Interco). In the 1980s Florsheim began selling

athletic shoe Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

s, and Interco's shoe division became part of Florsheim. In 1991, Interco declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

but kept Florsheim until the company exited the shoe business in 1994. Florsheim became a separate company. In 1996 it changed its name to Florsheim Shoe Group. Until the mid-1990s, almost every mall in the US had a Florsheim store. With the rise of such shoe stores as Journeys and

Finish Line, Inc. Finish Line, Inc. is an American retail chain that sells athletic shoes and related apparel and accessories owned by Clayton Griffith. The company operates 660 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, mostly in shopping malls, as well as Finish Lin ...

, and the de-emphasis of shoe stores in American malls, most Florsheim stores closed by the early 2000s. This followed the fate of other companies such as

Kinney Shoes The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from until . Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol KNN, began in March 1923. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a general ...

Thom McAn The surname Thom is of Scottish origin, from the city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus, and is a sept of the Clan MacThomas. Thom is also a first name variant of the abbreviation " Tom" of "Thomas" that holds the "h". People with the surname ...

and Butler Shoes. Butler Shoes became Butler Group owned by

Zale Corporation The Zale Corporation is an American jewelry retailer, incorporated in Delaware in 1993. The principal executive offices are located in Coppell, Texas. History The company began in 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when the two Russian-Jewish imm ...

. Butler Group closed in 1990. In 2002, the company was repurchased by members of the founding family. Thomas W. Florsheim, Jr. and John W. Florsheim of

Weyco Group Weyco Group (formerly Weyenberg Shoe Manufacturing Company or W. R. P. Shoe Company) is a footwear company that designs, markets and distributes brand names including Florsheim Shoes, Florsheim, Nunn Bush, Stacy Adams Shoe Company, Stacy Adams, BO ...

, based in

Glendale, Wisconsin Glendale is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a suburb of the neighboring Milwaukee. The population was 13,357 at the 2020 census. Geography Glendale is located at (43.130060, −87.927719). According to the United ...

, repurchased the brand for $47 million from rival Florsheim Group, according to the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.

Notable people

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

would wear Florsheim Shoes for dancing. He wore the models Como and Como Imperial and had leather heels installed. Ben Florsheim, the mayor of

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...

, is a direct descendant of

References

{{Reflist

External links

Florsheim corporate siteWeyco Group corporate siteFlorsheim Australia site
Shoe companies of the United States American companies established in 1892 Clothing companies established in 1892 1892 establishments in Illinois Glendale, Wisconsin Companies based in Wisconsin

History

Notable people

See also

References

External links