Shoecast Wootten Interview

September, 2024 interview with Jess Wootten about the work and history of Wootten

Their Production

• background in orthopedic making
• lasts
  • two main lasts, based on 1940s dress shoes, with different toes shapes
  • different lasts for almond toe, chisel-toe for Chelsea
  • ladies’ lasts
  • high-heeled lasts
• locally tanned leathers
• team of 4, 3 full time
• people take different steps of the process
• closer was working as a closer in Ballarat, factory closed
• make leather accessories, about 50% of their income
• collaborate on locally made jeans, t-shirts, etc.
• historic gold rush town
• bootmakers followed miners
• defunct Oliver’s shoe factory
  • 30-40 in the closing room

Australian

• industry shutdown overnight when import tariffs cut
• shut down over 2-3 years
• those that continued were importing and rebranding, not producing on-shore
• Made in Australia logo
  • can pay to be a member, pretty loose
  • “significantly transforming”, e.g. importing leather sock, sticking a sole on it
• RM Williams pretty much the only production company in Australia
  • employ about 500 people
  • 500k to 750k pair a year
• they make something like 400 pairs a year

• we’ve basically got the equivalent of Red Wing, and then nothing

• no middle-tier manufacturers
• growth limit is teaching people
• easier to teach machine operators

Blake Rapid

• mostly do blake rapid construction

• 30:02 neat “exploded view” of a blake-rapid shoe with the upper and bottom layers hung on strings

• upside versus goodyear welt: everything mechanically fastened

• more robust

• less traditional than handwelted

• more durable than Goodyear, but faster than handwelting

• can bottom in 4-5 hours versus a day or more for handwelted

• shown: cuts an egg-shaped hole out of the midole under the center of the forepart

• Goodyear welting and handwelting get conflated, but Blake Rapid doesn’t

• extra layer of material through the midfoot (heel seat and waist)

• compare Viberg “channeled insole Goodyear welt”: very close to handwelting with machinery

• blake rapid heavier than Goodyear, because more material

• requires fewer machines

• nearly everything made to order, but have some ready to wear for people who expect to walk in and buy something off the shelf

• two styles

  • Chelsea
  • Gordon

• limited colors

• all crust leathers

• sizing online ordering hard

• I tend to overeducate people when I’m in the store

• it’s really important to give people guidance

• can’t get soling leather in Australia, comes from Italy

• Dr. Sole outsoles

• doesn’t know where steel shanks come from

• Adelaide made soles on Chelsea boots

• have Jupiter outsole stitches

• company doesn’t exist anymore

• nobody makes parts

• nobody in the country knows how machines work

• supplier leather merchant flew a guy out from the USA to service

Business

• can’t really scale bespoke orthopedic shoes
• can scale leather goods, e.g. bags
• so much simpler than footwear
• end up retailing for a similar amount
• perception 300 Australian dollars is an expensive pair of shoes
• raw materials cost nearly that much

• I’ve gotta be making them in negative time

• lower barrier to entry, market flooded
• building shoes give them credibility: know what they’re doing for bags, too
• “hero product”
• makes the bags worth more
• have different price points for people
• belt, wallet, shoelaces 25-100 AUD
• people come back to buy boots
• boots start at 775 AUD (for basic Chelseas)
• goal: get on as many people’s feet as possible

• shoes are a very stupid way to try and make money

• wouldn’t be doing it

• blindly infatuated with footwear

• small-scale business generally

Australian Shoe and Boot Scene

• lots of RM Williams
• not what they used to be, replacing more often
• easygoing, a bit lazy
• not physically doing things, so wear things that signal that we do physically do things
• RM Williams on Collins Street office workers in Melbourne

Growth Prospects

• had more staff before they moved from Melbourne
• was managing more than making
• don’t want to grow too quickly
• reach potential of the 400 square meter workshop they set up
• partner up with other retailers
• working with a Melbourne workwear retailer
• Pickings & Perry
  • made-to-order
  • some to try on in store
  • first time having their shoes in someone else’s store