Sole survivorOnly original shoe and boot maker left in region, Alden thrives
John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Indiana Jones, and Bruce Willis - as well as your local Massachusetts state troopers - have something in common.
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Each made his mark on the world while wearing footwear crafted by the Alden Shoe Co. of Middleborough.
The company, started in 1884, is believed to be New England's last original shoe and boot maker - the sole survivor in a region that once was dotted with shoe and boot factories. Only one other original company is still around, and it makes golf shoes.
While most American shoe manufacturers have closed or moved their operations overseas, Alden Shoe Co. has managed not only to survive, but thrive, right where it started.
Today, 98.7 percent of all footwear purchased in the United States comes from foreign factories, most of which are in China, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association. That's a big change from 40 years ago, when the American shoe manufacturing industry still produced about 80 percent of the shoes sold in the United States.
As it has bucked the trend, Alden has made its mark on American fashion.
The iconic men's tassel moccasin ("tassel moc," in Alden speak) is among its enduring creations, widely copied today. The company specializes in classically styled men's boots and dress shoes. Most of the oxfords, wingtips, and loafers in its catalogs have remained unchanged for decades.
"We're in the style business - a more permanent kind of fashion," said Robert Clark, Alden's vice president. "We connect with men who like classic, traditional styles . . . who like quality and knowing they're buying something that will last."
Alden shoes are manufactured exclusively in Middleborough, inside a vast brick-and-steel building off Interstate 495. Inside, the factory spans 70,000 square feet, and the whirring sound of sewing machines and the heady aroma of leather fill the air. Here, approximately 100 employees produce thousands of shoes for high-end retailers from Manhattan to San Francisco, and fill orders across the globe for customers from Tokyo to Milan.
The workforce is a diverse group, from 20-somethings wearing headphones to older gentlemen with silvery hair. On the other side of the factory, an employee slices leather hides into strips, while her co-worker stitches the front of a shoe by hand, using needle and thread. Nearby, a group of women carefully guide pieces of material through sewing machines.
Photographs of their children, grandchildren, and spouses are taped to the factory walls and machinery. Miniature American flags are fastened to the tops of their sewing machines. When they break for 45 minutes to eat lunch, the floor goes quiet.
Sturdy materials are used to construct each Alden shoe: Steel shanks support the arches; a layer of natural cork lies beneath the leather insoles; and brass tacks secure the heels. Uppers are made of calfskin, suede, and shell cordovan, a shiny leather that comes from the backside of a horse.
"Our shoes don't wear out," said Clark.
That craftsmanship and those top-grade materials come with a price: Alden loafers start around $350, and wing tips can retail for upward of $500.
"We charge what we have to charge in order to make the shoe we want to make," said Clark.
Alden Shoe Co. was founded in 1884 by Charles H. Alden. The business spent its first eight years in Middleborough before relocating to a larger facility on Lake Street in North Abington. When Alden retired in 1931, the Tarlow family acquired the company and relocated its operations to Brockton, which was once home to more than 90 shoe companies. In 1970, Alden Shoe moved back to Middleborough.
"This entire area was the shoe manufacturing area," said Nicole Tourangeau, archivist and special-collections librarian at Stonehill College, which houses some of the Brockton Shoe Museum's collections. "Brockton was Shoe City, one of the largest producers of men's shoes in the world."
Surrounding towns such as Bridgewater, Weymouth, Rockland, Holbrook, Whitman, and Middleborough also had shoe factories.
As the years passed, however, many companies relocated to places where labor was cheaper. Thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost to the South, and eventually overseas. Others went out of business.
At one time, Weymouth was home to 75 shoe factories, the last of which closed in 1973. By 1960, only 15 shoe factories remained in Brockton, and 59 were left in the suburbs south of Boston.
A handful managed to survive; some were consolidated or bought up by other corporations. Alden has remained family-owned; it's currently owned and operated by the third generation of the Tarlow family.
"Alden got its niche market; the type of shoe they make is high-end, high quality," said Tourangeau.
During the 1940s, Alden produced winter boots for US soldiers who patrolled snowy mountains during World War II. The boots were specially shaped for ski bindings.
The company put out the first prototype of its tassel moccasin in 1948 and watched it evolve into the standard for American casual footwear: slippers for the well-heeled, genteel set, epitomizing the upper-class gentleman at his most comfortable. They became so popular that Alden created a special line of custom tassel loafers for Brooks Brothers in 1957.
Alden sells shoes to retailers all over the world and takes orders through its catalog and website. But it has no brick-and-mortar store. (There is an Alden shop in San Francisco and another on Madison Avenue in New York City. They are official distributors of Alden shoes, but not directly affiliated with Alden headquarters in Middleborough.)
The Middleborough facility produces about 100,000 pairs a year, said Clark. Today Alden supplies boots to the Massachusetts State Police; at graduation, each trooper receives a pair of boots made to measure. The company also repairs shoes for customers, and ships the shoes back with cedar in each shoe, which is placed inside a soft cloth bag.
The only advertising Alden does is in The Wall Street Journal. Despite the lack of marketing, its loyal customer base has kept coming back. The shoes have been favored by at least three American presidents, late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien, Formula One racing champ Michael Schumacher, and actor Harrison Ford (who wore his Alden boots in the "Indiana Jones" movies).
A display case in the lobby of Alden's corporate headquarters contains historical photos from the company's early years, shoes produced decades ago, and a copy of a cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1978. It depicts a man remarking to his wife, "You know, Marion, one of the things that has stood the test of time is these tassel oxfords."
Emily Sweeney can be reached at
[email protected].
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