Is there a boot factory in Los Angeles?

[nicklaszlo]

I thought someone told me that Riedell was in LA, but that is apparently not true.  I'm asking because I want to visit.

[tstop4me]

Riedell isn't even in the state of California; it's in the state of Minnesota.  If you have time to take a side trip to the greater San Francisco area, SP-Teri, Harlick, and Avanta are all up there. 

[AgnesNitt]

duplicate sorry NM

[Bill_S]

Having them all in one major metro area is really curious. I have seen that with other manufacturing when there's a local resource required (skilled labor, raw materials, etc.)

I wonder what it is about SF that draws these companies?

[lutefisk]

Having them all in one major metro area is really curious. I have seen that with other manufacturing when there's a local resource required (skilled labor, raw materials, etc.)

I wonder what it is about SF that draws these companies?

Sourdough bread.

[Bill_S]

   Ha! That's IT!
+GOE

[tstop4me]

Having them all in one major metro area is really curious. I have seen that with other manufacturing when there's a local resource required (skilled labor, raw materials, etc.)

I wonder what it is about SF that draws these companies?

In comparison to the number of hi-tech companies in Silicon Valley, we're talking about only 3 companies.  Harlick and SP-Teri have been there for quite a while.  So the peculiarity is Avanta.  They had their roots in Klingbeil (NYC), but setup shop first in Tennessee of all places (if I recall correctly), then moved to CA.  So now you have Riedell in the Midwest;  Harlick, SP-Teri, and Avanta on the West Coast; and nobody on the East Coast.  That strikes me as an odd marketing decision on the part of Avanta.  Especially if you target high-end customs, easy access to factory master fitters would be a great plus, I would think.  It's not like there's a dearth of elite skaters and facilities on the East Coast.

[AgnesNitt]

I think it's access to trained boot makers (cobblers).

[Query]

I wonder what it is about SF that draws these companies?

I think it is obvious. It probably started with lots of people with good jobs and money. That created a large set of potential skaters with money to burn. That attracted lots of coaches, including some very good and famous ones. That attracted a lot of elite skaters. Etc.

Then they developed a critical mass.

Once you've got lots of well paying jobs, people with money, kids whose families have money, good skaters (figure and hockey skaters both contribute to the economics - and in some places speed skaters too), good coaches, famous coaches, lots of ice rinks, maybe communities that subsidize those ice rinks, good skate techs, maybe skate manufacturers or outlets, ice rinks willing to go out of their way to rent to elite skaters, good choreographers, good music arrangers, good places and people to get good skating outfits, schools for families that want them, and a world-wide recognition of that identity, you have a skating center that is self-re-enforcing.

Uniform distribution of skaters and skating resources is not stable. There are a very small number of skating communities in the world that attract the best of everything related to skating - and that in turn attracts more of the best of everything related to skating to those communities.

It's not black magic. It could just as well be any other activity - sports, manufacturing, finance, science and technology, education, politics, etc.

[tstop4me]

Did a little digging.  As far as Harlick and SP-Teri being based in San Francisco ... purely serendipity.

(a) Harlick

http://www.harlick.com/about/index.php

Excerpt from Harlick History:

The year was 1935, Oscar Johnson and Eddie and Roy Shipstad were readying the debut of their ice-skating road show, Sonja Henie was putting the finishing touches on her Madison Square Garden ice show, indoor ice rinks and dazzling ice carnivals had spread across the country.

In San Francisco, home of Shipstad and Johnson, Louis Harlick, a Custom Footwear Maker (English Riding Boots, Ballet Shoes, Orthopedic Shoes) from Russia, was making his first pair of Custom Skating Boots.

Harlick Skating Boots Began.

(b) SP-Teri

http://www.manleywoman.com/episode-42-george-spiteri/

Excerpt from interview with George Spiteri:

On the history of SP-Teri boots: My father was a shoemaker on the isle of Malta, and he migrated to San Francisco, because he had an aunt that lived here. This was right after World War II, and Malta was bombed very heavily by the Germans. So a lot of buildings were destroyed and apartments were hard to find. And my mother's father required that my mother and father have a place to stay before they got married. So my father's aunt said that she had a place for him to stay in San Francisco, and she knew a guy who made shoes, so my father could probably get a job there. So they put in their papers to get immigration to the United States, and when they got that, they were able to get married, and they came here to the States.

And my father, Joseph, started working for a company that was part-owned by a Maltese guy, making ballet slippers, flamenco shoes, riding boots, that sort of footwear. By 1948 the two gentlemen had the opportunity to make some skating boots for local skaters, and it became a lucrative business. One partner bought out the other partner, and that company became Harlick. Then in the 1950s Joseph became a partner with Louis Harlick in making the skating boots, and then by the early 60s Mr. Harlick found that he had cancer, and so he wanted to sell his interests in the business. And two gentlemen, Jack Henderson who was already in the business and his brother Bob Henderson, bought out Mr. Harlick's ownership, and they had 80% ownership of the company. And then six months after that Joseph sold his share of the company to the Hendersons, and in 1963 he started the SP-Teri company.

It's amazing because nobody had planned to make skating boots, or that there would be a business making skating boots in San Francisco. Back then they were just shoemakers and there was an opportunity, and they made them basically because it was a job and they were making money and they were able to raise families.  None of them had anticipated becoming large companies or expanding, and they just grew and just added workers to their locations. And we are where we are now because of the skating market of the 1970s through the 1990s.

[tstop4me]

(c) That leaves Avanta, initially rooted in Klingbeil in NYC.  I know that there are some skaters here who were Klingbeil customers.  Does anyone know the background scoop to Avanta, and why they moved out of NYC after the restructuring and eventual demise of Klingbeil?  NYC obviously has experienced shoe and boot makers.  Was there some regional non-compete clause with Klingbeil?  Why did Avanta first settle in Tennessee (not exactly a Mecca for figure skating)?  Cheap labor?  Tax break from the state?  Why did they relocate to San Francisco?  Seems odd they would camp out on the doorsteps of two established competitors, leaving the under-served East Coast market.

[icepixie]

Why did Avanta first settle in Tennessee (not exactly a Mecca for figure skating)?

Bill Fauver lives and coaches in Nashville, and he was president(? some kind of high up role).  They moved to CA when he stopped being involved.

[Query]

Incidentally, though they aren't in LA, I think Riedel spun off of Red Wing Shoes, which mostly makes boots. So they too were created because there were suitable shoe/boot making experts in their area.

[Jenna]

Incidentally, though they aren't in LA, I think Riedel spun off of Red Wing Shoes, which mostly makes boots. So they too were created because there were suitable shoe/boot making experts in their area.

That would make sense since Riedell is based in Red Wing, MN which is also the home of Red Wing Shoes.

[tstop4me]

Bill Fauver lives and coaches in Nashville, and he was president(? some kind of high up role).  They moved to CA when he stopped being involved.

Thanks for that tidbit.  Often decisions are made for personal reasons, rather than macroeconomic ones.

[Query]

Incidentally, though they aren't in LA, I think Riedel spun off of Red Wing Shoes, which mostly makes boots. So they too were created because there were suitable shoe/boot making experts in their area.

BTW, I think my source was Wikipedia, which may not be authoritative.

Riedell Shoe Inc. was founded in Red Wing, MN in 1947 by a former Red Wing Shoes employee.[/url]

Incidentally, tradition holds that it helps for a shoe maker to be a Leprechaun, Elf, or fairy, because you need small hands to work in tight spaces.

Perhaps there are many of the Little Folk in places where fine shoes and boots are made.