Dear Brigade, "Mr. Fishman, though, thinks shoemaking is exactly the kind of job the U.S. should retain. He sees major negative social effects from the loss of good, $10-an-hour factory jobs on which people can support families. ... Inside each shoebox he sells is an eight-page manifesto decrying the "underemployment" that results when factory workers morph into burger flippers...." Brigade, "buying American" is not as difficult to do as most people think it is. Stand by for more news on this in the weeks ahead. For the Cause, Linda PS - I checked out the Cape Shoe Company website -- pretty cool! You can contact Cape Shoes at: Eli Fishman 1600 S. West End Blvd. Cape Girardeau, MO 63703 Tel: 573.335.4700 Fax: 573.335.6565 capeshoe@clas.net http://www.capeshoe.com/ ---------- Date sent: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 07:28:09 -0400 From: "Roger Simmermaker" Subject: Cape Shoe To: linda@buchanan.org October 22, 2001 Buy-U.S. Sentiment Helps Cape Shoe In the Wake of U.S. Terrorist Attacks By TIMOTHY AEPPEL Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Eli Fishman's fledgling shoe business is feeling the effects of Sept. 11: Sales have jumped more than 15%. It helps that the weather has turned. But Mr. Fishman suspects another reason is that everything used in making the shoes, from the leather to the tiny metal eyelets, comes from U.S. factories. He insists on it, to the point of making some suppliers provide affidavits assuring him of the fact. After struggling to find customers for Cape Shoe Co. -- which started churning out shoes in an old Florsheim factory here about a year ago -- Mr. Fishman suddenly is fielding calls from local labor union leaders interested in getting their members to buy his products. And he just signed a deal to do subcontracting work for a big maker of boots for the U.S. military. That contract alone will require him to nearly double his work force of about 20. "Things are starting to happen," says Mr. Fishman, Cape Shoe's owner. "His business model looks 180 degrees better than it did a month ago," says Jay Knudtson, a senior vice president at the local branch of Bank of America, which lent $1.3 million to help launch Cape Shoe. But his client isn't cashing in on a tragedy, the banker adds. It has merely been emphasizing something all along -- the virtues of buying U.S.-made goods -- that is suddenly stirring shoppers. According to America's Research Group, of Charleston, S.C., the number of people who'll go out of their way to buy U.S.-made products has jumped sharply since the terror attacks. C. Britt Beemer, the company's chairman, says the proportion of shoppers in surveys who report seeking out such products has traditionally been about 24%. But in a survey of 1,000 consumers conducted the first weekend after the attacks, that number jumped to 30%. In early October, it jumped again, to 36%. "I'm not surprised that it got to be that high," Mr. Beemer says, "but I'm surprised it got that high, that quickly." The company defines someone who wants to buy U.S.- made goods as anyone who'll go to at least two stores in search of a given product. Al Ries, a marketing strategist from Roswell, Ga., agrees recent events have boosted buy-American sentiments. But he sees it as a fad. "What you see in these situations is an enormous upsurge of buy-American, wave the flag," he says. "But I think it'll go down as quickly as it arose." Either way, Mr. Fishman is a true believer. He's so adamant about using only U.S. goods, he refuses to have his leather tanned in Mexico or to buy cutting tools made in Canada -- moves that could save his factory thousands of dollars. He has checked into the origin of the cardboard that goes into his shoeboxes (Oregon). Mr. Fishman recently went out and bought two new handcarts to take to a trade show in Las Vegas, even though the factory had 10 carts on hand. There was no way to know where they had been made, and he didn't want to be seen in public with a cart that might lack the U.S. pedigree. Cape Shoe is expected to sell fewer than 15,000 pairs of shoes and boots this year, less than what Mr. Fishman had hoped for by now, and not enough to make money. But the 51-year-old is encouraged by the surge of interest since the terror attacks, particularly since it has come during broader economic weakness. The company makes four basic models, including a plain black, six- inch boot that sells well to the Amish. Priced in the $95 to $130 range, the shoes cost slightly less than comparable well-known brands but double what many big chain stores charge for no-name imported shoes. Mr. Fishman has "positioned himself to be a niche player," says Peter Corritori, chief executive of Florsheim Group Inc., Chicago, which employed 300 people in Cape Girardeau until it closed the factory in late 1999. Mr. Corritori says most consumers are more concerned with value than the origin of the shoes they buy. Mr. Fishman, though, thinks shoemaking is exactly the kind of job the U.S. should retain. He sees major negative social effects from the loss of good, $10-an-hour factory jobs on which people can support families. With that in mind, he sold a small plastics factory in Chicago last year to help pay for his shoemaking venture. He attributes his attitudes to his Jewish upbringing in the 1960s, and in particular to the Jewish concept of "tikkun olam," or "repairing the world," which is the foundation for Jewish advocacy of social justice. Inside each shoebox he sells is an eight-page manifesto decrying the "underemployment" that results when factory workers morph into burger flippers. Mr. Fishman emphasizes that he pays workers more than the "living wage," pegged at $8.84 an hour in the nearby St. Louis area, plus medical benefits. His passion is infectious. Out in the factory, Agnes Herren, a 48- year-old supervisor, says she has learned a lot about shopping for U.S.-made products from her quirky boss. She wears a red-white- and-blue rhinestone brooch on her lapel and drives a Chevy. But she is no purist: She has been eyeing a Korean-made Kia at a local dealership. "I'll probably get it," she says. "I'm not a radical." His customers, meanwhile, seem as interested in quality as in the shoes' social statement. "I'm a buy-American person," says Steve Link, a tow-truck driver from Mishawaka, Ind., who figures he has owned at least five pairs of Cape Shoes. He has an unusually wide foot, he says, "so if I find a shoe that fits, I buy it no matter what." ------- end --------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T H E I N T E R N E T B R I G A D E Linda Muller - WebMaster 47671 Whirlpool Square, Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165 Email: linda@buchanan.org Web: http://www.buchanan.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T H E B R I G A D E E M A I L L I S T To Subscribe/Unsubscribe send an email with: SUBSCRIBE BRIGADE - or - UNSUBSCRIBE BRIGADE in your message to: MAJORDOMO@BUCHANAN.ORG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~