Word: shoes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Clogs, in one form or another, have been kicking around for centuries. The Swedes took to them long ago, to such an extent that they are known as "Swedish sneakers" even in Sweden. Only recently, however, has the shoe caught on in America. When Ulla Olsenius, now 30, came to the U.S. six years ago as the exclusive importer of clogs for two Swedish factories, she found business less than slow. "All the buyers were very nice," she remembers, "but they just shook their heads...
...neither time nor money to turn out the products that more and more people want in an increasingly affluent world. Even shopgirls and clerks seem willing to spend beyond their means to own the same kind of luggage or clothes as Jackie or Frankie or Princess Lee. The Gucci shoe, a chunky loafer with a metal snaffle across the instep and a price tag from $31 to $49, has become one of those subtleties of dress that are supposed to separate the Main Line from the wrong side of the tracks. Enriched by demand for such symbols, Gucci has opened...
Unique Penetration. Support for the trade-restricting measures cuts through geographic and party lines because shoe manufacturing is scattered across 40 states. It is a principal industry in New England and ranks high in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio and North Carolina. Altogether, 253 Congressmen have shoe plants in their home districts, most of them located in small towns where they are vital to the local economy...
...shoe industry," says Congressman James A. Burke of Massachusetts, a chief promoter of curbs, "is seeking a reasonable solution such as quotas based on the 1968 import levels, perhaps allowing for a 5% increase per year." Industry spokesmen claim that expanding imports of leather and vinyl shoes-mostly from Italy and Japan -have for years absorbed all the growth in the U.S. market. Since 1955, imports have risen from 8,000,000 pairs representing only a 1% share of the domestic market to last year's 175 million pairs, or about 21% of the market. "No other industry that...
Domestic manufacturers blame their troubles primarily on the gap between U.S. and foreign wages. In the U.S., wages and benefits for shoe workers average $2.75 an hour, compared with $1 in Italy, 560 in Spain, 580 in Japan and 480 in Taiwan. Labor is indeed a prime cost factor in an industry that has never been able to mechanize to any great extent. But price is not the only reason that the imports do so well. Craftsmanship and leadership in styling are equally valid explanations for the appeal of foreign shoes, particularly those from Italy, which account...