The company had to go to Boston to secure credit from a bank, and the company then did well until the stock market crash of 1929. The company encountered a crisis in 1920, when a rise in hemlines made many of Brown's high-topped shoes unfashionable and overstocked. Starting in 1917, the company secured lucrative military contracts with the United States government. īrown Shoe Company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 1913. Louis, the company secured tax subsidies from various towns to open factories in rural Missouri and Illinois. Partly in response to the union activity, Brown Shoe Company increasingly turned to labor in the small towns in the surrounding area. Strikes led to anti-union activities among workers as well, and the creation of the anti-union propaganda organization Citizens Industrial Association in St. The latter was associated with the Industrial Workers of the World. Louis area, including Brown Shoes', workers formed unions the moderate Boot and Shoe Workers Union was followed by the more radical United Shoe Workers of America. In response to the poor working conditions at shoe factories in the St. Louis found that over half were between the ages of 14 and 19, with an average wage for a girl under 16 less than $10 a week. As the work became more mechanized, shoe factory jobs required less skill, and in the industry at large, positions were increasingly filled by women and children, who could be paid less. During this time of high competition, Brown Shoes kept profits high by keeping labor costs as low as possible, as the cost of plant equipment and materials were somewhat fixed. In 1907, the company moved its headquarters to a building in downtown St. Louis, and in 1907, the company set up its first plant out of the city, where labor was cheaper in Moberly, Missouri. īy 1902, Brown Shoe had five factories operating in St. At least 8 people were killed and the other 2 were described as "fatally injured." It's unclear if they succumbed to their injuries. It happened on January 13 when a crowd of employees was waiting for the elevator at the factory and someone raised the elevator gate, causing 10 people to fall down the shaft. In 1904, a deadly elevator accident occurred at a Brown Shoe factory in St. Louis became increasingly known as a center for shoe manufacturing, and competing factories set up in the city. 1901-1920s: Growth and labor issues Īs Brown Shoes grew, St. Four years later the company bought the rights to Buster Brown, a character developed by cartoonist Richard F. The company competed as Brown shoes were sold throughout the Midwest at prices lower than New England shoes, and by 1900 the company was growing at a rate of $1 million a year. In 1895, the Brown Shoe Company factory had about six hundred employees who could make five thousand pairs of shoes and boots a day. Desnoyers also retired, and the name was changed to Brown Shoe Company. In 1886, the company became the Brown-Desnoyers Shoe Company, after Mr. In 1881, it was incorporated as the Bryan Brown Shoe Company. The company hired five skilled shoemakers from Rochester, New York, to start the factory in St. Bryan and Jerome Desnoyers also as investors. After four years in his brother’s wholesale shoe business, Brown had the funds to found Bryan, Brown and Company to make women’s shoes, with Alvin L. At that point, most shoes were manufactured in New England. Louis in 1873 to work in his older brother’s shoe business, and saw potential for shoe manufacturing in St. Founder George Warren Brown moved from New York to St. The company began business in 1878 and incorporated in 1881 as Bryan-Brown Shoe Company. Louis and was originally named Bryan, Brown & Company after its founders George Warren Brown and Alvin Bryan.
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