Monday, June 22, 2015

Are these the worst shoes? Cowboy boot sandals



Have you ever thought that your cowboy boots need to be summer-ized?

Scotty Franklin of Springfield, Mo. and his company Redneck Boot Sandals will do just that, according to the Austin Statesman.

For $50 you can mail them your cowboy boots and they will make them into sandals. According to their facebook page, they will soon have their own designs. 

Since 2012, Franklin told the Austin Statesman that he has done boots for doctors, nurses, attorneys, pilots, teachers, preachers, and farmers

The idea of cowboy boot sandals has recently been trending online and the facebook page has over 4,000 likes.

My take? I've always thought that open-toed boots were silly. If its warm enough to have open toes, doesn't the extra fabric make you hot? And in the winter aren't you cold? I know the say to wear tights under the boots for winter but most tights are far from warm.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

How New Balance makes 4 million pairs of sneakers in the U.S.



I was able to visit New Balance's factory in Lawrence, MA and see how they make sneakers, for my job.

I will never look at a pair of sneakers the same way. So many parts and skills go into making each pair, yet the manufacturing associates are only supposed to touch them for 22.5 second each! That's even for things like hand stitching and cutting leather. The sneaker goes from raw materials to box in less than 3 hours.

While many of its competitors moved their manufacturing overseas, New Balance makes over 4 million pairs at its 5 factories in the U.S.

To learn more check out the video I produced and read my full article on CNBC


An overview of New Balance's values.