Sales red hot for Maine fire boot manufacturer

LEWISTON, Maine ? Fire boots are helping bolster the economy in this central Maine industrial town devastated by overseas competition.At the epicenter of this modest but significant success story sits Carl Spang, a Wellesley, Mass. native who admittedly never dreamed he’d be in the fire boot business. Yet less than a year after he was hired by potential investors to evaluate Falcon Performance Footwear, he owns a 45 percent stake in the company.Falcon manufactures highly technical footwear for the fire fighting industry, including ankle-high models for emergency medical technicians and daily wear at the firehouse, as well as taller, more heavy-duty boots for actual fire fighting.Amid what economists have described as a national recession, Falcon’s ability to stay afloat and thrive serves as a model for other U.S. businesses hoping to do likewise. After all, there were once hundreds of shoe factories in the Lewiston area, employing thousands of skilled workers, similar to the former Massachusetts shoe cities of Lynn and Peabody. Over time, the Maine footwear industry was reduced to only two manufacturing operations ? Falcon and Allen Edmonds.According to Falcon spokesman Stephanie Cheney, the U.S. market has developed a dependence on low-price goods from foreign manufacturers, sold by retail giants such as Wal-Mart. Recall that Nike, the corporate giant, manufactures no footwear in America.”Consumers are now seeing the unexpected consequences of an overseas production force with recalls for products ranging from toys to dog food,” she said, noting that the footwear industry was among the early victims of overseas manufacturing. “But at Falcon, the principals felt they could tap into their skills, keep production amounts manageable and still develop a viable American business ? they just needed to identify the right niche market.”Falcon’s owners initially sensed the key to survival might lie in the burgeoning military market, a logical assumption given the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So in conjunction with a well-known boot manufacturer, Hi-Tech Magnum, the company began to develop a line of footwear for the armed services. Around the same time, executives at Globe Manufacturing of Pittsfield, Mass., became convinced that they needed to offer fire boots to expand their head-to-toe line of firefighters’ gear. When the military contract idea fizzled and Falcon’s primary boot customer went bankrupt, Globe provided the encouragement and financial resources necessary to complete the smaller company’s shift to fire boots manufacturing.The result: Falcon has emerged as a growing and profitable business in the Lewiston area and a producer of fire boots that attract high praise from those who depend on them.”We believe there’s a lesson here for other struggling manufacturing industries: that specialization and the Made in the USA label still have a role in the United States,” said Cheney, noting that Falcon recently ended a $4 million year and expects to reach $6 million in sales in 2008. The company is expanding its line of five fire boot models, and because of its nimble size can offer an incredibly short turn around time for new orders five business days.So what does Spang have to say about his success and ability to make durable goods in the U.S. at a time when the prospect seems daunting?”After running the numbers last year, I knew Falcon could make a go of it, so I put together a business plan and my first stop was the SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) office,” he said. “There was a young guy there who told me outright there was no reason anybody should be making shoes in North America. I was really surprised by that and some of the other assumptions I’ve encountered.”Despite the lack of encouragement, Spang moved forward with his plan, convinced Falcon could make a comeback.”I believe in manufacturing jobs and the communities that depend on them,” he said. “We have over 70 employees at Falcon right now. We were pr