The Rockport Group is a shoe manufacturer based in Newton, Massachusetts. Currently owned by Crescent Capital Group. It is home to the Aravon, Dunham and Rockport brands and the popular Rockport Cobb Hill Collection.
Founded in Marlborough, Massachusetts in 1971 by Saul L. Katz and his son, Bruce Katz, the company produces footwear found in various retail channels in more than 60 countries around the world.
Video Rockport (company)
Histori
In 1930, Samuel Katz founded Hubbard Shoe Company, which had its first plant in Rochester, New Hampshire; eight years later the company hired 700. In 1945, Saul Katz took over Hubbard from his father. In the 1960s, US shoe manufacturing moved increasingly to countries with lower labor costs, making it difficult for US manufacturers to remain competitive in the face of cheaper imports. Saul Katz urged Congress to help the American shoe industry and in 1977 the Carter government imposed quotas on shoe imports, but the control arrived too late for Hubbard, who was out of business in 1970.
Saul Katz continues to run a live subsidiary spinning from Hubbard, called Highland Import. It is operated out of the office at the old Diamond Shoe Company in Marlboro, Massachusetts and imported shoes from Brazil. Highland Import works with American branded shoe companies to develop specialty products. One is the stitched hand shoe heavy leather model after a shoe developed by Walter Dyer in Rockport, MA. When Saul Katz went to a tannery in Brazil he named the Rockport skin.
3,000 pairs of mokasin brought to Marlboro arrive late for Highland customers and the shoes remain in the warehouse for several months. Bruce Katz then began working with his father and traveled to the East Coast from Boston to Washington, DC, selling these shoes in plain white boxes to small leather shops and shoe boutiques in many towns. The shoes do not carry a name until Katz finds out that others start copying shoes and call them "Rockport Type" shoes. He then returned to Marlboro and decided to start branding as "Rockport."
In 1971, Saul Katz and his son, Bruce, formed the Rockport Company of Highland Import. The company starts with $ 15,000 and grows fully by staying profitable every year. In 1986, shortly before the company was sold, Rockport's sales reached nearly $ 100 million per year, having made a profit every year since its inception.
Maps Rockport (company)
Comfortable Shoes
Rockport's first product is Country Walker, introduced in 1973. On the basis of the company's next RocSport shoes and the people that followed, Bruce Katz is credited by the Footwear Plus footwear industry by creating a "modern- lightweight and infused technology. "
These period Rockport shoes are designed as an alternative to athletic shoes, which are gaining in popularity as versatile footwear. Rockport focuses on designing shoes that look more like traditional styles, but trying to combine the lightness and comfort of running shoes. This development effort leading to RocSport is "probably the first real 'high-tech shoe'," according to James A. Phills, Jr., who teaches at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Apple University, Apple, Inc. home business management school.
The Walking Shoe
Rockport is credited with creating walking shoes and popularizing walking as a form of exercise and a healthy alternative to running. Under the leadership of Bruce Katz, the driving force behind running shoes, Rockport invests in design and "spends a lot of money on advertising and marketing to create a strong brand name and carve out a niche market," according to The New York Times. Rockport also invests in biomechanical research running to design shoes.
In 1984, Rockport sponsored a run of 11,600 miles across the country and crossed every state to promote walking as a popular form of exercise. Walkers sponsored by companies participating in "Walk for the Health of It" include Robert Sweetgall, whose books help popularize walking for workouts. Sweetgall and other hikers wearing Rockport shoes and their journey is documented in a movie, Walk America! Mostly as a result of the company's promotional activities, Rockport shoes became closely associated with running.
In 1985, Rockport introduced ProWalker shoes, described as "one of the first shoes made especially for fitness equipment." An outdoor magazine named ProWalker "Mercedes-Benz walking shoes." ProWalker includes "extended heel counters for stability and lateral support, rocker profiles to aid the natural walking movement, Vibram Superflex outsole for durability and Poron insole for stress point bearings." In 2013 the shoes were inducted into Footwear Plus Style Hall of Fame. Footwear Plus notes that ProWalker was introduced when running shoes have not been defined as a category of footwear. Between 1980 and 1986, Rockport's revenues rose at a compound annual growth rate of 54 percent, to $ 96 million.
Sales to Reebok
In 1986, Rockport was preparing to go public when the family decided to sell the company to British Reebok's athletic shoe giant. Bruce Katz remained president for a year before handing over management to the new Reebok CEO. Saul Katz remained as part of the management team until retirement in his 70s. Then Reebok was sold to the pioneer of German athletic shoes Adidas.
Acquisition of Adidas Group
On August 3, 2015, Berkshire Partners and New Balance Holding, Inc. completed the acquisition of The Rockport Company from Adidas Group, and incorporated Rockport with DryDock Footwear, an affiliate of New Balance, to form a new company called The Rockport Group.
Acquisition of Crescent Capital Group
In December 2017, sources reported that Crescent Capital Group, the principal creditor of The Rockport Group, acquired Rockport ownership from Berkshire Partners.
Bankruptcy
On May 14, 2018, Rockport filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing "costly and time-consuming separation" from its former owner, Adidas AG.
Grandson Founder of Rockport Out of Shoe Retirement to Launch Samuel Hubbard Shoe
In 2014, Bruce Katz launched Samuel Hubbard Shoe Co., promising "comfort engineering" and quality materials, inspired, some of Rockport's original walking shoes. The company takes its name from a shoe manufacturing company (Hubbard Shoe Co.) whose grandfather Bruce Katz (Samuel Katz) was founded in the 1930s in Rochester, New Hampshire. Bruce later founded Rockport with his father, Saul Katz, after Hubbard Shoe Company closed its doors in the early 70s.
Footnote
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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