Foot leather has to be graded for its thickness and quality. Foot’s many leather products.įirst things first, though-each piece of soon-to-be S.B. This preparation is done by Twin City Tanning up in South Saint Paul, which does the messy work of dehairing and preserving the hides, thereby turning them into the canvas that will eventually become one of S.B. But when the hides arrive at the tannery, they’re already in the form of “wet blues”-an early, basic stage of chrome-tanned leather that has been left wet (and blue, due to the use of chromium salts) to keep it fresh. Foot sources steerhides that mostly come from within a 600-mile radius of Red Wing. After donning our personal protective equipment, we stepped out onto the production floor. He ushered us into the tannery’s unassuming front office, which apparently was last updated sometime in the 1960s, an unmistakable vintage given away by the wood paneling and “spaghetti” acoustic ceiling tiles. Foot’s lower tannery bright and early on a Monday morning, where we were met by our tour guide, Mike Larson, the global product design and development manager for Red Wing Shoes.

Foot is actually divided up into two separate facilities about a mile apart: the “lower” tannery is where each hide arrives to begin its journey towards becoming leather, while the “upper” tannery up the road applies the final coloring and finishing to the leathers before they are shipped out. Just a few weeks before our visit, a locked and disused room was discovered in the tannery that contained several old documents, including a ledger dated from 1858, written by Silas B. In spite of-or perhaps because of-the tannery’s age, it still manages to hold some secrets within its walls. Foot tannery has been situated along Bench Street in the southern part of Red Wing. And I recently had the rare honor and privilege to tour the facilities of both companies. There are precious few places like this left in the United States: a city home to both a world-class boot manufacturer, and a tannery that sustains it. That close relationship between The Shoe and the tannery only became closer when Red Wing Shoes acquired S.B. The two companies have long had a close relationship in fact, Charles Beckman, the founder of Red Wing Shoes, learned the shoemaking trade from Silas Buck Foot himself. Foot Tanning Company, founded in 19, respectively. Then there’s the shoe factory and tannery: Red Wing Shoe Company (or simply “The Shoe,” as it’s called around town), and S.B. Red Wing also has strong tradition of supporting the arts, thanks to institutions like the majestic Sheldon Theatre. European explorers and settlers called the Native American community along the Mississippi River “Red Wing’s Village,” named after the chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota band who first settled there.Īnother highlight is the discovery of glacially deposited clay beds in Red Wing which led to a boom in pottery making, with millions of stoneware pieces being shipped out of the city at the industry’s peak. One display highlights the area’s fertile lands, which provided abundant resources for the Silvernale, Oneota, and Dakota indigenous tribes for many generations. James Hotel-established on the main drag of Red Wing, Minnesota in 1875-sits a room lined with humble displays that pay tribute to what the city was built upon.

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