Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-02
AMERICAN SHOES POPULAR
GREAT MARKET FOR THEM ES.
TABLISHED IN ENGLAND.
Superiority of Our Goods and Adj
vantnEes of Our Business Methods
Result in Large Sales.

The British Boot and Shoe Trades Jour-
nal, In recent number. said edtorially:
we felt at one time that the importation
of few American-made boots and shoes
was a good thing and calculated to stimu-
late our manufacturers to greater efforts
and cause them to make the place rather
warm for all intending invaders, but the
position Is now almost analogous to that of
the Australian farmer, who. thinking that
few rabbits would improve the rural as
pect of the farm, imported some. The few
soon became many, and the agricultural
prosperity of the colonies is now seriously
threatened by the thriving rodent In like
manner is the trade threatened by the i'm
portation of those few first samples and
mainly because of the Indifference with
which the importation has been regardes
by our own manufacturers
In another department of the same issue
of this publication the 'bagman,'' or. as
we should say, the drummer is credited
with this opinion:
In looking backward one feels that the
spring season has been especially notewor-
thy in this respect to one particular item.
namely, every commercial traveller repre-
senting a British house has felt American
competition to be real, live fact, and far
from being the bogy that 1t was said to be
some time back. Slowly the various Amer
lean houses have advanced and spread
themselves around, adapting themselves to
the wants of each particular market with
| cleverness which will always make them
formidable competitors. They are thou
! thousands of miles away, and home manu-
! facturers are on the spot, and yet. in spite
| of all disadvantages. they have increased
| their trade and to some extent established
| themselves"
Commenting these Statements Consul
HalStead, at Birmingham. says:
Pointed Toe Sold in England.
THE effort to sell American shoes in this
country has certainly had very marked eff
feet on the style of shoe worn, and though
| they have not gone to quite the extreme, the
shoes exhibited in the shoeshop windows in
| Great Britain today are of the pointed type
| worn in the United States few years ago
1t is also a singular development of this
| international dealing that the shoes sold in
| the United States today are broader soled
] and broader toed than anything worn in
England, and this must be due to the crea-
| ton of a market for the broad shoe in the
| United States at the time the demand for
| the same type fell off in Great Britain,
| owing, no doubt, to the early efforts in
| Great Britain of the United States manu-
| facturers to sell the kind of shoe then worn
| in the United States. The splendid finish
| of the American shoe and its flexible leather
won way for the Shoe carrying with them
| the pointed toe under the mistaken impress
sion that 1t also had a share in the new
| foot comfort
The many American shoe statesmen with
whom 1 have acquaintance report very
| great progress in this market. and find that
| they are now sought where formerly they
had to plead for an opening chance. One
| salesman. who was in birmingham lately.
| told me that his books for the year recorded
| the sale of s30O000 worth of shoes in Great
| Britain alone and stated that his books
would not show all the sales he had made
here, because there were so MANY of his
| customers who could not be persuaded that
. they could not buy better by buying from
the home house direct
These figures. it should be noted, repre-
| sent the sales of one concern. and there are
| l understand. at least twenty other shoe
| houses represented in England
| "One New England shoe manufacturer
| has established retail store in London
| where he sells his goods. has shining par
| lors. etc, and this establishment has al
| ready proved so profitable he is opening an
| other one in different section of the CITY
| and contemplates an extension Throughout
| the provinces.
Advantage of American System.
| Large manufacturers have found it to
| their advantage in the United States to es-
| tabl1sh their own retail stores throughout
| the cities OF the country, and this is much
! more important here, as the average Eng
| lish shopkeeper gives such long credits and
| has SO much of his money represented on
his books that he cannot keep an extensive
stock. The result is that, while in the
| average shoe store in the United States ono
| has the chance of selecting from a stock
| with five widths and half sizes in lengths
| seven widths in some establishments-in
| the average shoe shop here only three
widths are kept and no half sizes in
| lengths; and inability to fit individuals ont
| or three-width stock assists the shop-
keeper IN ms endeavor to persuade the Gus
toner to have shoes made to order de-
spite all the chances of misfits which that
means. Low-priced cash dealings, one price
are features of business just as acce6tabie
| to the buyers here as at home The general
| public would prefer to be purchasers in
| ing customers, If they were given the on
portunity.' w