2008年 11月 16日
Jarman Shoe Company,Nashville |
James Franklin Jarman began manufacturing $5 shoes in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1924 and incorporated the following year as Jarman Shoe Company. His son, Walton Maxey Jarman, soon joined the company, dropping out of MIT to do so. Maxey, as he was known, first worked a year at the Nashville plant as a laborer earning $10 a week, then began selling the company's product.
Maxey didn't want to be an electrical engineer, but he did want to build something. In 1933, at age 29, he got his chance. The senior Jarman made Maxey company president and moved up to chairman. Maxey changed the company name to General Shoe Corporation, and, despite the troubled economy of the Depression, started moving the company into shoe retail. He took this step since many shoe stores simply were not interested in more shoe brands, and he saw stores owned by General Shoe as the best way to distribute the company's footwear.
Maxey established four retail chains, bought a tanning plant in Michigan, and, to keep everything in-house, began producing shoe boxes. Through a subsidiary, he provided the manufacturing plants with cement, chemicals and finishes. Maxey became chairman in 1938 upon his father's death, and in 1939 he took the company public, offering 150,000 shares at $15.25 a share.
Opening brand name shoe stores in key cities helped make the Jarman and other General Shoe brands popular. Once that occurred, big independent retailers wanted to have them in stock. The company-owned stores also served as laboratories, providing immediate signals as to what the factories should make. By 1941, General Shoe had sales of $24 million, selling its shoes through its own 43 retail stores and 10,000 other outlets. In 1946, the company made a second stock offering, at $40 per share, with the proceeds going into its general fund.
Maxey Jarman was a devout Southern Baptist and an avid reader. He was reserved by nature, and the results of company psychological tests (which he took under an assumed name) indicated he was too shy to succeed in management. Yet he loved his business, had a great curiosity, and worked hard to overcome his shyness. He also had an entrepreneurial flair.
genesco
by 10footers
| 2008-11-16 20:30
| American Factory