This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Jeff Burns, president of Weinbrenner Shoe Company.
The business, which was established in Wisconsin in 1892, manufactures workboots and other footwear under the Thorogood brand. It makes boots for electricians, plumbers or construction workers, as well as law enforcement and firemen.
“The primary focus is tradesmen and women, that’s really the core of our business … what you would consider skilled trade work, that’s really the backbone and the focus of our brand,” Burns said.
It’s had a factory in Marshfield since 1935, but needed a more modern space to meet growing demand, Burns said. Earlier this year, the company opened a new $14.5 million, 70,000-square-foot manufacturing site to replace the older facility.
“It’s allowed us to put a linear line, and you can watch the product go from point A to point B to point C … very efficient, and high ceilings, 26-foot ceilings,” Burns said. “It’s very open, very clean, all LED lighting. So it’s just a much better environment for our employees.”
The business employs about 120 people and plans to invest and hire more going forward, even while working to automate some aspects of its manufacturing processes such as sewing.
“When you say the word automation, the first thing that comes to some people’s minds is, you’re going to cut your workforce. That’s not the intent,” he said. “The intent is to take our workforce and allow them to work smarter and make more product with the same amount of people.”
Meanwhile, Burns discusses the company’s exposure to tariffs, though most of its components are made domestically.
“We do import some products, it’s very difficult in the United States to do rubber footwear, I mean you just don’t find rubber footwear being made in the United States,” he said. “We make rubber fireboots, and we source that from overseas so that’s an imported item that got affected by tariffs.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
