Our Blog

Red Wing Shoe Company is a name steeped in history. So it may surprise you that this organization—founded in Red Wing Minnesota in 1905—could offer such a FANtastic Marketing example! I’ll admit, even I was a little surprised. Many older companies have a difficult time pivoting to meet the needs of modern audiences. The truth is, Red Wing Shoe Company has been on the cutting edge of shoe trends for women for a very long time. They merely don’t like to brag about it.

Red Wing Shoe Company is a family-owned business with humble beginnings. But within ten years of opening its doors, the organization was manufacturing over 200,000 pairs of boots every year to help keep up with the demand ignited by the First and Second World Wars. In addition to doing their part for the war effort, Red Wing has done quite a bit for—women! This includes the debut of their original women’s boot in 1926, The Gloria. And in fact, you can purchase a throwback version of this boot today! Of course, they didn’t stop at fashion statements and lifestyle footwear. More recently, Red Wing has expanded to include athletic-style work shoes as well as shoes that have been designed with a specific industry in mind (ie: restaurant industry workers need non-slip shoes).

Perhaps one of the best examples of how this company has embraced its target audience, however, is the all-new Tradeswoman Boot. A recent survey found that women only make up about 10.3% of the construction workforce. However, this ingenious boot taps into the need of an incredibly small but wildly underserved market. That is, women in construction, light manufacturing, and warehouse and distribution industries.

So how did Red Wing come to create this FANtastic boot? It turns out that they were hearing complaints from their female customers regarding the challenge of finding work boots that fit properly. From shape to the arch to heel, a woman’s foot is incredibly different than a man’s—and yet working women everywhere were being forced to wear men’s boots to their job sites because a better solution didn’t exist.

Talk about listening to your fans, knowing your audience, and giving them exactly what they want! Through FANtastic Marketing and customer service, Red Wing Shoe Company is sure to have made some lifelong fans that will rave about them for years to come!

P.S. If you are a shoe person like myself, be sure to follow my shoegram channel on Instagram @MeredithsShoes22.

Categorised in: Branding, FANtastic Marketing Tips