It wasn’t that many years ago that shoes were a major industry in this state. I can remember for most of my life going to the outlet store that was on the same property as the factory to buy outlet-priced sneakers.
There were several big brand names that ran factories within an easy drive of where I grew up, so we had no trouble at all finding great deals on just about any kind of shoes you ever wanted to buy. Most of my friends and I tended to buy mostly running shoes – they were the most comfortable, and they looked trendy as well.
Sadly, most of the factories have closed down and moved overseas. They have moved overseas because the big corporations can make bigger profits by having the factories overseas. The employees get paid less, and the environmental pollution controls are almost non-existent overseas. Yet the price of the shoe, to the consumer, only increases. I always used to say that if this trend continues, the American people will not have the money to buy those brand name shoes anymore, and I think that the time is now. Makes me sad.