The COVID #@$#!! The whole virus thing has been hard on my mother and our business, Nancy She is the founder of Fugawee. Age ninety, and she is doing great. She is still independent and lives on her own. Nancy’s latest project that she is finishing up is a book on our family and the letters back and forth from a family home in Florida and my father. He was a Merchant sailor and was away a lot, up to eleven months at a time. He could be ANYWHERE in the world!  I remember watching TV about 1968-69, and they were showing how the Vet Cong were setting up IED’s for ships using anti-aircraft missiles along these long rivers the vessel had to go up to unload. Munition ships like my dad was sailing carried 500,000 tons (one billion pounds) of hi explosives, bombs, bullets, artillery rounds, all the stuff that went boom. He would be in faraway places. They would be written on onion skinned paper to save weight. The letters had cool stamps and marked “US Air Mail” on them from coming from  Far away places like Cat Lai bay, Saigon, Da nang. They didn’t sound safe, according to Walter Cronkite was saying. I was eight years old. I’m sure I will be quite embarrassed by some of the passages that come out in the new book. But we will talk about her new book another time.

  Having Time to Breathe.

 Gone was the typical day to day barrage of wake em up and get them out to school. Then business, business, business, and coordinating and schedule with military precision, band, Odessey of the mind, Drama, softball, homework, dinner (on Time), music homework, School projects, and playdates. All suddenly vanished poof! The constant hi voltage humm of the everyday was gone. There is Time to be with the family and not just to run by each other as the daily activities are going on, getting uptight because someone was late, or forgot something.

Doing things you haven’t been able to do.

 Putting a puzzle together w with one of my kids, a family board game, frisbee in the yard. Pulling out the ping pong table. In other words, Time with your family that was being stolen one little slice at a time.

The Good

Finding out what it is that made you want a family and a spouse, not the constant drive that it takes to float the boat you built. This virus ran it aground, and you have to wait for the tide to lift us all back to where we can resume the “typical” day again. My hope to see America stop chasing every advertiser’s concept of life telling you that you need constant consumption. We all have been collectively chasing the advertises tall tail of what America is just to make you want and spend. Just enjoy some contentment it what you have achieved.

’87 Prairie Du Chien

Entrepreneurs “Risk-takers”

The Entrepreneur is a French word.  We all think of a small business’s when we hear it. The direct translation to English is a risk-taker.

When you’re a small business that includes our Children and spouses as we travel the rough road of our way.  As a small business, we employ about half of the United States!  I accept that, and my family has been living it for years.  Ups and downs

Then out of the blue comes COVID-19, a risk no one saw coming.  Like a grass fire, it starts small and grows to engulf the whole prairie.  As a small business, it’s like being struck by a bolt of lightning on a sunny day.  A boot to the head is another way to describe it.  With only a vague restarting date for one the entire world that keeps getting pushed back farther and farther!  The situation is fluid at best.

But how do you weather the storm?

WE ARE LOOKING FOR BUSINESS, so check this out.

We are here and happy to do custom metalwork.  Hatpins/lapel pins have been viral.  As an introduction, we are doing an excellent special for small clubs or events.  Very simple and straight forward.

The first pin, coin, or medallion will cost $150, and every one after that is $2 and up with no minimum quantities.

What I need:

Your vector graphic artwork a sketch/drawing or description of how you want it to look.

What you get:

• 1×1 inch Lapel/hatpin with a clutch. Or a 1 1/4 inch single-sided coin or medallion.  All made in the USA. Larger sizes are available at additional cost.
• Finishing will bright with a highlight. Other options are available for an additional cost.

https://www.fugawee.com/fugawee/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/boiler_anamat1_32.jpg

It is important that re-soling of leather shoes happens in a timely fashion.  That’s because there is a point of no return and you have a ruined shoe.  A Fugawee shoe only moderately abused but properly taken care of will give you ten or more years of service.

Care maintenance: When you get back home from an event, check your shoes, clean them and use a good dressing to return the oils to the leather that have evaporated.  Use shoe forms to help keep the shape of your shoe while they rest for the next event.

What is happening to your sole?

The method we use is a McKay stitching in our shoes.  At the time, this was the primary method of shoe construction as the welting process, that didn’t come in till 1869.  The thread is pulled into the leather at the skive line.  These are leather soles and will need to be re-soled from time to time.  This will give you longer use of any pair instead of having to replace them when the uppers are fine.

The US Army figured three months in the field was all that a pair of shoes would be useful.  If you’re spending a lot of time on concrete or asphalt, this is hard wear and will tear apart the leather fibers, in other words, this will wear out the soles faster.  This does not happen with modern rubber soles.  The period correct fix is hobnails and or heel plates (I find all hobnails are better on asphalt).  This will give you a grip on the rough ground beside letting your leather sole last longer.

How to tell when you need a re-sole.

Turn the shoe upside down and look at it toe first. You will see on any pair of new leather soled shoes there is an arch acting like a toenail. As you walk the leather wears off, it will flatten out. (Just like thinning the top of toenail to prevent an ingrown nail.)  When it gets to that point, you want to push in/down on the middle of the sole.  If it is giving/getting soft. Then it’s time to have them re-soled.

What to Do!

Get them re-soled it’s what you have to do.

According to Steven at Dons’ shoe repair our local shoe repair shop:

• Frayed thread on bottom… that’s the time to save your sole. You have gone as far as you should to keep the shoe in good repair.
• Smiling seam: yes that is fixable. When a sole has worn down to the stitching, the upper and lower soles separate (Usually happens to the toe so it looks like the shoe is smiling). Time to take them in for repair.
• A hole through the outer sole. (Some shoes have two layers of Sole leather) Maybe this can fixed. Check with the repair shop.
• Holes all the way through….. Too late the shoe is good for potting plants.

The nonperiod fix is to have them 3/4 soled with rubber (that’s the heel and sole). This usually referred to as Sole Saver.  The rubber sole material can be smooth, of the same color as the original leather sole or black to match the uppers.  It is almost undetectable and the footing is so much better less slipping and sliding.

Now just a heel minute or Heel..@#%! Heel.

Because we’re looking at your sole, it is a good time to check out the wear on your heels.

Is it just at the back? Or is there wear on the outside or the inside of the heel? This would show “Pronation” or “Supination”.  If action isn’t taken it could mean that with further wear, the heel cup could slip sideways and accentuate the pronation or supination of the ankle, you may already have.  It will seem like you are walking on your ankles, and that is not far from the truth. We had one client that his heels were almost on the ground.

If you have a Fugawee shoe on and it’s hurting your feet, please call us. We don’t like people walking around in Fugawee’s and their feet hurting.

It may be time for the heels to have a facelift. The same material (Sole Saver) can be used for new heels. Some repair shops carry both colors and others have to order the natural color.

Lots of folks, like to use heel plates and or hobnails.  This can prolong the wear, as we all know that iron takes longer to wear down than leather.  But check those additions too, not as often, but they will after a while show the same wear as the leather.  After all, they had no place but your tootsies to learn that from.

How long should a set of soles last?

The US army figured three months in the field was all the time a pair of shoes was good. If you’re spending time on concrete or asphalt a lot this will wear out the soles faster. The period correct fix is hobnails and or heel plates. (I find all hobnails are better on asphalt.) But check with your commander which they will allow. Hobnail and heel plates can be like ice skates at first on hard surfaces and really mess up wooden dance floors.  You may need a plain pair just for the Balls. But going up a grassy hill you can’t find anything better.

’87 Prairie Du Chien

Dave and Judy Anderson

’87 Prairie Du Chien

’87 Prairie Du Chien

Our apologies to Fugawee Customers, and almost Customers for our old school ways. The new web site brought a bunch of things we have never used before and I really didn’t know much about. Over the last year, we have moved over to a new web site from our old circa 1998 original site with the front page my father made.  We kept the essence of the old front page. The new web stuff is way past me, so we had it done by some very good web people Arnamy. They understand technology much better than I do. Being good at their job they set up all the new stuff and had it turned on. We were told about Gmail, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest.

We had just used Facebook and our old emails address that are years old. Same phone numbers for 20+ years.  We used to put gone Rendezvousing be back at the end of summer on the answering machine. (There was no email then.)

Web guys told us to check these accounts but we never used any of them, so I didn’t. And I never did until recently when it was brought to my attention by a customer named Lauren, she was upset trying to get ahold of us to return some shoes. And that’s what took me down this path of digital discovery.

Overwhelmed is not something that happens to me very often. But this wall of Social media is overwhelming and intimidating for a small company. But my wife is coming to the rescue and we will now be checking all of these accounts and try to do a better job. My personal email is AlexAyotte@comcast.net or call the Wearhouse 850-745-6340.

Some of you strive to enlist their essence to bring your uniform back to their time, to show what it took to dawn that uniform to stand on the line.

That’s why I like History

Alex Ayotte

Owner Fugawee