At MSA and Globe, we believe that “Made in the USA” means something. When you buy our athletic construction fire boots made in Maine, you’re helping to protect and preserve American jobs – not just for the workers in our boot factory, but beyond.
We’ve made significant investments in the capacity to manufacture American-made footwear through lean manufacturing and producing components that were previously only available from offshore suppliers. Those investments are in new technologies, equipment, research and development, processes, and people.
We are committed to source all boot components in the USA, a challenge in an industry that has essentially moved to Asia. If we cannot find a domestic source for a part, we learn how to make it ourselves.
The Globe footwear team worked with the University of Maine’s Advanced Manufacturing Center over two years, with a pair of seed grants from the Maine Technology Institute (MTI), to develop a process, then a machine, to make toe caps for our boots. That work was brought back to the USA from China.
In a second MTI-funded project, in partnership with another Maine manufacturer and the University of Maine, we determined how to build a flexible fabric-based puncture-resistant barrier for all of our boots, replacing two components that were made in Asia.
From there, we moved the sources of outer soles and footbeds from China to the USA. These changes have provided the Globe footwear factory with a flexible supply chain that can respond quickly to changes in market demand and design. They also have the benefit of keeping dollars circulating in the American economy.
But what does all of this mean to you, the firefighter? There are three ways that boots made in the USA benefit you.
- American quality, guaranteed. MSA is known for quality. By manufacturing boots in our own factory in the USA and sourcing components domestically, we have more control over quality. Being ISO 9001 certified, we embrace the ISO quality management principles of strong customer focus and continual improvement. Quality checks are integral to each step of production, and 100% of finished product is inspected for quality before release for shipping. Many will argue that there’s a price for quality, but when you factor in shipping and handling from China and a higher quality rejection rate, the price of poor quality is in dollars, time, and safety. We believe you cannot put a price on firefighter safety.
- Made to order. The Globe footwear factory is committed to a lean manufacturing system of production, the aim of which is to improve productivity while maintaining high quality. Final products are not stocked. Everything is custom built-to-order for maximum customer focus. All of this means that you can order any style pair of boots in any size and get them quickly. MSA offers Globe boots in men’s sizes 5-18 and women’s sizes 5-12 (in all but one of our styles) in narrow, medium, wide, and extra wide widths, as well as wide calf models in all pull-on boots. That combination yields a selection of more than 3,000 options. If you ordered any one of those today, you would receive your custom-made boots in less than 30 days.
- Continued innovation. MSA’s Globe product group has a rich history of innovation and has been responsible for introducing many of the materials, designs, and construction methods we now take for granted in firefighter PPE. Designing and manufacturing fire boots in the USA allows us to quickly respond to changing market requirements. We listen to what you, the firefighter, tell us you need to perform your duties effectively and safely. And then, as part of our product development process, we rely on science to study exactly how the human body moves. Globe boots are flexible like your feet, grip like no other, and feel broken in right out of the box. But we’re not stopping there. We continue to innovate.
What you put on your feet really makes a difference. American ingenuity created athletic construction fire boots that come the closest yet to feeling like your favorite sneakers. But more importantly, they are the safest fire boots on the market – backed by a commitment to manufacturing excellence in the USA, a commitment that you can trust.
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