Temporary Production Slowdown... and great leg workouts!
The workshop has been pretty crazy and disjointed since the catastrophic failure of our hydraulic clicker last week (see last entry). Until our new machine is shipped, we have installed a temporary solution... our 1930's era Famco "KICKER"....
This little guy is giving DeAnn, Leah, Keita and Tim a great leg workout as they have to "kick" the dies 3-4 times to make an impression in the leather or sheepskin from our dies. (You can see some of our dies hanging in the photo behind DeAnn). Then we are still handcutting out most of the pieces as the "kicker" isn't really all that great at cutting... but at least we have an impression to cut by!
Tim originally used this machine 21 years ago in the back of his school bus / workshop when he and Jeanne first started Soft Star Shoes. When we moved to our new location last July he wanted to scrap it but we begged him to hang onto it for nostalgic purposes... good thing :-).
We hope to be back up to full production capacity in about 2 weeks once our new clicker is installed ... meanwhile we are doing our best to keep up to the holiday orders that are starting to come in.
Soft Star Shoes is a family friendly company located in Corvallis, Oregon. Viewpoints in this blog are those of individual workshop elves, and do not necessarily represent those of www.SoftStarShoes.com
Trish has been an entrepreneur, marketer and maker ever since she crushed her first lemonade stand at age five. Growing up in rural Wisconsin, she spent many summers running barefoot with her sisters. These early memories later inspired her to build a brand which embraced the joy and freedom of childhood with the health and science of minimal footwear.
Trish relishes evolving the company to grow stronger and more competitive with each passing year. She is a frequent expert panelist for both e-commerce and entrepreneurship conferences. Trish enjoys spending time with her family, dogs and ducks on their property in Oregon and loves the proximity to both surf and snow. She has a background in Engineering Physics and an MBA from the University of Chicago.