As work boots go, Wolverine 1,000 Mile Boots are an investment. Horween leather. Goodyear welting. Made in America. Even if you are not actually constructing skyscrapers with the boots in Wolverine's 1,000 Mile collection, you're still going to want to take proper care of them. Here's how:

Much of my inspiration for On The Fly was born of my own frustrations when shopping for myself. And don't get me wrong, I loved the stores where I shopped. But there were always little things, nagging frustrations, pet peeves, that made me think: "if I ever have a store of my own, I'd do that differently." I have now — had the store, that is — for over 7 years. 

But the menswear retail landscape has changed since we started, and there are changes we need to make in order to keep up. Specifically, I want us to re-evaluate how well we're living up to our tagline: "solutions for the modern gentleman."

Here's a simple example. Back in the day, when I was buying expensive Italian shoes from a local store, I'd make the (mostly) emotional decision to invest in a $500+ pair of shoes, and the sales associate would invariably ask: "do you need shoe trees for them?" Well, of course I do. I think the first time I answered, I mistakenly assumed they were giving them to me with the shoes since I "needed" them. Of course they weren't; I think I paid $30 or $40 for trees.

It's not a big deal, paying for shoe trees. It costs the store money to have them. And I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of men don't use shoe trees at all, so why throw in something that the customer may not even value?

But that's exactly the point: the customer may not value them because he doesn't understand why he needs them. They help prevent creases in the leather, absorb moisture from wear, and most importantly, maintain the shape of the shoe. If you're investing in an expensive pair of shoes — and good shoes should be viewed as an investment, since they will typically last much longer than a cheap pair — the #1 thing you can do to care for them is to give them at least a day or two off after wear. The #2 thing you can do is provide them with shoe trees. (The #3 thing would be to shine them regularly.)

So as of today, On The Fly will ship a complimentary pair of shoe trees with every pair of full price shoes costing $250 or more.

We don't have to do it, we want to do it. We'll trust you value it.

In the coming days, you'll hear a little bit more from me on the subject of "juxtaposition" in how men are dressing these days, but as a teaser, let's just say we have loved how Wolverine has introduced the idea of a wingtip work boot. A traditional white collar dress shoe toe applied over a traditionally blue collar style of boot.

All three colorways are coming for fall. Black & Tan can be yours immediately. Made in the USA.

Wolverine Two-Tone Wingtip Boot $350

About a year and a half ago, Wolverine, inventors of a work boot called the 1,000 Mile Boot way back in 1883, decided to reintroduce the boot to the world. Making them in the U.S. of Horween leathers and a goodyear welt construction, the brand lit up the blogosphere with a powerful two-fer: heritage brands are all the rage, as is anything being made in America. Wolverine has both going for it.

So with some strong buzz and a great product, Wolverine was our fastest growing brand in 2010 and the momentum has continued into this year. Apparently, Wolverine noticed too so that when it came time for us to spread our wings into a bigger store, they stepped up to the plate on a big scale.

Within a month, we went from "we'll come to check out our new location" to "we've built you custom fixtures that will be installed 2 days before your Grand Opening!" The photos won't really do justice to the setting, and text will do even less, but for the sake of making a list, it features: custom cabinetry to display the boots including back-stock hidden behind chalkboard doors, old school tools, a work bench, a shoe shine stand (or boot shine stand?), old barrels, reproductions of vintage ads, beautiful photography, and a separate display area for their 1883 line. 

We've been proud to sell the Wolverine 1,000 Mile Boot collection, and now we have a setting worthy of the product. We hope you'll have a chance to pop in and see it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I've done a New Year's resolutions post for the business the past few years, and at this point, I really don't care about looking back to see how we did. I should, but it just seems a waste of time. So let's talk about what we hope to do this year:

• Add more products, faster. This year, we added more brands to the store and website than we have in years: Wolverine boots, Match Pewter, Berti Cutlery, Luminox watches, pens from Visconti and Higdon, Orbita watchwinders, Agresti furniture, and Saphir shoe care products. I'll be in New York in 2 weeks to scout out new brands, but it's safe to say we'll be adding at least one additional shoe brand and a dress trouser line, more casual wear, some new barware & cigar accessories, and some innovative furniture which is already in the works. 

• Video. Lots of ideas here. Long overdue. Not sure what else to say except we're sorry we don't have videos up already.
  

• Formally roll out our custom offerings. You probably didn't even know we do custom stuff, and much of that, unfortunately, won't be available to our beloved web customer base. But we've been dabbling in custom suits by Southwick, custom shirts by Ike Behar and Individualized Shirts, custom belts from Antas Apparel, and we'll start offering custom pens from Higdon Writing Instruments. And we'll broaden our Bespoke Stationery offering across a number of dimensions.
  

• Tell our story. We're still a very small business lucky enough to have a loyal clientele. I have had countless friends and customers that know some of the gory details about our business tell me that we should write a book about it; it would make The Da Vinci Code read like a reference book in comparison. We'll skip over some of the most unflattering aspects of our business, but we plan to use emails and promotions to share our story with our customers.
  

• Launch some web apps. There are a number of web apps that I have wanted to build for years, and we've just never had the time or the money. These are basically mini-applications that don't necessarily relate directly to shopping, but which we think our customers will find valuable or entertaining. The first web app should go live in the first quarter of this year, if not in January.
  

• Consistently use social media. We have a Facebook page. We don't really have a Twitter account we're using...yet. I'm not suggesting we use social media for the sake of saying we use social media; the "Deal of the Day" posts we've done on Facebook have been win-wins for us and our customers. We just need to do it more often, and more consistently. I'm not promising we will, but I hope we will.
  

That's a pretty healthy list. If we follow through in all those areas, a year from now, I would look back and consider it a very successful 2011.

We haven't yet announced the news, but...coming soon to 1 Embarcadero Center: an 800 sq ft shop dedicated exclusively to Bills Khakis and Wolverine boots. If you've been in our San Francisco store lately, you may have noticed that the place is bursting at the seams with inventory, and this addition will give us some room to spread out and better showcase merchandise that deserves to be seen and touched and tried on.

We just took possession of the space yesterday, which is right across the hall from our flagship store, and we hope to open the new shop on Tuesday, October 26th: the day of Wolverine's 721LTD launch party at Wingtip.

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the afternoon moving in fixtures & store supplies, removing paint tape, and rolling in the store's Harley Fat Boy. Against the advice of others, I also removed the vinyl frosting on the windows that would have hidden the work going on inside. Sure, this would have made for a nicer "surprise opening", but with so many papered-up storefronts these days, I had to pull the vinyl off just for the catharsis. To heck with this Depression!

The store is a "pop-up shop" of sorts -- we didn't sign a long-term lease on the store, but we're willing to bet on it's success. Bills Khakis and Wolverine are two great tastes that taste great together. We hope you'll come by both of our stores and pay us a visit.