“That shoe was just on fire,” Moehring recalls. Early successes included metallic, faux snakeskin penny loafers and a black patent penny loafer with a white Phantom of the Opera mask on the vamp. An “item-oriented guy,” he was introducing fast fashions under the Temptations label. It was time to think bigger, and Moehring led the charge to import products from Taiwan to increase margins and order bigger quantities, needed when Moehring started opening national accounts, including Walmart, Edison Brothers and U.S. Sales quickly started to grow, and increased when he started attending shoe shows where he could see more product. Not only did this speed up timelines, Moehring had a knack for picking winners. When Moehring jumped on board as a salesman, he cut to the chase, buying hot shoes he spied at the local Nordstrom and sending them to factory partners to get samples. His steadfast determination to overcome all obstacles, to adapt and evolve, and to never stop dreaming is admirable. Moehring’s career is an inspirational tale of survival. The story that follows is one of grit, ingenuity, creativity, passion, desperation (at times), adaptability, rebuilds, family, loyalty and everything else that comes with running a now fourth generation–operated shoe business. “That’s what really got me into the shoe business,” Moehring says. Then the company’s lone competent salesperson quit. “Our competition would have the inventory the same time we’d only have samples, and that was really hurting our business,” he says. While his grandfather would go on one-month shopping trips to various Midwest and East Coast factories twice a year and buy all the inventory he needed for the next six months, Moehring’s father would make those same trips and only buy samples, then have his salesperson try to obtain orders. “My father was holding his money too tight,” Moehring recalls. Washington Shoe Company, then a distributor of shoes to area retailers, was in trouble, and the son with the shoe savvy was enlisted to save the day. It surely wasn’t about taking an easier path or expecting quick riches. That smell of the leather, in essence, is what lured Moehring back into the family business full-time in 1974. Rain boot shearling-lined slipper by Staheekum. Western Chief 3D-molded frog boot CH20 hybrid hiker/work boot Chooka “Tattoo City” It was amazing there’s something instinctual about that.” Clockwise from top left: “When I worked at Frederick & Nelson, we sold high-end boots out of Spain, and when that shipment arrived…man, the smell of leather just lit me up. I love shoes and I love talking about shoes,” he says. “The minute I started selling shoes, I loved it. While he loved teaching, the pay was limited and, much more important, shoes were in his blood. Working retail is where Moehring caught the shoe bug.
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“It’s where I learned how to spot trends and pick great shoes.”
“That’s where I really got my education and feel for shoes,” Moehring says. They included stints at Kinney Shoes, Thom McAn and the Marshall Fields spinoff Frederick & Nelson. (More on that soon.) In fact, Moehring began honing his talents for selling shoes and spotting trends as a kid, working in the family business and learning tricks of the shoemaking trade from his grandfather, who he says was “an amazing merchant.” Moehring also made his shoe bones working in local stores throughout high school, college and, after earning a degree in education and teaching at a local experimental elementary school, during vacations and summers. His industry enthusiasm, talents and entrepreneurial spirit are as strong as they were the day he purchased Washington Shoe Company from his father and uncle in 1990-when he had to re-build the business from scratch. And he’s always thinking about the next creative endeavor, be it his iconic kids’ 3D-molded rubber rain boots (Western Chief) introduced in the early ’90s or last year’s launch of the performance outdoor/work brand CH2O at a career level and age when many execs would long have been on cruise control or checked out entirely. Don’t even bother telling him something can’t be done. Whatever it is, Rob Moehring has a bulletproof constitution coupled with a never-ending drive to dream-big. Or maybe it’s being a lifelong resident of the Seattle area, home of legendary startups-like Microsoft, Nordstrom, Amazon and Nirvana-that went on to change the world.
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Perhaps it’s also the Pacific Northwest pioneer spirit passed down from two generations of shoemakers who emigrated to the then-rugged and remote region in the late 1800s and carved out a niche making one tough logger boot at a time before expanding into a full range of styles for men’s, women’s and kids’. Rob Moehring, chairman of Washington Shoe Company,
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