Wolverine Leathers is a division of Wolverine World Wide, Inc., which began in 1883 as the Hirth-Krause Company, a distributor and retailer of quality shoes.
Early on, the company quickly saw the importance of vertical integration to ensure a supply of leather. In 1910 the company opened its own tannery on Main Street in Rockford, Michigan making full use of the recently developed chrome tanning.
Horsehide was a primary product of the tannery for many years. In the 1950’s, however, advancements were made to allow pigskin to become a major source of leather.
Unlike cattle, which have a hide like a coat, pigs are far more labor intensive to skin. This meant that pigskin was simply not cost-effective.
The solution to the problem came from Wolverine Shoe & Tanning, as the company was known at the time. During the early 1950’s, the US military needed pigskin leather for gloves. At the time, it took one man, one hour to skin a pig. After years of investment and development, the company patented a machine that made pigskin economically feasible.
Availability of pigskin opened the door to a range of possibilities in shoemaking. The introduction of Scotchgard Protector for Leather, made the company’s leather the first performance leather on the market. The year was 1958 and it was when the Hush Puppies brand was born. This leather featured the breathability, durability, water, oil and stain repellency, and easy care maintenance that is still the company’s platform.