Old Friend Footwear fact sheet

Year Founded: 1981

Company Description: Old Friend® Footwear is a division of Australia Unlimited which specializes in comfortable, durable, and stylish footwear and is the maker of Old Friend® Sheepskin Slippers, Old Friend® Reflex Massage Sandals, and NothinZ® lightweight polymer clogs.

Mission: Old Friend was founded on the philosophy of bringing comfort and style to footwear. It began with a collection of sheepskin slippers and footwear and has expanded to bring comfort to feet with its lightweight clogs and its exclusive massage sandals.

Product Line: Old Friend Footwear produces a full line of sheepskin footwear, reflex massage sandals, and lightweight polymer clogs for men, women, children, including wide sizes in a popular palette of contemporary colors.

Product Distinction:

• Old Friend footwear is designed to be comfortable, durable, and perform well.
• All products under the Old Friend label are designed and manufactured by the company and produced under strict quality control to ensure that sizes are uniform and the fit excellent.
• The sheepskin is grade A; hand selected, and today is made from the longer, silkier sheepskin from colder-climate Mongolian sheep. (The sheep skins used come from animals first taken for food then processed and sold.)
• Sheepskin footwear soles are made with heavy duty and durable TPR rather than the cheaper EVA soles that crack and fall apart more easily.

Notable Recognition:

• Old Friend Slippers Rated #1 Most Comfortable slipper in the U.S. by Real Simple Magazine
• Named Sheepskin Boots to the Stars at the Robert Redford Sundance Film Festival

Product Distribution: Old Friend Footwear is sold through 3,500 independent retail outlet locations and is available in stores in virtually every state in the U.S.

Community: Old Friend Footwear donates a portion of its profits from sales of its popular foam shoes NothinZ, to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand, founded to raise money to fight pediatric cancer. The company also regularly donates its products to organizations benefiting disadvantaged children and adults.

Production Facilities: Old Friend Footwear produces its footwear at five different manufacturing plants in China, according to strict specifications from the company and under the watchful eye of the company’s staff of Chinese nationals, who oversee all production and quality control.

Principals:

• Jim Klavano, Founder and President Australia Unlimited, Inc. and Old Friend Footwear
• Mike Darrow, General Manager, Old Friend Footwear

Ownership: Privately owned

Headquarters: Kent, Washington, USA

Warehouse/Inventory: Located at the Kent headquarters, the company warehouses 225,000 shoes at any given point in time; has 835 SKUS, and a full service distribution facility to ship shoes throughout the U.S. and world.