By Charlie Lunan
Wolverine World Wide Inc.’s decision to increase production at a factory in Big Rapids, MI signals confidence that a massive defense spending bill bottled up in Congress will require the Pentagon to source athletic footwear domestically.
Wolverine said it will spend $2 million adding 16,000 square feet to a 75,000-square-foot facility in Big Rapids, MI, which already manufactures up to 1 million pairs of boots annually for the U.S. military. The expansion will allow the factory to house all facets of production under a single roof.
The announcement came during an August 31 factory visit by U.S. Senator Gary Peters, who strongly supports legislation requiring the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to begin equipping recruits exclusively with made-in-America athletic footwear as required by the Berry Amendment. While the provision was included in two defense spending and appropriations bills passed by the House and the Senate this summer, the bills remain bottled up in conference committee.
Wolverine World Wide has said that if the provision becomes law, it plans to bid for those contracts through its Saucony brand, which would source the shoes from the Big Rapids factory.
The factory, which has made Berry Amendment-compliant boots for the U.S. and foreign militaries for years, secured a contract in March from the U.S. Marine Corps that could be worth up to $30 million over the next five years.
