Dramatically simplifies work boot program management for safety professionals

HOUSTON, TX NSC BOOTH #3635 (Oct. 22, 2018) — Red Wing Shoe Company today launched Red Wing for Business — the ultimate safety footwear experience for both safety professionals and their crews. Since 1905, Red Wing Shoes has provided purpose-built safety footwear that protects employees in construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, and many other occupations in the skilled trades. Building on that legacy, Red Wing for Business combines digital and retail experiences to help safety professionals manage their footwear programs with unprecedented speed and efficiency, making it easier for them to uphold worker safety while mitigating business risk and staying compliant with ever-changing regulations.

Through the program, employees can purchase safety footwear at any of 500+ Red Wing retail stores, 170 on-site Mobile Shoe Stores and more than 700 Red Wing authorized retailers throughout the U.S. No matter where employees shop, safety professionals can manage the program — including digital vouchers, employee eligibility, billing and reporting — through a user-friendly, customized self-serve portal.

“We took a very close look at the needs of safety directors, procurement managers, accounts payable teams, senior leaders and, of course, workers to identify every potential hassle of various safety footwear programs in the marketplace and sought to eliminate them,” said Shawn Sweeney, Red Wing Shoes vice president and general manager of North America work. “This is a complete, end-to-end transformation of safety footwear management, making it faster and easier than ever, in ways that will impact the bottom line.”

With Red Wing for Business, managers spend less time dealing with the day-to-day details of the safety footwear program. Invoices can be consolidated, custom reports are simple to run, and issuing single or multi-use vouchers only takes a few clicks. Most important, safety professional can have greater comfort in knowing that their employees will purchase the right footwear based on the unique environmental conditions of any given job.

The cornerstone of the program is selection, including more than 250 industry-specific designs from the Red Wing Shoes® Work, Irish Setter® Work and WORX® brands. For program managers, the highlight of the program is the online portal, where they can manage employee eligibility with payroll file integration, view and pay invoices with custom sorting options, and issue single- or multi-use digital vouchers employees can redeem at any location.

Vouchers, which subsidize employee footwear based on specific program requirements, are one of the biggest administration challenges safety professionals face. Red Wing for Business streamlines the process, enabling program managers to exert greater control and make decisions with confidence.

Employees can receive vouchers digitally and managers can see eligibility at a glance, helping to ensure employees only purchase approved footwear. In fact, digital vouchers can be set to expire or be deactivated in real time. In addition, vouchers can be handled by multiple managers and customized to align purchases to specific cost centers. Managers can also choose frequency of invoicing, including the option for one consolidated invoice regardless of where employees buy their footwear.

“Red Wing has completely transformed the safety footwear experience by combining the latest technology with the human experience,” said Todd Holzer, Red Wing Shoes director of business transformation. “No one in the safety industry has mastered this until now.”

Holzer notes that Red Wing for Business will evolve to offer more options, such as e-commerce to serve employees in remote locations.

Learn More

For more information about the Red Wing for Business program, CALL 1-800-239-1064 or visit redwingsafety.com/contact.

About Red Wing Shoe Company

Red Wing Shoe Company, Inc. is a global leader in the design, production and distribution of work, safety and lifestyle footwear and work apparel. Established in 1905 in Red Wing, Minn., today the privately-held company’s family of brands includes Red Wing®, the premium choice for purpose-built work footwear including a collection of Heritage styles created for any occasion; Irish Setter®, the footwear brand of choice for hunters and workers who want uncompromising quality and innovation; Vasque®, a pioneer of performance hiking footwear; WORX™, a trusted brand for the industrial safety footwear market; and S.B. Foot Tanning Company, one of the largest U.S. producers of fine tanned leather for footwear and leather goods. Its brands are distributed to more than 110 countries in an immersive multi-channel environment of 500+ Red Wing retail stores, third-party partners and owned e-commerce platforms. Red Wing Shoe Company employs more than 2,300 employees worldwide and operates two U.S. manufacturing facilities in Red Wing and Potosi, Mo. For more information, please visit redwingshoes.com, facebook.com/RedWingShoes or follow @RedWingShoes.