Not just a ‘One Hit Wonder’!

Back in 1957, James Gaylord Muir, the Sales Manager of Wolverine, USA had not chosen a name for the shoe-line he had developed, for until the eve of his presentation on the new footwear range, he had everything in order but a name to christen the range with. Struck by the paucity of innovation in the thought process to justify the comfort of a range of footwear, he was yet groping in the dark frantically looking for the right name that could suit the collection. He was about to settle for the name ‘Lasers’, that his company’s advertising agency had suggested. As Muir dined with one of his regional salesmen that evening, a dish, which formed part of his meal, amazed him and he was told that it was traditionally fired southern cornballs known as ‘hush puppies’. The host also elaborated to him on how the cornball dish got its name. – that farmers used to throw these cornballs to quiet their barking dogs. It hushed puppies as they chewed on the cornballs and hence they were known as ‘hush puppies’. That explained it all as Muir immediately made a connect to the age-old reference to tired feet and the pain of wearing uncomfortable shoes as barking dogs! Hush Puppies could not mean anything more than being so comfortable when worn. Muir conceptualized the basset hound as the brand’s mascot that has since become synonymous with the brand. As I think about the brand Hush Puppies, I associate it instantaneously with the mascot hound. Hush Puppies became famous as a casual brand of footwear and its claim to fame in the early 60’s came when the rubber soles of the shoes he was wearing are said to have reportedly saved the then famous Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richard who was almost electrocuted on stage in an accident in California. The success of the brand was significant to the extent of almost one in every ten Americans was wearing Hush Puppies.

The brand was in trouble in the mid nineties and as the organization was reportedly considering dropping the brand in 1994 as sales allegedly plummeted to just 30,000 pairs. A newly hired designer Maggie Mercado hit upon the idea of reviving the retro styles of the 50’s such as Wayne (née Duke) oxford and Earl slip-on casuals in different and interesting hues of waterproof suede. Famous designers like Anna Sui and john Bartlett are said to have featured Hush Puppies shoes in their new collections in 1995. Many iconic film stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone and Jim Carrey were seen sporting the brand showing the brand’s real casual attitude. Undertaking the re-strategizing exercise Geoffrey Bloom, President of Hush Puppies focused on riding the American trend towards dressing-down at work and created his collections to drive the trend. The brand filled the huge gap that existed between plain canvas shoes and dress shoes. The company sent out video clips on casual footwear fashion to over 200 corporates in the USA to introduce casual wear at work. When IBM and Ford announced casual days at work, Hush Puppies ran congratulatory messages. Soon the brand found itself selling well not only in stores like Barneys and Pleasure Swell in 1995, but it recorded amazing sales in J.C. Penney, Saks, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and the like. In 1996 Bloom who was responsible for the resurgence of the brand was rewarded for his remarkable turnaround achievement by being appointed Chairman of the company.

Now we have Hush Puppies stores in India brought to us by Bata as shop-in-shops in their large formats and as free-standing brand stores in malls and high street locations. The brand offers a mixed bag of collections to Indian consumers!

Some retailers in India may have a few lessons to learn from the resurgence of Hush Puppies in the USA. The brand went the retro way to catch up with emerging customers! The company traced its own past successful paths and retreaded them. It surely did not pass off just as ‘a one hit wonder”!

- Dr. Gibson G. Vedamani