Kaufman Footwear

The Kaufman Rubber Company was founded by Jacob Kaufman and his son Alvin Ratz Kaufman in 1908, in Berlin, Ontario - what is now Kitchener, Ontario.{{cite web |last1=Richardson |first1=Lynn E. |title=KAUFMAN, JACOB – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=7486 |website=www.biographi.ca |accessdate=15 May 2020}} It became Kaufman Footwear in 1964.{{cite web |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/kaufman-footwear-fonds |title=Kaufman Footwear fonds |publisher=University of Waterloo |accessdate=April 30, 2018}}

A.R. Kaufman took over as president of the company in 1920, a position he held until 1964, when his son, William H. Kaufman, assumed the role.{{cite journal |last1=Hogan |first1=David B. |title=What's Behind a Name: The Kaufman Prize of the Canadian Geriatrics Society |journal=Canadian Geriatrics Journal |date=11 November 2011 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=56–60 |doi=10.5770/cgj.v14i3.10 |pmid=23251314 |issn=1925-8348|pmc=3516348 }} A. R. Kaufman was a leading Canadian eugenicist who encouraged sterilization of his workers. When Kaufman Rubber laid off workers during the Great Depression, Kaufman's proposed solution to their financial woes was sterilization. Kaufman would later take credit for over 1000 male sterilizations performed at Kaufman factories between 1930 and 1969.{{cite web |url=http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/connections/52329ac45c2ec50000000008 |title=Kaufman, A. R. |publisher=Eugenics Archive |accessdate=April 30, 2018}}

Kaufman Rubber Co. brands included Foamtread slippers, introduced in 1953; Showertogs, an early use of PVC as a clothing material, in 1954; and its Sorel line of winter boots, which was later developed as a utility and fashion winter footwear brand.

In 1961 Kaufman purchased L.H. Packard & Co. of Montreal, followed by Prospect Shoes Ltd. of Sherbrooke in 1966. Footwear production for the company became centred in Quebec. Kaufman also manufactured under the brand names "Oomphies" (women's casual and duty shoes), "Snowbelles" (slush-molded vinyl boots), "Feelings" (women's casual sandals), "The Real Thing" (women's footbed sandals), "Kingtreads" (safety footwear) and "Black Diamond" (industrial footwear and clothing).

Kaufman Footwear declared bankruptcy in 2000 and the Sorel trademark was bought by Columbia Sportswear.{{Cite news |title=Sorel's demise leaves boot shortage |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sorel-s-demise-leaves-boot-shortage-1.197217 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210221105/http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/11/21/ott_sorel001121.html |url-status=live |archive-date=December 10, 2007 |publisher=CBC News |date=2000-11-21 |access-date=2009-11-16}}

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• [http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/SpecColl/archives/kaufmanfoot.html University of Waterloo Libraries: History of Kaufman Footwear (+Sorel)]

Category:Clothing companies of Canada

Category:Defunct companies of Ontario

Category:Companies based in Kitchener, Ontario

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of Canada

Category:Clothing companies established in 1907

Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2000

Category:1907 establishments in Ontario

Category:2000 disestablishments in Ontario

Category:Canadian companies established in 1907

Category:History of Kitchener, Ontario

Category:History of manufacturing in Ontario

Category:Industrial history of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo

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