Red Wing Shoe Company in Red Wing, Minnesota, has been an expert in boot making for over a century, crafting high quality leather footwear that enables and honors hard work around the world.
Behind that craftsmanship are some of the original plant buildings still in use today — buildings Xcel Energy has been powering since the early 1900s. That legacy has empowered both brands to be leaders in their respective fields.
“Xcel Energy provides me the building blocks to make the best leather in the United States of America,” said Betsy Hines, technical manager, Leather at S.B Foot Tannery, a division of Red Wing Shoe Company.
A tradition of craftsmanship
Red Wing Shoe Company was founded in 1905 by Charles Beckman and a group of local civic-minded investors who had a simple philosophy: quality and craftsmanship above all else. What began with basic pegged-and-nailed construction quickly evolved as Beckman integrated welt construction by 1909, creating an even stronger work boot.
This planted the seed for a multigenerational commitment to excellence that would guide the company through specialized footwear for Texas oil workers, World War II soldiers, and hunters while expanding well beyond the local Minnesota community.
The following decades saw the Red Wing brand continue to transform industrial safety worldwide through superior craftsmanship and innovative technology. The company introduced its first steel toe boot in 1934, followed by sweat-proof insoles that enhanced comfort. They revolutionized flexibility and durability in 1977 by bonding urethane directly to leather. Each advancement reflected Red Wing's understanding that true craftsmanship meant solving real problems for working people across the world, from oil fields to construction sites.
“Those values of hard work and long hours are reflected again in Xcel [Energy],” said Ryan Schwock, senior director, Manufacturing Operations, Red Wing Shoe Company. “That clean, efficient, reliable power source that we rely on — if it’s impacted, we can’t do the work we do as boot builders, and we can’t provide boots to all these trades.”
Expertise for generations to come
Today, Red Wing continues honoring its founder's vision while embracing sustainable innovation to ensure future longevity. The company is currently using solar power from an Xcel Energy community garden at its Minnesota facilities and creating footbeds from algae biomass, proving that traditional craftsmanship and environmental responsibility can unite.
From Beckman's original one-story building to a global presence spanning 120 years, Red Wing Shoe Company's story remains unchanged at its core: Every boot represents a commitment to the workers who depend on them, crafted with the same attention to quality that distinguished those first pairs over a century ago.
For Andrew Peschman, Xcel Energy account representative, that’s a throughline that drives his work every day: “The best part of my job is getting to see what amazing things people do with the power we provide.”