Hi, I'm Bart Hersey. Back in the early 1980's, my wife, Jan, and I started talking in earnest about creating some kind of cottage industry that would allow us to be at home in the afternoons when our kids came in from school. At the time, I was in the midst of a management career with some of the major shoe producers. I had been the director of manufacturing for both Bass Shoe Company and Hyde Athletic Industries, the parent company of Saucony Running Shoes. Later, I set up and managed two factories in Maine for New Balance and was responsible for 800 people and $50 million worth of product. 
That's when I decided that being over-stressed and away from my family so much just wasn't worth it.
While on a plane home from someplace, I saw an article in one of those in-flight magazines about a guy who was making custom-made cars and selling them for $50,000 to $500,000 each. And this was during the recession of '82! That did it. My vocation had been managing factories, but my avocation was actually making shoes and figuring out ways to blend the forgotten wisdom and techniques of the old-timers with advances in technology. Jan, who had a degree in dental hygiene, was great at managing details and making sure things got done right. After thinking it over, we were convinced that, yes, there was a need for shoes made one at a time and that we were the ones to do it.
World's #1 shoeSo, we fixed up our old sheep barn and started Hersey Custom Shoe Company in East Wilton, Maine, Jan's home town. (I was raised in New Hampshire, but don't tell my neighbors.) There was a good response from the running world, and from non-runners with special needs, and pretty soon we were making shoes for people all over the country and even outside the country. Things really took off in 1984 when Runners World Magazine listed our Hersey Original third in its ratings, then declared the following year that our DPS was the #1 running shoe on the planet. Love that repeat business
Soon, we were generating more business than we could handle. Realizing that 90 percent of our customers were ordering again, we chose to stop advertising and concentrate on maintaining our quality.
Gradually, and mostly by design, the new shoes we were producing dropped to a manageable number. Today, we are able to pay the bills, feed the IRA, and even keep the tractor going so we can take care of our hundred-plus acres and plow the half-mile-long driveway when it snows. For a long time, we operated the business pretty much with a pencil and paper, stubbornly forsaking new-fangled electronic equipment of every kind.
We deeply appreciate all the wonderful people who have come to us for custom-made shoes: runners, walkers, hikers, people with special health concerns and bio-mechanical problems. We cherish the letters we get from them, and it's tremendously satisfying to know that we have provided an important service and product. Who knows? Maybe we'll get a letter from you someday.
Contact Us:
Hersey Custom Shoe Company
63 Hersey Lane
Wilton, Maine 04294
email: info@herseycustomshoe.com