BEST FOOT FORWARD
Founded in 1879, McKinlays has kept it in the family and continues to craft quality leather footwear from its Dunedin factory.
Founded in 1879, McKinlays still makes quality footwear in its Dunedin factory.
When I’m first patched through to David McKinlay to request an interview for MiNDFOOD, he’s hard at work fixing a machine at the McKinlays factory. It’s apparent that this is a matter requiring urgent attention, and he requests that I call back later when he’s not quite so preoccupied.
He may be director and co-owner of McKinlays Footwear, but David still holds the title of ‘dogsbody’ too. Today, David and his brother Graeme McKinlay own the business that has been in the family for 142 years. The brothers’ great-great-grandfather Robert McKinlay emigrated from Scotland in 1870 and worked for a bootmaker crafting footwear for gold miners in Otago before he started his own operation in his washhouse in 1879. Five generations of McKinlays later and the footwear manufacturing company is still going strong, with all its production remaining in Dunedin. The brand is best known for its school shoes but also makes high-quality leather footwear for men and women.
Both brothers were involved in the business long before they took the reins. They’ve both spent time on the factory floor from a young age – David recalls that growing up, helping to pack shoes into boxes was a good source of pocket money for younger members of the family. “We’ve basically worked in the business from the time we could fold cardboard boxes as five-year-olds,” he says.
His desire to remain within, and indeed take over, the family business was partly motivated by the fact McKinlays has become one of the last remaining shoe manufacturers in the country. “Working for yourself is one thing, but there’s also the pride of producing something unique to New Zealand, and of course since we’ve taken over, the industry’s basically disappeared completely,” he explains.
Local manufacturers have dwindled since import restrictions on footwear were removed in the late 1980s and tariffs were lowered. Now about 99 per cent of shoes sold in the country are imported. “There are a few boutique-type manufacturers around but we’re probably the last of the dying breed.”
McKinlays produces around 26,000 pairs of shoes a year, with each pair being crafted using a stitchdown method, where the leather of the upper is stitched through the insole. This makes the footwear more robust than the more common cemented shoe which relies on adhesive to attach the sole to the upper.
“It’s a very old tradition and one that’s not used as commonly basically because the labour content’s so high and it’s such a hands-on, handmadetype footwear, as opposed to machine-made,” David says. “With our basic school shoe, from time of being cut to being put in the box, there are about 88 different operations to make that shoe.”
Unsurprisingly, the pandemic brought challenges for McKinlays in the past year, mostly to do with delays while importing materials from Europe. But McKinlays has demonstrated its resilience, having survived the various recessions and tariff reductions of the past 140 years. David puts McKinlays’ durability down to the company’s reliable, skilled workforce. There are a number of McKinlays staff members who have worked a decade or more for the business, with an average of more than 17 years’ experience per person.
“We’ve got a very stable bunch of staff,” he says. “We’ve had some that have worked 40-50 years for us.”
A rallying cry for Kiwis to support local businesses affected by lockdowns has also given McKinlays a boost amid COVID-19’s challenges. “I think New Zealanders are becoming more and more aware of what is being produced where,” says David.
“The product that we make is designed for New Zealand feet and fits New Zealand feet and it’s a quality product that lasts. People have realised over the years it might not be the cheapest shoe out there, but if you get a year or two years out of it as a school shoe, that’s doing pretty well with growing feet and the way the children at school can knock around shoes.”
“WE’VE BASICALLY WORKED IN THE BUSINESS FROM THE TIME WE COULD FOLD BOXES AS FIVE-YEAR-OLDS.” DAVID McKINLAY
The nostalgic associations Kiwis have with McKinlays has contributed to building a strong customer base. “We’ve got a very loyal following and it certainly helps when the parents bring their children to get school shoes and say, ‘Oh, I used to wear McKinlays when I went to school.’”
As for whether school students will continue to wear McKinlays far into the future, David says that’s up to the next generation to decide.
“I would hope somewhere along the track there’s a McKinlay associated with it going forward, but at the end of the day it’s in the next generation’s hands,” he says. “If not, I still think there’s certainly a viable business to be had in New Zealand for making shoes, and that may become stronger and stronger.”