The creation of Cloud Street galoshes
Like many guys I like good leather shoes for work and stylish occasions. Living in Manhattan for years I did a lot of walking and discovered the old-fashioned black galoshes/overshoes that basically worked and were cheap to buy. But for looks though not much at all and usually difficult to put on/take off, etc. I thought I could work on these later in my career and improve them.
After moving to Prague eventually I came up with a new design with help from Italy (Montebelluna, a town with long traditions in footwear design), Partizanske in Slovakia (also long shoe manufacturing tradition) and my hometown Philadelphia too. Lots of work still remained to design the precision steel rubber molds and then to find a reliable rubber molder who would refine the mold design and the production process.
Finally I found a rubber factory in Vietnam owned by an American fluent in both Vietnamese and English who manufactures the products and coodinates with all outside sub-suppliers as well: Flocking company, mold maker, box manufacturer, barcode label printer, carry bag manufacturer, freight forwarder, etc. He is integral to the Cloud Street project.
What about the name “Cloud Street”? I wanted a name connected to rain, urban….. One day my brother was in the old Frankford area of Philadelphia, looked up and noticed the street sign “Cloud Street”… as a seasoned sailor he knew the meaning of the term cloud streets: