The Brown Shoe Company began in 1878 as a partnership among three St. Louis businessmen: George Brown, the lead partner, Alvin Bryan, and Jerome Desnoyers. St. Louis was the midwest hub of the shoe manufacturing business and with new rail lines through the city, shipping could be done to all parts of the country. Buster Brown shoes were made from the thickest, most durable leather resulting in weeks to break them in. Many parents just hoped the higher cost paid off by the end of the school year.
At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the Brown Shoe Company built a model of their factory so visitors could witness how shoes were made. An employee came upon Richard F. Outcault, the cartoonist famous for his new comic strip, "Buster Brown," featuring an ornery child with a blonde pageboy haircut and a dog. Outcault was paid $200 for licensing rights to use the Buster Brown name and image on the insoles of children’s shoes. The company adopted the mascot almost immediately. The Brown name was purely a coincidence but the destiny proved fruitful. For the girls, the shoe was Mary Jane, the sister of Buster. Other brands from the World’s Fair began competing in children's footwear including Red Goose Shoes and Poll Parrot.
After several decades of acquisitions and divestitures, in 2015 the Brown Company was rebranded as Calares. In addition to the family brands that sell in stores and online via their Famous Footwear name, Caleres groups their footwear into two other categories—shoes for healthy living, including Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl’s Shoes, LifeStride, Bzees, and Rykä. The second category caters to fashion—Sam Edelman, Franco Sarto, Via Spiga, Vince, Diane von Furstenberg (DVF), Carlos by Carlos Santana and Fergie Footwear. The company is one of the largest shoe companies with worldwide annual sales of nearly $2.5 billion. I have yet to discover whether the Buster Brown name still exists.
Perhaps you were fitted for Buster Brown shoes as a youngster using a Brannock foot measuring tool. Once placing the foot on the high-tech-appearing device, the salesman would slide a "nob" along the inner side of the foot. It usually tickled when it slid by my foot. Designed in 1927, the Brannock Device remains the standard for the footwear industry.
Note: Speculation suggests the "Buster" name came from the popularity of Buster Keaton (1895-1966) while a child actor in vaudeville with his parents in the early 1900s. Though notable for his physical comedy even then, the Keaton legend was anchored some twenty years later. Roger Cushman Clark (1899–1995) may be the "original model" for the Buster Brown character, however.
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