About Wellco Footwear
The Company presently known as Wellco Enterprises, Inc. began operations in Waynesville, NC in 1941 under its original name, Wellco Shoe Corporation. When Wellco began manufacturing, it specialized in light-weight slippers and casual footwear with sponge rubber soles. Except for a brief time during World War II when the use of rubber was restricted to defense purposes, Wellco continued to manufacture and market such footwear, trademarked Wellco Foamtreads, until approximately 1985.
In 1965, as a result of unsatisfactory performance of previous Army combat footwear in the jungles of Viet Nam, the Army adopted Wellco-Ro-Search technology for the manufacture of its hot-weather boots, and this product thus became known as the "Viet Nam Boot." Later the technology used to manufacture the Viet Nam Boot ws adopted for all Army combat footwear. Wellco became a prominent supplier of such footwear to the US Military in 1965, and the remainder of the Army's needs were supplied for a number of years by three other companies, all of them using Ro-Search-supplied molds and presses, as well as technical advice. To this day, the technology used to manufacture military combat boots, although significantly modified and no longer covered by current patents, retains prominent features of the original "Viet Nam Boot."
True to its heritage as a developer of footwear manufacturing technology, Wellco's subsidiary Ro-Search Inc., perfected and patented in 1957 a new technique for molding and attaching a rubber sole to a welted upper. This was known as "Process 82," to indicate that it was considered to be twenty five years ahead of its time.
In 1965 Wellco developed the Jungle Boot for the US Army. In 1991 General Schwarzkopf selected the Wellco Desert Boot as standard issue for troops deploying in Operation Desert Storm. Today, Wellco remains the top innovator in Combat Boots. From the jungles of Vietnam to the mountains of Afghanistan Wellco has supplied our best and bravest with the innovations needed to prevail in the world's toughest conditions. Today this mission continues as these boots outfit those currently fighting overseas as well as those returning home to face new challenges. It's this commitment that spawned the Wellco credo: There and Back. No matter where the battle lines are drawn.
In addition to producing footwear for the US government, Wellco today produces and markets similar and related products for sale in the commercial marketplace to sportsmen, law enforcement and other uniformed personnel, etc.
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