Bruce Katz had a dream to sail around the world. Having studied Engineering Physics at Cornell, he began construction of a 65 foot ferro-cement boat and planned to sail the world. When his family’s shoe manufacturing company, the Hubbard Shoe Company, went bankrupt in 1970 he returned to Boston to help his father liquidate the remaining inventory. The goal was still to raise funds for sailing. His efforts to sell shoes from his Volkswagen truck led to the creation of a small company, Rockport Shoe that became well-known for quality and comfort in the new category of ‘walking shoes’. When the Rockport Company was about to go public he decided to sell the business instead and return to his dream of traveling the world. He built the 145 foot sailboat Juliet at the Royal Huisman shipyard, 22 years after he had begun his efforts to get a boat. Launched in 1993, the Juliet was judged to be one of the finest sailing yachts of the day, beautifully designed and engineered.
Fast forward 20 years and many miles of sailing: Bruce had an epiphany that his family’s roots in the shoe business meant something to him that he had not realized before. He wanted to return to the business that had a long family history and decided to create a new shoe company in honor of his grandfather. Naming the company Samuel Hubbard Shoe, he set out to make the most comfortable shoe possible. This time he traveled the world to find the finest leathers and the best manufacturers and devoted two years, cutting no corners, to design and develop the well-crafted comfortable shoe that has been missing in the marketplace. Bruce is once again embarked on a shoe pioneering adventure.
