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Home › Culture

Are Red Wings Made in China? (5 Things You Don’t Know About Red Wing)

Karl Wasson
Updated Aug 14, 2024

This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission from.

Expert Verified By: Michael Batson, Vice President, North Star Leather Company

Red Wing is probably the best known heritage boot company on Earth. Wearing in a pair of their Iron Rangers is practically a rite of passage for anybody with a passing interest in Goodyear welted footwear, and the company’s 875 moc toes have been seen on celebrities as diverse as Ryan Gosling and Drake.

They deserve their reputation as robust, hard-wearing, and handsome, but as the years have passed at Stridewise, we’ve learned a few facts about America’s favorite boot company that some might find surprising. In addition to our own research, we roped in Michael Batson, who owns North Star Leather Company and orders thousands of square feet of Red Wing leather every year, to help us take a closer look. 

[Shop Red Wing Heritage boots here]

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • 1. Some Red Wings Are Made Overseas
  • 2. The “Rough & Tough” Leathers are Nubuck 
  • 3. None of Red Wing’s Leather Uppers Are Vegetable Tanned
  • 4. Red Wing Has Their Own Tannery
  • 5. But Red Wing’s Tannery Receives Their Hides Already Tanned
  • Conclusion

1. Some Red Wings Are Made Overseas

Personally, I see no problem with making boots overseas, but customers need to know their products. This is an area of the company’s marketing that’s a little murky: many of the boots are made in the USA, so “made in the USA” appears in big writing in some areas of their site, but it’s not the case for all of their footwear.

red wing king toe
via @redwingrichmond on Instagram

Batson says,

The Heritage line is made in the United States. Their work boot lines and other brands they make (Irish Setter Boots, Vasque, and Worx) are mostly made outside the USA in Asia, primarily China, Korea, and Vietnam.

Red Wing does disclose this information on their product pages, but it’s hidden in the collapsible “Materials Used” section. Head to the “technical specifications” section of their workboot pages, click “Materials Used,” and you’ll see where it’s made. Do so with their King Toe boots, for example, and you’ll see they’re made in Cambodia. 

That said, not all of the Red Wing Work Boots are made overseas; you can filter your results on the left-hand side of the page showing all their boots, and find a couple dozen models that are made in the USA, though at the time of writing, none of them are available. Thanks to reader Timmy O’Brien for pointing this out!

red wing weekender chelsea jeans
The Weekender Chelsea in Copper Rough & Tough

2. The “Rough & Tough” Leathers are Nubuck 

There are a few marketing terms that are unique to Red Wing, like the term “Rough & Tough” for a line of particularly oily, durable, full grain leathers. Sure, who doesn’t want tough leather? 

And as it turns out, it’s nubuck. The same kind of leather used in Timberland boots. Well, close: it’s oiled nubuck.

“Not all of Red Wing’s most popular leathers are full grain,” says Batson. “Both the ‘Rough and Tough’ and “Yuma” leathers are oiled nubuck.”

The difference between leather and nubuck is that while both are made from the durable outer shell of a hide, nubuck has been buffed to produce a more velvety texture. Nubuck that hasn’t been oiled can be a little nappy, like suede, but it’s much tougher.

“This doesn’t make them lesser quality,” Batson points out. “It’s more about look and feel. Red Wing says that their corrected grain — that’s nubuck — leathers are just as durable as their other leathers.”

[Related: The Ultimate Guide to Nubuck vs Suede]

red wing blacksmith sunset
The Red Wing Blacksmith

3. None of Red Wing’s Leather Uppers Are Vegetable Tanned

We’ve written before about veg tanned leathers vs. chrome tanned leathers, but as a refresher: veg tanned leathers are typically more expensive and take more time to produce than chrome tanned, so you tend to find veg tanned leathers in more expensive or high-end boots. It’s developed the old fashioned way, with bark and tannins and “natural” ingredients that produce a tough leather that ages beautifully. Chrome tanning is a lot faster and while it makes leather that’s plenty tough, it’s more pliable and easier to dye. 

Red Wing does not sell vegetable tanned leather boots, something that may appall boot traditionalists. No, Red Wing’s leather is oil tanned, meaning it’s chrome tanned and then tanned with oils — typically white mineral oil, to be exact. The oil helps boost the moisture and the water resistance.

That said, some of the insoles are veg tanned and they do sell veg tanned accessories, like some of their belts. But that leather doesn’t come from Red Wing; it’s from Hermann Oak, a tannery in St. Louis, Missouri.

[Related: Veg Tanned vs Chrome Tanned Leather – Which Is Best?]

red wing 875 moc toe on feet

4. Red Wing Has Their Own Tannery

All the leathers used for Red Wing’s uppers are created in a tannery that Red Wing bought in 1986: SB Foot Tannery, a facility in Minnesota that has also partnered with the US military for generations, supplying leather for soldiers’ boots since World War I in addition to making leather for upholstery.

“SB Foot had historically provided the leather for their boots so it was a logical move,” says Batson.   

Very few boot companies own their own tannery and this provides Red Wing with tremendous advantages with regards to quality control. 

top grain leather splitting process
Leather after chrome tanning. Photo courtesy of Horween Leather Company.

5. But Red Wing’s Tannery Receives Their Hides Already Tanned

Interestingly, though, SB Foot’s leather isn’t tanned from a raw state.

“They get hides in the ‘wet blue’ state, which is a pre-tanning process that lets them avoid some of the more messy aspects of the process,” says Batson.

“Wet blue” leather is an intermediate part of the production process: first the hides are tanned in chromium sulfites that turn them into a blue, semifinished leather that’s much stretchier than the finished product. That’s what SB Foot gets.

Then the leather’s waxed, oiled, shaved, lubricated, and/or dyed. So all of those steps happen at SB Foot, but the chrome tanning itself is not. This is probably good news to locals, given that part of the process produces a lot of bright blue liquid waste that’s terrible for the environment.

[Related: The 5 Best Leather Tanneries on Earth]

Conclusion

You may not have known these facts about America’s favorite heritage boot maker, but none of it means the boots are low quality. (OK, maybe unless you thought they were vegetable tanned. Arguably.) Red Wing makes stellar boots that hold up well and age beautifully, and we hope they’ll stay on the boot scene for centuries to come. 

Know any other surprising tidbits about Red Wing? Let me know in the comments below.  

Karl Wasson

Karl is Stridewise's Managing Editor living in South East Asia. He gets a kick out of durability and dependability. When he's not writing, he's searching for the best bespoke menswear in South East Asia and beyond.

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Stridewise team

About Stridewise

by Nick English

Founded in 2018 to help men buy the best boots, we’ve since expanded our team and purview to review and celebrate casual footwear and menswear that’s as close to “buy it for life” quality as possible. We take great pride in being a trusted source for information while maintaining complete editorial independence. At no extra cost to you, we might earn a commission from a brand when you purchase through our links, which helps us keep our mission alive. Learn More

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Reader Interactions

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  1. Caleb Rogers

    February 21, 2022 at 1:40 pm

    Fake news, there are at least 5 Red Wing Work boots that are made in the USA, it isn’t only heritage, you should try going into a store sometime.

    Reply
    • Nick

      March 4, 2022 at 11:50 pm

      Oh it’s hard to find out which ones are made in the USA, tell me!

      Reply
      • Timmy O’

        March 19, 2022 at 1:32 am

        Even though their website design and performance is terrible it’s really not that hard. Go to redwingshoes.com, might need to be on United States site cus they have a lot of regionally exclusive products. Click drop down, click work, click men, click all mens work. Filter results with made in USA. Bam! 32 results. That’s not all either but a lot more than none.

        Reply
        • Nick English

          March 24, 2022 at 9:15 pm

          Ahh, I see it now. Hey thanks a lot! I’ll make an amendment 🙂

          Reply
  2. Shaun

    August 16, 2022 at 11:16 pm

    Origin boots!!!

    Reply
  3. Jon

    January 6, 2023 at 3:18 pm

    Almost all of Red Wing work boots and Red Wing Heritage boots are made in the USA.

    Reply
  4. Nahhbah

    May 27, 2023 at 9:21 pm

    Why king toe price was different which U.S.A. a more expensive than other Asia prices

    Reply
  5. Pedro Camacho

    June 3, 2023 at 9:34 pm

    Good evening, the quality of the shoes made by Redwing Shoes in China is not the same as the quality of those made in the USA. I have with me two pairs of shoes made in China, model 3539, the soles of which were simply destroyed from being stored, without use. completely new. Additionally, I have a pair of the 2230 model made in the USA, new, with the same time of being stored and is intact. the soles of the models made in China are of very poor quality. the leather is maintained but the soles are destroyed. Regwing Shoes should look at a change in the materials used in China

    Reply
    • Nick English

      June 6, 2023 at 1:42 pm

      hey good to know, Pedro!

      Reply

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Founded in 2018 to help men buy the best boots, we’ve since expanded our team and purview to review and celebrate casual footwear and menswear that’s as close to “buy it for life” quality as possible. We take great pride in being a trusted source for information while maintaining complete editorial independence. At no extra cost to you, we might earn a commission from a brand when you purchase through our links, which helps us keep our mission alive. Learn More

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